Senator from Colorado joins packed presidential race

DENVER — Michael Bennet, the moderate, studious Democratic senator from Colorado known for his work on education and immigration reform, announced his candidacy for president Thursday.

He joins a field so packed with candidates that it now includes six of his colleagues in the Senate and his former boss, John Hickenlooper, a past governor of Colorado.

“I think this country faces two enormous challenges,” he said in an interview on “CBS This Morning.” “One is a lack of economic mobility and opportunity for most Americans and the other is the need to restore integrity to our government.”

Until recently, Bennet, a former school superintendent usually known for his professorial reserve, was not considered a presidential contender.

But in an uncharacteristically fiery speech on the Senate floor in January, during a government shutdown, he excoriated his Republican colleague Ted Cruz of Texas, shouting repeatedly as he accused him of shedding “crocodile tears” over unpaid government workers. He denounced President Trump for shutting down the government over his desired border wall, which Bennet termed a promise the president could not keep and America did not want.

The speech was viewed millions of times online, widely aired on cable news and led to calls for Bennet, 54, to consider a presidential run.

Bennet became a senator in 2009 after he was appointed by Gov. Bill Ritter. Bennet narrowly won re-election in 2010, then cruised to victory in 2016. He has described his top issues as education, climate change, immigration, health care and national security.

In early April, Bennet announced that he had prostate cancer, but he said he would not let it deter his presidential aspirations.

In mid-April, he had surgery that his staff called “completely successful.”

As a senator, Bennet is best known as a member of the socalled Gang of Eight, the bipartisan group that crafted a sweeping immigration reform bill in 2013. The legislation passed in the Senate but never made it to the House.

His younger brother, James Bennet, is the editorial page editor of the New York Times. James Bennet recused himself Thursday “from any work generated by the opinion desk related to the 2020 presidential election,” the Times said.