U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet confirms run for governor, saying he wants “to forge a better politics”

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet confirmed to The Denver Post that he will seek the Colorado governor’s office in 2026 — joining an unsettled Democratic field and potentially opening up a coveted Senate seat in an increasingly blue state.

He plans to make his formal announcement Friday morning at a rally in Denver’s City Park. In an interview beforehand, Bennet said he hoped to bring his federal legislative experience to his home state’s executive branch and help Colorado navigate potential cuts and other uncertainty during President Donald Trump’s second administration.

“I am deeply, deeply, profoundly worried about Donald Trump and the wrecking ball he has aimed at our democracy and our economy,” Bennet said, noting potential cuts to Medicaid and other federal programs. He argued that economic uncertainty has fueled modern politics.

But, he added, “as we’re dealing with that — as we’re fighting everything that’s wrong with the current administration — it’s important for us to create better solutions for our shared challenges in Colorado. We can forge a better politics than we see in D.C. right now.”

Bennet has served in the Senate since 2009, when he was appointed to fill the seat vacated by Ken Salazar when Salazar joined the Obama administration. He’s since won election to the seat three times — and by a larger margin in each election. In 2022, Bennet’s most recent election bid, he defeated construction company owner Joe O’Dea, the Republican nominee, with nearly 56% of the vote.

Now, Bennet said, he feels he’d be “better situated as the governor to help us provide a view of what this future is going to look like, from the state of Colorado, than I would be able to do from (Washington).”

Bennet’s name recognition and long history in Colorado politics — and the political reshuffling that an open Senate seat would set in motion, should he win next year — could help clear the field of other major potential Democratic candidates.

Gov. Jared Polis, like the rest of Colorado’s constitutional officers, is term-limited and cannot seek reelection in 2026.

So far, Attorney General Phil Weiser is the only other prominent Democrat to launch an official bid for governor, entering the race in January. His campaign announced he raised more than $1.9 million through the end of March, a sum that includes a transfer of nearly $158,000 from his attorney general campaign. Salazar also has publicly mulled a bid.

Coloradans haven’t elected a Republican to lead the state since 2002, and the state has only trended bluer over the last decade.

In a statement Thursday, shortly after several media outlets reported Bennet would seek the office, Weiser said he’d spent the past six years serving “Colorado as the People’s Lawyer,” while Bennet was working in Washington. But he also softened any jabs at Bennet, adding: “Now more than ever, we need experienced Democratic leaders in Washington.”

“We must protect Colorado and oppose Trump’s illegal actions, not appease him,” Weiser said. “I am the fighter Colorado needs as our next governor. Two years ago, the voters sent Sen. Bennet back to D.C. because we believed he would be there for us no matter what — especially in historically dangerous moments like the one we currently face.”

Among other long-rumored candidates for governor, U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse has instead endorsed Bennet, while Secretary of State Jena Griswold launched a bid for attorney general.

On the Republican side, state Sen. Mark Baisley, state Rep. Scott Bottoms and Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell have launched campaigns.

The primary elections for the office will be in summer 2026 and the general election will be held that November.

Bennet says he’s open to TABOR reform

Bennet’s bid highlights the circular nature of Colorado politics. He served as John Hickenlooper’s chief of staff when Hickenlooper was Denver mayor in the early 2000s. Not long after Gov. Bill Ritter appointed Bennet to the Senate seat, Hickenlooper won the 2010 gubernatorial election. Hickenlooper, after two terms as governor, joined Bennet in the Senate after winning election in 2020.

Both men ran unsuccessful campaigns for the presidency in 2020. Now, they could flip-flop the roles they held for much of the 2010s.

Bennet praised Polis in an interview, particularly his signature free full-day kindergarten program, but added that “no governor can do it all.”

Housing, health care and mental health care remain challenges for the state, Bennet said. He also acknowledged the state’s ongoing budget constraints. Lawmakers this week moved closer to closing a budget with $1.2 billion in cuts as costs collided with the spending cap set by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR.

State lawmakers have floated some ideas to adjust TABOR, such as another reset of the formula used to set the cap or an exemption of certain spending, like Medicaid, from it. Bennet did not endorse a specific change but said, “I’m sure (TABOR) will be part of any campaign,” including his.

“We are facing enormous budget challenges as a state, and TABOR is clearly part of that problem,” Bennet said. “We’ve got to have a comprehensive discussion about what we should do and how TABOR should be reformed.”

In addition to electoral politics, Bennet has served as the superintendent of Denver Public Schools — a job that proved formative for one of his marquee congressional victories. As part of the 2021 stimulus bill, Bennet won inclusion of a massive expansion of the federal child tax credit, in the form of $300 monthly checks to parents.

Those only persisted for a year — but the policy became something of a white whale for him after it cut child poverty in half, yet wasn’t renewed by Congress. He introduced a new version of it earlier this week, joined by nearly all of the Democratic caucus.

Recent approach to Trump

When President Donald Trump took office for a second term in January, Bennet struck a more collaborative tone than some of his Democratic colleagues. He’s tied for eighth among Democrats in terms of the most votes cast in favor of Trump’s nominees, according to a tracker by The New York Times.

But he’s also spoken out against Trump and Elon Musk — the world’s richest man and chief financier of Trump’s successful reelection bid — including by accusing them of “wanton destruction” of the government in a recent interview with Colorado Public Radio.

In the new interview with The Post, Bennet highlighted his fights against some of Trump’s more controversial appointments, like Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as well as fights for the expanded child tax credit.

“We all have a shared battle,” Bennet said. “This is one of those really important moments in American history, where it really matters how we come out on the other side. And I think Colorado is in a position to lead all 50 states, and I look forward to being able to help guide that as the next governor of the state of Colorado.”

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