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Michael Bennet Says He’s Planning 2020 Democratic Bid Despite Cancer

Michael Bennet Says He’s Planning 2020 Democratic Bid Despite Cancer

(Bloomberg) -- Colorado Senator Michael Bennet said he doesn’t expect a diagnosis of prostate cancer will keep him from joining the already crowded Democratic field for president in 2020.

“I’m looking forward to running in 2020,” Bennet said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “This obviously was unexpected. But we caught it early. It’s something that I think we’re going to be able to treat. And I don’t think it should keep me off the trail.”

Bennet announced last week that the cancer was discovered during a screening and that he plans to have surgery when Congress recesses this month, followed by a few weeks of recovery. “I would like to get on with this,” he said on CNN.

Michael Bennet Says He’s Planning 2020 Democratic Bid Despite Cancer

About one in nine American men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime. “It was detected early, and as a result, my prognosis is good,” Bennet said when he announced the diagnosis.

The Colorado senator is among at least five more Democrats considering the party’s race for the right to challenge Republican President Donald Trump in 2020, including former Vice President Joe Biden. Democratic Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio bought the number of declared candidates to 16 when he announced his bid Thursday.

“Progressives, independents, we need to unify around policies that move the ball down the field and start helping more working-class people,” Ryan, a former high school quarterback, said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday.

Bennet, 54, a former managing director of Denver’s Anschutz Investment Co., drew national attention with an impassioned floor speech in January criticizing Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas during the partial federal government shutdown. But he has a penchant for bipartisanship and independent thinking.

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday he would “stack up my experience against anybody.” He said the timing is right for candidate like him to “change the channel from this mesmerizing horror show that’s going on in Washington right now.”

Buttigieg, a gay Rhodes scholar and former Naval intelligence officer who speaks seven languages, has been enjoying a boomlet of popularity and raised $7 million for his White House bid during the first quarter.

--With assistance from Laura Litvan.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Niquette in Columbus at mniquette@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net, Ros Krasny, Kevin Miller

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.