Michael Bennet Drops 2020 Bid, Squeezed in Party’s Tilt to Left
Michael Bennet Drops 2020 Bid, Squeezed in Party’s Tilt to Left
(Bloomberg) -- Colorado Senator Michael Bennet is suspending his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday night.
Bennet ran as a moderate, rejecting favorite ideas of more progressive Democrats, including the Medicare for All plan espoused by Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren that would eliminate private health insurance. Instead, Bennet pushed his Medicare-X proposal to create a public option without a single-payer system.
He joined the Democratic contest in May but languished at about 1% in the polls along with other moderates such as former Representative John Delaney.
The senator participated in the first two Democratic debates but failed to meet the stricter criteria for those that followed. In the second debate, Bennet harshly criticized California Senator Kamala Harris, saying her modified Medicare for All proposal was not “honest” and would require $30 trillion in new taxes.
He also went after President Donald Trump, saying “kids belong in classrooms, not cages,” a reference to detention centers for undocumented immigrants at the Mexican border.
Bennet has served in the Senate since 2009. He was appointed to fill the seat vacated by Ken Salazar when he was named secretary of the interior in former President Barack Obama’s Cabinet. Bennet won election to a full term in 2010 and was re-elected in 2016. In the Senate, he focused on education. As a member of the bipartisan “Gang of Eight,” he helped write a an immigration overhaul that would have strengthened border security and provided a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants.
He explored a presidential run in early 2019 but delayed his decision while undergoing treatment for prostate cancer.
Before entering the Senate, Bennet was managing director of the Anschultz Investment Company. He then became chief of staff to then-Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. Bennet was superintendent of Denver’s public schools from 2005 to 2009.
Hickenlooper, who later became governor, himself dropped out of the presidential race last year and is now running for the Colorado Senate seat held by Republican Cory Gardner.
(Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)
To contact the reporter on this story: Emma Kinery in Des Moines at ekinery@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, John Harney, Magan Crane
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