Angela Williams ends Democratic Senate primary campaign

DENVER (AP) - Colorado state Sen. Angela Williams is ending her campaign for the Democratic nomination to face U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner next year.

The Denver Post reports Williams, who represents northeast Denver, announced her decision Wednesday and will instead focus on winning re-election to the statehouse in 2020.

Williams failed to gain significant traction in a nine-candidate primary led by former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff.

Hickenlooper, who dropped his presidential bid in August to run for the nomination to face Gardner, is expected to have an enormous financial advantage going into the primary. Gardner is seen as the most vulnerable GOP senator in the country because Colorado has become reliably Democratic terrain in the age of Trump.