Michael Bennet

For other people with similar names, see Michael Bennett (disambiguation).

Michael Bennet
United States Senator from Colorado
Incumbent
Assumed office January 21, 2009 Serving with Cory Gardner
Appointed by	Bill Ritter
Preceded by	Ken Salazar
Chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
In office January 3, 2013 – January 3, 2015
Leader	Harry Reid
Preceded by	Patty Murray
Succeeded by	Jon Tester
Superintendent of Denver Public Schools
In office July 1, 2005 – January 21, 2009
Preceded by	Jerome Wartgow
Succeeded by	Tom Boasberg
Personal details
Born	Michael Farrand Bennet (1964-11-28) November 28, 1964 New Delhi, India
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Susan Daggett ​ (m. 1997)​
Children	3
Education	Wesleyan University (BA) Yale University (JD)
Website	Senate website

Michael Farrand Bennet (born November 28, 1964) is an American businessman, lawyer, and politician serving as the senior United States Senator from Colorado, a seat he has held since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, he was appointed to the seat when Ken Salazar resigned to become Secretary of the Interior. Bennet previously worked as managing director for the Anschutz Investment Company, chief of staff to then-Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, and superintendent of Denver Public Schools.

Bennet is the son of Douglas J. Bennet, a former State Department official and president of Wesleyan University. Early in his career, Bennet worked for Ohio Governor Richard Celeste. He went on to receive his Juris Doctor degree, after which he worked as a law clerk and later as Counsel to the U.S. Deputy Attorney General in the Clinton Administration.

Bennet became superintendent of the Denver public school system in July 2005. In late 2008 Bennet was speculated to be a candidate for Obama's United States Secretary of Education. He was appointed by Governor Bill Ritter to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Ken Salazar when Salazar became Secretary of the Interior in January 2009. Bennet was elected in the 2010 Senate election where he defeated Republican Ken Buck. He chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) for the 2014 cycle and was reelected in the 2016 elections.

Bennet has been mentioned as a potential presidential candidate in 2020 and has publicly expressed interest in such a prospect.

Early life and education

Bennet was born in New Delhi while his father, Douglas J. Bennet, was serving as an aide to Chester Bowles, then the U.S. ambassador to India. Douglas Bennet ran the United States Agency for International Development under President Jimmy Carter, served as President and CEO of National Public Radio (1983–93), and Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs in the Clinton Administration (1993–95).

His grandfather, Douglas Bennet, had been an economic adviser in Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration. Bennet's mother, Susanne Christine (née Klejman), emigrated to the United States with her family in 1950. Her parents were Polish Jews and survived imprisonment in the Warsaw Ghetto. Bennet's mother is a retired elementary school librarian.

Bennet grew up in Washington, D.C. as his father served as an aide to Vice President Hubert Humphrey, among others. Bennet was held back in second grade because of his struggle with dyslexia. He was enrolled at St. Albans School, an elite all-boys preparatory school, and served as a page on Capitol Hill.

In 1987 Bennet earned his B.A. degree in history from Wesleyan University, the alma mater of his father and grandfather. At Wesleyan Bennet was a member of Beta Theta Pi. Bennet earned his J.D. degree from Yale Law School, where he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Law Journal.

Career before U.S. Senate

From 1988 until 1990, when he left to attend Yale, he served as an aide to Ohio Governor Richard Celeste. After law school he served as a law clerk for the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and as an associate to Washington attorney Lloyd Cutler. He then served as Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General during Bill Clinton's administration. Douglas Bennet worked in the Clinton White House as well, as Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs. Following a stint as an assistant to the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, Bennet left the legal world and moved West. After briefly living in Montana, he moved with his fiancé to Colorado in 1997. Bennet worked for six years in Denver as Managing Director for the Anschutz Investment Company, where he led the reorganization of an oil company and helped consolidate three movie theater chains into the Regal Entertainment Group.

While working for Anschutz, Bennet befriended fellow Wesleyan alumnus John Hickenlooper, informally advising the latter's successful campaign for mayor of Denver. Moving back into public service, Bennet served for two years as Hickenlooper's Chief of Staff.

Bennet was appointed superintendent of Denver Public Schools on June 27, 2005, taking office on July 1. He had no experience as a school administrator. In 2008 Bennet persuaded the Denver Board of Education to enter into a 30-year, $750 million financial bond transaction with variable interest rates designed to fluctuate as economic conditions changed. The New York Times wrote that "In short order, the transaction went awry because of stress in the credit markets, problems with the bond insurer and plummeting interest rates." As of 2010 the school system had paid $115 million in interest and other fees, at least $25 million more than it originally anticipated.

Bennet was among the many officials whose names were circulated for United States Secretary of Education in the Obama Administration, which was eventually filled by Arne Duncan. Bennet and his wife were early supporters of Obama's presidential bid during the 2008 Democratic primaries and he was among those who advised Obama on education issues.

U.S. Senate

Appointment

On January 3, 2009, he was named by Colorado Governor Bill Ritter to fill the seat in the United States Senate vacated by United States Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on January 20. Ritter chose Bennet after interviewing several prominent Colorado Democrats, and Bennet took the job with the blessing of Hickenlooper. Upon taking office on January 21, 2009, he stated that he would seek election at the end of his term in 2010.

In his January 2011 article in Time titled "Shaking Schools Up in an Already Tumultuous Year," Andrew J. Rotherham said of Bennet: "If the federal No Child Left Behind Act is modified this year, or if anything else of significance happens in Washington on education policy, this Colorado Democrat will be at the center of it."

2010 election

County results of the race

Main article: 2010 United States Senate election in Colorado

Bennet ran for election for a full term as Senator from Colorado in the 2010 election. On September 16, 2009, former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff announced his campaign to challenge Bennet for the Democratic nomination. Bennet received endorsements from President Obama, U.S. Senator Mark Udall, and U.S. Representatives Betsy Markey, Jared Polis, and John Salazar of the Colorado congressional delegation. He raised $7 million and had a four-to-one cash advantage over Romanoff.

On August 10, 2010, Bennet defeated Romanoff in the primary and won his party's nomination, facing Republican candidate Ken Buck. The campaign became one of the most expensive in the country, with the candidates spending a reported $15 million combined, and outside groups another $30 million. Bennet portrayed Buck as an extremist conservative opposed to abortion and direct election of Senators, while Buck and the groups supporting him characterized Bennet as a big-spending liberal.

On November 3, the day after polls closed, Bennet was declared the winner and Buck conceded. Bennet won by 851,590 votes (48.1%) to 822,731 (46.4%). He subsequently returned to Washington in January 2011 to start a full six-year term. After the election, Obama said Bennet "perfectly reflects the qualities of the ruggedly independent state he has been chosen to serve."

2016 election

County results of the race

Bennet was reelected to a second term on November 8, 2016, defeating the Republican nominee, El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn. Bennet received 1.36 million votes, 156,248 more than Glenn. He received 31,780 more votes than Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who also won the state in the general election. Bennet received more votes than any other Democrat in a statewide race in Colorado history. He also won more votes in Colorado's rural counties than any other statewide Democrat in state history.

Following the election, Obama said Bennet was one of the "gifted Democratic politicians" who could lead the party in the future.

Committee assignments

Bennet sits on the following committees and subcommittees in the 115th United States Congress (2017–19).

• Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry
  • Subcommittee on Commodities, Markets, Trade and Risk Management
  • Subcommittee on Conservation, Forestry and Natural Resources (Ranking Member)
  • Subcommittee on Nutrition, Agricultural Research and Specialty Crops
  • Subcommittee on Rural Development and Energy
• Committee on Finance
  • Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure (Ranking Member)
  • Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight
• Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
  • Subcommittee on Children and Families
  • Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security

Source: United States Senate

Political positions

Bennet during the 111th Congress

Agriculture

In March 2019 Bennet was one of 38 senators to sign a letter to United States Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue warning that dairy farmers "have continued to face market instability and are struggling to survive the fourth year of sustained low prices" and urging his department to "strongly encourage these farmers to consider the Dairy Margin Coverage program."

Gun law

As of 2010 Bennet had earned a "C+" rating from the National Rifle Association for a mixed record regarding his votes for gun rights. In 2012 Bennet joined then Colorado Senator Mark Udall in asking for stricter gun control, in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. In response to the shooting, Bennet stated that "In Colorado, we support the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms, we support the ability of people to hunt and recreate and to protect their families and homes, and we want to keep the wrong weapons out of the hands of the wrong people."

Bennet participated in the Chris Murphy gun control filibuster, demanding that gun laws be changed in the wake of the Orlando nightclub shooting. During his participation in the filibuster, Bennet talked about the 2012 Aurora shooting, citing that as a response to the shooting, the state of Colorado closed gun sale loopholes and now requires background checks for any gun purchase.

In response to the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, Bennet demanded universal background checks regarding gun sales and described the shooting as domestic terrorism.

LGBT issues

Bennet supports same-sex marriage. He lauded the Supreme Court's 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, stating on his Senate website "Marriage is a fundamental right that same-sex couples deserve to enjoy, and now they will have the same rights and opportunities that the law grants to Susan [Bennet's spouse] and me."

Health care policy

Bennet voted in support of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. In November 2009, when the bill was still working its way through Congress, Bennet said that he would support health care reform even if it meant losing the election. In 2016, in response to healthcare costs in western and central Colorado, which has some of the highest healthcare costs in the United States, Bennet said he "didn't have answers" and called it "next to impossible" to fix the Affordable Care Act given partisan attitudes at that time.

As part of a group of Democrats proposing "more incremental steps to broaden health care coverage", as opposed to Bernie Sanders's push of "Medicare for All", Senator Tim Kaine and Michael Bennet have proposed "Medicare X". Medicare X would "create a public option modeled after Medicare alongside private options on the ObamaCare marketplaces".

In January 2019, during the 2018–19 United States federal government shutdown, Bennet was one of 34 senators to sign a letter to Commissioner of Food and Drugs Scott Gottlieb recognizing the efforts of the FDA to address the shutdown's effect on public health and employees while remaining alarmed "that the continued shutdown will result in increasingly harmful effects on the agency’s employees and the safety and security of the nation’s food and medical products."

Immigration policy

In September 2009 Bennet cosponsored the DREAM Act (S. 729), which proposed amending the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 by giving residency to immigrants enrolled in higher education programs or serving in the military. In 2013 he was a member of the Gang of Eight, a bipartisan group of four Democratic and four Republican U.S. Senators who introduced comprehensive immigration reform legislation. Their bill, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013, passed the U.S. Senate with a vote of 68-32, but stalled in the House due to opposition from the Republican majority. He later cosponsored the Dream Act of 2017.

In August 2018 Bennet was one of 17 senators to sign a letter spearheaded by Kamala Harris to United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen demanding that the Trump administration take immediate action in attempting to reunite 539 migrant children with their families, citing each passing day of inaction as intensifying "trauma that this administration has needlessly caused for children and their families seeking humanitarian protection."

Energy policy

In 2009 Bennet co-sponsored the Solar Manufacturing Jobs Creation Act, legislation that would have provided a tax credit to support solar manufacturing in the U.S. The legislation was not enacted.

He was one of the handful of Democratic Senators who have supported construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, voting for it in 2013, 2014, and 2015.

Environmental policy

In October 2017 Bennet was one of 19 senators to sign a letter to Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Scott Pruitt questioning Pruitt's decision to repeal the Clean Power Plan, asserting that Pruitt used "mathematical sleights of hand to overstate the costs of industry compliance with the 2015 Rule and understate the benefits that will be lost if the 2017 repeal is finalized", and that science denial and math tricks fail to "satisfy the requirements of the law, nor will it slow the increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, the inexorable rise in sea levels, or the other dire effects of global warming that our planet is already experiencing."

In November 2018 Bennet was one of 25 Democratic senators to cosponsor a resolution in response to findings of the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change report and National Climate Assessment. The resolution affirmed the senators' acceptance of the findings and their support for bold action to address climate change.

Foreign policy

In March 2018 Bennet voted against tabling a resolution spearheaded by Bernie Sanders, Chris Murphy, and Mike Lee that would have required President Trump to withdraw American troops either in or influencing Yemen within the next 30 days unless they were combating Al-Qaeda.

In November 2018 Bennet joined Senators Chris Coons, Elizabeth Warren and a bipartisan group of lawmakers in sending the Trump administration a letter raising concerns about the People's Republic of China’s undue influence on media outlets and academic institutions in the United States. They wrote: "In American news outlets, Beijing has used financial ties to suppress negative information about the CCP. In the past four years, multiple media outlets with direct or indirect financial ties to China allegedly decided not to publish stories on wealth and corruption in the CCP. In one case, an editor resigned due to mounting self-censorship in the outlet’s China coverage. Beijing has also sought to use relationships with American academic institutions and student groups to shape public discourse."

Cannabis

Bennet has cosponsored the bipartisan STATES Act proposed in the 115th U.S. Congress by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and fellow Colorado Senator Cory Gardner that would exempt individuals or corporations in compliance with state cannabis laws from federal enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act.

2018–19 government shutdown

On January 24, 2019, Bennet gave an impassioned, impromptu, 25-minute speech on the Senate floor in response to comments by Senator Ted Cruz. He questioned the authenticity of Cruz's concern about difficulties that the 2018–19 government shutdown was causing to first responders, recalling that in 2013 Cruz led a shutdown that lasted 16 days at a time when Colorado was experiencing flooding.

Possible 2020 candidacy

Main article: 2020 United States presidential election

Bennet has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate following his viral response to Senator Ted Cruz in January 2019. In February and March 2019, Bennet has been seen traveling to early primary states such as Iowa and New Hampshire. In late March, Bennet said he was "very inclined" to run for the presidency.

On April 3, 2019, Bennet announced he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and will undergo surgery the following month. Bennet said if the surgery proves successful, he would announce his presidential candidacy.

Personal life

On October 26, 1997, Bennet married Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund attorney Susan Diane Daggett, in Marianna, Arkansas. They have three daughters and reside in Denver's Congress Park neighborhood.

Though not raised in an observant household, Bennet acknowledges his Jewish roots. He has said that he was "raised with two different heritages, one [that] was Jewish and one [that] was Christian," and that he believes in God.

His brother, James Bennet, is the editorial page director for The New York Times.

On April 3, 2019, Bennet announced that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and will undergo surgery in May.

Electoral history

United States Senate Democratic primary election in Colorado, 2010
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
Democratic	Michael Bennet	184,714	54.15
Democratic	Andrew Romanoff	156,419	45.85

United States Senate election in Colorado, 2010
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
Democratic	Michael Bennet	854,685	48.08
Republican	Ken Buck	824,789	46.40
Green	Bob Kinsey	38,884	2.19
Libertarian	Maclyn Stringer	22,646	1.27
Independent Reform	Jason Napolitano	19,450	1.09
Independent	Charley Miller	11,351	0.64
Independent	J. Moromisato	5,780	0.03
Republican (write-in)	Robert Rank	52	0.00
Independent (write-in)	Michele Newman	20	0.00
Green (write-in)	Bruce Lohmiller	11	0.00

United States Senate election in Colorado, 2016
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
Democratic	Michael Bennet	1,370,710	49.97
Republican	Darryl Glenn	1,215,318	44.31
Libertarian	Lily Tang Williams	99,277	3.62
Green	Arn Menconi	36,805	1.34
Others		20,913	0.76

See also

• List of United States Senators born outside the United States

External links

• Senator Michael Bennet official Senate website
• Michael Bennet for Senator
• Michael Bennet at Curlie
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
• Profile at Vote Smart
• Collected news and commentary at The Denver Post