Electoral Circumstances
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| Michael Bennet's campaign logo but I edited the colors to be prettier. |
Election History
2009
As we know, Senator Bennet first got his skin in the game when he was appointed in
2009 by the Govenor of Colorado, Bill Ritter, to fill Ken Salazar's seat in the Senate. Interestingly enough, Salazar left the Senate to work as a cabinet member for the Obama Administration as the US Secretary of the Interior, however now he is the US ambassador to Mexico.
2010
The Denver Post reported that Bennet ran officially in 2010 and was challenged by Andrew Romanoff who was a Colorado Housemember for the democratic party.
After recieving endorsemnets from President Barack Obama himself (!!), several other notable Coloradan politicians, and raising $7 million, Bennet beat Romanoff in the primaries and won his parties nomination, going on to face Republican Ken Buck.
The General Election race got expensive, with Bennet and Buck spending $15 million combined. I think one reason Bennet was really well liked is because he won the swing voters and left leaners on his openness. He advocated for abortion healthcare and other generally more liberal ideologies while Buck just looked like some staunch guy who was super strict.
Bennet won by a 1.7% margin (851,590 to 822,731). I mean, come on! It's not the closest race ever, but I would have felt relieved.
The cherry on top was President Obama saying that Bennet,
"perfectly reflects the qualities of the ruggedly independent state he has been chosen to serve."
I mean wow. THAT has got to feel good. But the real question is what about his last election? Well, I am glad you asked.
2016
Maybe a little less climatic, Bennet was unopposed as the Democractic candidate for the primaries so he won, obviously.
For the General Election,
The Gazette reported that Bennet went up against a County Commisioner Darryl Glenn (and a couple third-party candidates) and won with a 5.7% margin (1,370,710 to 1,215,318).
This one felt like it was just in the bag for Senator Bennet.
During this election he garnered ALOT more votes, especially from rural parts of Colorado. So when he says he cares about rural communities, maybe it's because they're some of his reelection constituents...
And yet again, Bennet recieved praise from President Obama who said Bennet was a,
"gifted Democratic politician who could lead the party in the future."
2020
Bennet must have taken that compliment to heart because he really did try to lead the Democractic party... by running for President.
Ever since he "slammed" Ted Cruz on the senate floor, Bennet had been getting a lot of attention. He was visting primary states before he offically announced his campaign in May of 2019, accoridng to
The Los Angeles Times. Afterwards he did visit Iowa and a few other states to do some campaigning.
In June he actually qualified for the debates and participated:
I just loved how he kept talking. He only got like, 18 or so minutes of airtime total, so maybe that's why.
Unfortunately, Bennet only qualified for 2 debates and he actually went down in history as the 2020 candidate who qualified the least amount of times....
After the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, Bennet dropped out of the race, most likeley due to the small amount of votes he recieved in each of those elections.
His presidential campain was less than a year long and cost $6.8 million. I honestly feel bad for the guy.
Re-election in 2022
But don't feel too bad because he still has some things going for him! Senator Bennet has announced in
The Denver Post that he will be seeking a 3rd term!
Primaries
So far, Bennet will be up against Karen Breslin, a lawyer and university instructor. There's really not a whole out there, besides their
campain website, which doesn't even include a portrait so I have no idea what they look like.
There are around 8 candidates for the Republican party, ranging from local politicans, to business owners, to an Olympic athlete! If I'm being honest no names really stick out to me, but it seems that the CO GOP really wants a senate seat this term.
General Election
Most strategists are thinking Bennet is in favor against the two most popular republican candidates, which are Eli Bremer, the Olympic swimmer, and Ron Hanks, a Colorado State Representative.
Campaign Finances
According to
Ballotpedia, as of January 12th, Bennet's campaign is worth $4.7 million! This is sort of a point of contention actaully; Many people are realizing all these incumbent Democrats have much more money than the Republicans trying to run and they think they are at a disadvantage, which I can see why they would think so: While Bennet has the $4.7 million, two of the Republican candidates, Joe O'Dea and Gino Campana, have around $1 milion each.
So Bennet almost has a 4-1 ratio to each of them.
Major Issues
Bennet is campaigning on 3 platforms:
Karen Breslin has typed a
7 page document listing all of her major issues, some of which are:
- Respecting communities of color and immigrant communities
- Justice for American Indians
- People and the planet/Green New Deal
Eli Bremer has two major issues:
Ron Hanks' Major Issues are all PRO:
All in all, Bennet has really good chances of re-election. He has more history on his opponents, more money, and more loyal constituents. It may be early in the race but odds are looking to be in his favor.
References
“Eli Bremer for Senate - News.” Eli Bremer For Senate - News, https://www.eliforsenate.com/media#eli.
Gonzales , Nathan. “Senate Ratings.” Site, 7 Jan. 2022, https://insideelections.com/ratings/senate.
“GOV. RITTER NAMES MICHAEL BENNET TO U.S. SENATE.” Press Release - Michael Bennet Named to U.S. Senate, https://web.archive.org/web/20090131134816/http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite?c=Page&cid=1230985756099&pagename=GovRitter%2FGOVRLayout.
Hobbs, Stephen. “Glenn: Early Announcement for U.S. Senate Run Shows He Is 'Very Serious'.” Colorado Springs Gazette, 16 Jan. 2015, https://gazette.com/government/glenn-early-announcement-for-u-s-senate-run-shows-he-is-very-serious/article_5f9a6da6-dfa8-5148-8e28-fb2b4ef79238.html.
“Issues.” Hanks for Colorado, https://www.hanksforcolorado.com/issues.
Meet Karen, https://breslinforsenate2022.com/meet-karen/.
“Michael Bennet for Colorado.” Michael Bennet, 14 Apr. 2021, https://michaelbennet.com/.
RealClearPolitics - 2022 Election Maps - Battle for the ... https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2022/senate/elections-map.html#!
“Rival Colorado Democrats Play Game of One-Upmanship.” Rival Colorado Democrats Play Game of One-Upmanship - The Denver Post, https://web.archive.org/web/20090914061249/http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_13325723.
Sabato, Larry J. “Sabato's Crystal Ball.” Sabatos Crystal Ball, 3 Nov. 2021, https://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/2022-senate/.
Stokols, Eli. “Michael Bennet, Senator from Colorado, Announces 2020 Presidential Run, Joining Huge Democratic FieldELI STOKOLS.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 2 May 2019, https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-michael-bennet-democratic-presidential-campaign-announcement-20190502-story.html.
“United States Senate Election in Colorado, 2022.” Ballotpedia, https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_Senate_election_in_Colorado,_2022.
Vote-USA.org. “Michael Bennet- Donald Trump and Impeachment.” Youtube, 8 Aug. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx7WbN9mOwU.
Walter, Amy. “2022 Senate Race Ratings.” Cook Political Report, https://www.cookpolitical.com/ratings/senate-race-ratings.
Wingerter, Justin. “Michael Bennet Says He Won't Be Joe Biden's Education Secretary.” The Denver Post, The Denver Post, 3 Nov. 2020, https://www.denverpost.com/2020/11/03/michael-bennet-joe-biden-education-secretary-senate/.
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