Michael Bennet

Michael Bennet
Name	Michael Bennet
Caption	United States Senator from Colorado
State	Colorado
Term start	January 21, 2009
Alongside	John Hickenlooper
Predecessor	Ken Salazar
Office1	Superintendent of Denver Public Schools
Term start1	July 2005
Term end1	January 2009
Predecessor1	Jerry Wartgow
Successor1	Tom Boasberg
Birth date	28 November 1964
Birth place	New Delhi, India
Party	Democratic
Spouse	Susan Daggett, 1997
Education	Wesleyan University (BA), Yale University (JD)

Michael Bennet is an American politician and attorney serving as the senior United States Senator from Colorado since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the Superintendent of Denver Public Schools and held various roles in law and business. Bennet has been a prominent figure in legislative efforts concerning health care reform, fiscal policy, and immigration reform, and he was a candidate in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries.

Early life and education

Michael Bennet was born in New Delhi, India, where his father, Douglas J. Bennet, served as an aide to United States Ambassador to India Chester Bowles. His mother, Susanne Bennet, is a Holocaust survivor. The family returned to the United States, and Bennet spent much of his childhood in Washington, D.C.. He attended St. Albans School before earning a Bachelor of Arts in history from Wesleyan University in 1987. He later received a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1993, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal.

Early career and business ventures

After law school, Bennet served as a law clerk for Judge J. Michael Luttig on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He then worked as counsel to the Deputy Attorney General in the Clinton administration's United States Department of Justice. In the late 1990s, he transitioned to the private sector, working as an investment director for the Anschutz Investment Company, a subsidiary of the Anschutz Corporation owned by Philip Anschutz. Bennet later became managing director for the Anschutz Company, where he was involved in restructuring distressed companies, including the Regal Cinemas theater chain.

U.S. Senate career

Bennet was appointed to the United States Senate in January 2009 by Governor of Colorado Bill Ritter, filling the vacancy created by the resignation of Ken Salazar, who became United States Secretary of the Interior. He won a full term in the 2010 election, defeating Republican nominee Ken Buck, and was re-elected in 2016 and 2022. In the Senate Democratic leadership, he serves as chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. His committee assignments have included the Committee on Finance, the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, and the Select Committee on Intelligence.

Political positions

Bennet is considered a member of the New Democrat and moderate wings of his party. He was a key architect of the Immigration Innovation Act and has advocated for comprehensive immigration reform. On health care, he co-sponsored the Medicare-X Choice Act to create a public option and has been critical of both the single-payer Medicare for All proposal and full Affordable Care Act repeal. He played a significant role in the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and has been a vocal proponent of reforming the filibuster and campaign finance laws through proposals like the Freedom to Vote Act.

Electoral history

In the 2010 election, Bennet narrowly won the Democratic primary against former Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives Andrew Romanoff before defeating Ken Buck in the general election. He won re-election in 2016 against Darryl Glenn and again in 2022 against Joe O'Dea. Bennet also launched a campaign for the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, focusing on issues like child poverty and government dysfunction, but suspended his campaign after the New Hampshire primary.

Personal life

Bennet is married to Susan Daggett, a natural resources attorney and former attorney for the environmental group Earthjustice. They have three daughters and reside in Denver, Colorado. He is the brother of James Bennet, a former editorial page editor for The New York Times. Bennet is a practicing Episcopalian and has been public about his family's history, including his mother's experience during the Holocaust and his own diagnosis with prostate cancer in 2021.

Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:United States senators from Colorado Category:Democratic Party United States senators