Michael Bennet
Progressive
Democrat
Senator
Colorado
Current Position: Senator from Colorado
Running For: N/A
Policy Positions
Economic Policy
- For increasing affordable housing supply by reducing permitting red tape, streamlining approvals, increasing density, supporting starter homes (townhomes, condos, duplexes), expanding first-time homebuyer assistance (mortgage/downpayment assistance, rent-to-own), preserving existing affordable units, using state financing tools, and targeting a 30% increase in state-supported housing by 2035
- For a coordinated, prevention-focused approach to reducing homelessness through stable funding for rental/utility assistance, legal aid, and case management
- Against the Trump administration's 'Big Beautiful Bill' cuts to Medicaid and health insurance subsidies
- For expanding access to affordable, high-quality child care from birth to age five; supports cutting costs for families, fair compensation and health care access for child care workers, and reducing unnecessary regulatory red tape in child care licensing
- For making Colorado's Care Worker Tax Credit (currently $1,200 for child care workers earning under $100,000) permanent beyond its 2029 sunset
- Against Trump's tariffs; led efforts in the Senate to rein in Trump's tariffs
- Against Trump's tax cuts for the wealthy; fought against Trump's tax cuts twice in the Senate
- For expanding public transit, bus rapid transit, and passenger rail service as affordable transportation options
Business & Labor
- For expanding career and technical education, apprenticeships, and college credit access so every high school student can graduate ready to earn a living wage
- For regulating AI companion chatbots for minors, including limiting companion chatbots for users under 18 without guardrails against self-harm and requiring AI to flag suicidal ideation messages from children
- For requiring data centers and large commercial energy users to cover the full cost of energy they consume and infrastructure they require
Health Care
- For universal health care as a human right; supports launching a Colorado Public Option (Basic Health Program), protecting and strengthening Medicaid, expanding the state employee health plan to school districts and counties, and a pilot program for residents ages 25-35 and small businesses to buy into state health coverage
- For investigating private equity's role in driving up health care costs and diverting taxpayer Medicaid funding to investor profits
- For requiring health insurers to count direct patient payments toward deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums for covered, medically necessary services
- For eliminating spread pricing in the private prescription drug market by 2027 and requiring pharmacy plan administrators to pass 100% of negotiated savings to consumers
- For enforcing mental and behavioral health care parity laws, closing loopholes, and holding insurers accountable for coverage failures
- For a Colorado public option for health care; supports launching a pilot program for small businesses to buy into state health coverage and creating a new Colorado Public Option for those who earn too much for Medicaid but struggle to afford individual marketplace coverage
Education
- For increasing school funding, raising teacher pay, and addressing Colorado's constitutional budget constraints that limit education investment
- For statewide cellphone ban in classrooms to address student mental health and academic performance
Environment
- For a cap-and-invest climate program ('Colorado Clean Air, Affordable Energy Program') with an enforceable cap on greenhouse gas emissions across major economic sectors, market-based compliance flexibility, and investment of proceeds in clean energy, pollution reduction, and climate resilience; supports Colorado's net-zero by 2050 statutory target
- For protecting Colorado's water rights through collaborative multi-state approaches to Colorado River negotiations rather than litigation, while opposing water export, buy-and-dry, and speculative water plans
- For protecting wetlands and streams at the state level in the absence of federal leadership, reclaiming abandoned mines, plugging orphaned wells, and reducing the backlog of wastewater discharge permits
- For removing lead pipes and enforcing science-based water quality standards (including PFAS and nutrients), and holding corporate polluters financially accountable for cleanup costs
- For honoring tribal water rights, strengthening government-to-government tribal consultation on water decisions, and ensuring the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute have full access to their water rights
- Against selling off public lands; opposes Trump administration's attempts to sell federal public lands and supports keeping Colorado's public lands in public hands
- Against oil and gas development in certain protected areas; previously worked to prevent new oil and gas development in the Thompson Divide and near the City of Durango
- For expanding Electric Vehicle charging infrastructure and maintaining state EV incentives
- For climate change mitigation; acknowledges climate change is driving hotter and drier conditions increasing wildfire risk and supports comprehensive forest and wildfire response
- For clean energy transition including expanding solar, wind, and battery storage; against Trump administration's 'drill, baby, drill' agenda and attempts to favor coal; supports defending Colorado's right to chart its own clean energy future
- For reaching net-zero emissions as soon as possible, including launching a cap-and-invest emissions program, strict enforcement of clean air laws, and expanding EV infrastructure
Civil Rights
- For regulating social media to protect children, including social media warning labels, nighttime notification limits, age-verification requirements, kids' design codes making accounts private by default, restrictions on targeted advertising to minors, and negligence penalties for platforms that should know a user is a minor
Immigration & Foreign Affairs
- Against ICE enforcement in Colorado cities; supports keeping ICE and the National Guard out of Colorado's cities and backed a bill to limit ICE arrests at schools and churches
- For protecting Dreamers and minors from immigration detainment; pushed amendments to limit ICE detainment of minors and Dreamers
- Against opening new ICE detention centers in Colorado; supports moratorium on using existing prison capacity for out-of-state immigration detainees; supports banning new immigrant detention centers on state land; supports strict enforcement of laws prohibiting state and local government cooperation with private immigration detention facilities
Public Safety
- For common sense gun safety measures including red flag laws, banning weapons of war, banning rapid fire devices, and requiring background checks on gun sales and transfers
- For eliminating cash bail; opposes holding people in jail solely because they cannot afford bail
- For co-responder and community response programs (sending mental health professionals to respond to mental health crises, substance use, and homelessness situations) as an alternative to law enforcement response