# Michael Bennet **Michael Farrand Bennet** (b. November 28, 1964, in New Delhi) is a Democratic U.S. senator from Colorado, in office since **January 21, 2009**. ## Why he's on the map Bennet sits on **Finance** and on the **Select Committee on Intelligence** — the two committees that matter most for the tax and oversight material in this knowledge base, and both of which acquire subpoena weight when Democrats take the Senate in January 2027. He is also a useful case study in a particular kind of Democratic career: appointed rather than elected to the seat, repeatedly successful statewide in a state that was still a tossup when he arrived, and twice unsuccessful when he tried to move beyond it. ## Background Bennet was superintendent of Denver Public Schools from 2005 and chief of staff to Mayor John Hickenlooper before that. Governor Bill Ritter appointed him to the Senate in January 2009 to fill the vacancy created when Ken Salazar became Interior Secretary — Bennet had never held elective office. He then won the seat outright in the 2010 Republican wave year, beating Tea Party candidate Ken Buck 48.1–46.4, and was re-elected in 2016 and 2022. He next faces voters in 2028. ## Two bids beyond the Senate - **President, 2020.** He announced on May 2, 2019 and withdrew on February 11, 2020 after finishing far back in New Hampshire. - **Governor of Colorado, 2026.** He announced in April 2025 for the seat term-limited Governor [[Jared Polis]] was vacating, and lost the Democratic primary on **June 30, 2026** to Attorney General [[Phil Weiser]] by roughly thirteen points. Having lost the primary he keeps his Senate seat, whose term runs past the governorship he sought. ## In the Senate He serves on **Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry**, **Finance**, **Rules and Administration** and **Intelligence**, and chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 2013 to 2015. His legislative record includes Medicare X, a public-option proposal written with [[Tim Kaine]]; cannabis-banking and federalism bills including the SAFE Banking Act; and the ACE Kids Act, enacted in 2019. His January 2019 floor speech answering Ted Cruz during the government shutdown became the most-watched Senate floor speech in C-SPAN's history. ## See also - [[Phil Weiser]] — Who beat him for the 2026 gubernatorial nomination - [[Jared Polis]] — The governor whose seat he sought - [[United States Senate]] - [[Democratic Party]]