Republican National Committee (RNC) chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel blasted Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) on Twitter, calling the governor’s comments about America being as divided as it was during the Civil War “ridiculous.”
The GOP chairwoman reacted Thursday evening to a Politico interview with Hickenlooper in which the governor said that America’s political divide “is as significant as when we had slave states and anti-slavery states.”
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“This rural-urban divide, people in rural areas of Colorado and across the country feel like the urban areas have just left them behind and don’t care,” he added.
“This is ridiculous,” McDaniel responded on Twitter.
Hickenlooper, who is term-limited, plans to leave office in 2019. Speculation has grown around whether the moderate Democratic governor could mount a presidential run in 2020, including rumors of a unity ticket with Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R).
Hickenlooper and Kasich have both dismissed the idea, however, though neither has ruled out a possible future presidential bid.
The Colorado governor again rejected the idea of a run with Kasich in the interview published Thursday, saying that he has too many policy disagreements with Kasich.
“I don’t think we are ever going to be on a unity ticket; we joke about it all the time,” he said. “We just disagree on a lot of important core stuff. But we have a great deal of respect for each other and I think a genuine friendship at this point.”