Michael Bennet Bio
Michael Farrand Bennet (born November 28, 1964) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat serving as the senior United States senator from Colorado, a seat he has held since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Bennet was appointed to the seat when Ken Salazar became United States Secretary of the Interior. Earlier in his career, he worked as a managing director at the Anschutz Investment Company, served as chief of staff to Denver mayor John Hickenlooper, and led the Denver Public Schools as superintendent. Bennet chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the 2014 cycle and is running for governor of Colorado in 2026.
Early Life and Background
Michael Farrand Bennet was born in New Delhi, India, on November 28, 1964. His mother, Susanne Christine Bennet (née Klejman), is a retired elementary school librarian and a Jewish Holocaust survivor who was born in 1938 in Warsaw, Poland, and immigrated to the United States with her family in 1950. His father, Douglas J. Bennet, was born in New Jersey and served as an aide to Chester Bowles, then the United States ambassador to India. Douglas Bennet later ran the United States Agency for International Development under President Jimmy Carter, served as president and CEO of National Public Radio from 1983 to 1993, and worked as Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs in the Clinton administration.
Bennet grew up in Washington, D.C., where his father worked as an aide to Vice President Hubert Humphrey and other politicians. He struggled with dyslexia as a child and was held back in second grade. He later enrolled at St. Albans School, an elite all-boys preparatory school in the capital, and served as a page on Capitol Hill. In 1987, Bennet earned his Bachelor of Arts in history from Wesleyan University, joining the same school as his father and grandfather. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi during his time on campus.
Path to U.S. Politics
After college, Bennet served as an aide to Ohio Governor Richard Celeste from 1988 until 1990, when he left to attend Yale Law School. He earned his Juris Doctor from Yale in 1993, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal. Following law school, he clerked for the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, worked as an associate to Washington, D.C., attorney Lloyd Cutler, and served as counsel to the Deputy Attorney General during the Bill Clinton administration.
Bennet moved west in 1997 with his fiancée and settled in Colorado after a brief stay in Montana. He spent six years in Denver as managing director for the Anschutz Investment Company, where he led the reorganization of an oil company and helped consolidate three movie theater chains into the Regal Entertainment Group. While at Anschutz, he befriended fellow Wesleyan alumnus John Hickenlooper and informally advised Hickenlooper’s successful campaign for mayor of Denver. Bennet then served two years as Hickenlooper’s chief of staff before being selected as superintendent of Denver Public Schools in 2005.
Michael Bennet Career
Early Career (1988–2008)
Bennet’s early career in public service began with his work for Ohio Governor Richard Celeste. After completing law school, he held several positions in and around the federal government, including a clerkship on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, a stint as an associate to prominent attorney Lloyd Cutler, and a role as counsel to the Deputy Attorney General during the Clinton administration. He also worked briefly as an assistant to the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
After moving to Colorado, Bennet entered the private sector at the Anschutz Investment Company, where he handled major corporate reorganizations. He then transitioned back into public service, serving as chief of staff to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper from 2003 to 2005. The Denver Board of Education selected Bennet as superintendent of Denver Public Schools on June 27, 2005, despite his having no prior experience as a school administrator. Under his leadership, the district grew enrollment, decreased dropout rates, and improved graduation and college enrollment rates.
Senate Appointment and 2010 Election Breakthrough (2009–2010)
On January 3, 2009, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter named Bennet to fill the United States Senate seat vacated by Ken Salazar, who became Secretary of the Interior. Bennet took office on January 21, 2009, becoming the youngest senator in the 111th Congress for five days. He immediately declared his intention to seek election to the seat in 2010.
Bennet’s first major electoral test came in the 2010 Senate race, in which he faced former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff in the Democratic primary. With endorsements from President Barack Obama, Senator Mark Udall, and several members of the Colorado congressional delegation, Bennet raised $7 million and defeated Romanoff on August 10, 2010. He then faced Republican nominee Ken Buck in one of the most expensive Senate races in the country that year, ultimately winning with 48.1% of the vote to Buck’s 46.4%.
2016 Reelection and Senate Leadership (2014–2022)
Bennet chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the 2014 election cycle, helping lead the party’s Senate strategy. He became Colorado’s senior senator in January 2015 after Democrat Mark Udall lost his seat. In 2016, Bennet secured a second term by defeating Republican El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn, capturing 50% of the vote to Glenn’s 44%. President Obama publicly praised Bennet as one of the “gifted Democratic politicians” who could lead the party in the future.
In April 2019, Bennet was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent surgery later that month. His office described the procedure as “completely successful,” and he required no further treatment. Later that year, on May 2, 2019, Bennet announced his candidacy for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. He dropped out of the race on February 11, 2020, after a poor showing in the New Hampshire primary. Bennet won a third Senate term in 2022, defeating Republican businessman Joe O’Dea with 55.9% of the vote, the first time he won a Senate race with a majority.
Senior Senator Era (2023–Present)
Since winning his third term, Bennet has remained a vocal voice in the Senate on issues ranging from gun control to immigration and climate policy. Following the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, he called for the Twenty-fifth Amendment to be invoked to remove President Donald Trump from office. In 2024, Bennet was among the first Democratic senators to publicly express concern that President Joe Biden could lose to Trump, calling the election “a moral question about the future of our country.”
On April 11, 2025, Bennet announced his candidacy for the 2026 Colorado gubernatorial election, joining a Democratic primary field that included Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser. Bennet has stated that, if elected governor, he will appoint someone to serve the remaining two years of his Senate term. Super PAC spending supporting his gubernatorial bid totaled $3.5 million by January 2025, including $750,000 from Michael Bloomberg.
Notable Events and Milestones
One of Bennet’s most widely recognized moments came on January 24, 2019, when he delivered a 25-minute impromptu speech on the Senate floor responding to comments by Senator Ted Cruz about the 2018–19 government shutdown. In less than eight hours, the speech became the most-watched Senate floor speech in C-SPAN history. His 2019 Senate floor speech also helped spark renewed national interest in his political profile and laid the groundwork for his 2020 presidential run.
Michael Bennet Career Wins
Michael Bennet has won three United States Senate elections in Colorado, securing his seat in 2010, 2016, and 2022. He was first appointed to the Senate in 2009 by Governor Bill Ritter and has held the seat continuously since. His 2022 victory over Republican Joe O’Dea marked the first time he won a Senate election with a majority of the vote.
U.S. Senate Highlights
Bennet’s first Senate victory came in 2010, when he defeated Republican Ken Buck by roughly 29,000 votes in a hard-fought and expensive race. He followed that with a 2016 win over Republican Darryl Glenn, capturing 50% of the vote. In 2022, he posted his strongest Senate performance to date, defeating Joe O’Dea with 55.9% of the vote, the first majority victory of his Senate career.
Other Wins and Achievements
Bennet chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the 2014 cycle, helping the party maintain its Senate positioning. In 2023, the Lugar Center ranked Bennet in the top third of senators for bipartisanship. He was also an original co-sponsor of the bipartisan ACE Kids Act, signed into law in 2019 to improve care coordination for children with complex medical conditions.
Michael Bennet Family
Family Background and Political Lineage
Michael Bennet comes from a family with a long record of public service. His mother, Susanne Christine Bennet (née Klejman), is a Jewish Holocaust survivor and retired elementary school librarian. His father, Douglas J. Bennet, served in several senior federal roles, including running the United States Agency for International Development under President Jimmy Carter, leading National Public Radio as president and CEO, and serving as Assistant Secretary of State in the Clinton administration. His brother, James Bennet, served as editorial page director for The New York Times. His grandfather, also named Douglas Bennet, was an economic adviser in the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Personal Life
On October 26, 1997, Bennet married Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund attorney Susan Diane Daggett in Marianna, Arkansas. The couple has three daughters and resides in Denver’s Congress Park neighborhood. Bennet has acknowledged his Jewish heritage, noting that he was “raised with two different heritages, one that was Jewish and one that was Christian,” and has said that he believes in God. As of 2019, Forbes Magazine estimated his net worth at $15 million.