GOOD CHAT
Michael Bennet
In a candid interview with Metromode, the gubernatorial candidate and longtime senator outlines a bold vision for Colorado’s future—vowing to defend LGBTQ protections, safeguard gender-affirming healthcare, and sue the Trump administration over discriminatory policies. From tackling the housing crisis and advocating for refugees, to pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza and reviving the Child Tax Credit, the candidate makes the case that Colorado can be a national model of inclusive, forward-looking leadership amid political turmoil.
June 29, 2025
Image Provided by Michael Bennet's Office
Image Provided by Michael Bennet's Office
Image by: Flickr -Creative Commons
Image Provided by Michael Bennet's Office
USE ARROWS TO MOVE THROUGH IMAGES
By Alex Elmore
Democratic Senator Michael Bennet announced his run for Colorado Governor on Friday, April 11, 2025. He has served in the senate since 2009, when he was appointed there by current then-Governor Bill Ritter. While the contest will not take place until November 2026, Metromode spoke with Senator Bennet about his views on current affairs.
As Governor, how would you work to prevent the protections already in place in Colorado for LGBTQ people from being further stripped away by the Trump administration?
Well, I think that is such a vital question because Donald Trump has done so much to try to refute the existence of transgender people with his comments about false claims and the endless poison that comes out of his mouth. I think Colorado has a rich history of defending LGBTQ rights and being a haven for people to love and be who they choose to be. Just this last November, as you know, we removed the ban on same-sex marriage from our constitution. Governor Polis just signed the Kelly Loving act which expands transgender rights at a time when the transgender community feels so under attack by this administration. I think that’s been a ray of hope and sunshine that the Governor has let in. I will continue to build on Colorado’s legacy by supporting state level police by listening, always, to the community on ways to make the state more inclusive and to work with Colorado’s attorney general to bring suit against the Trump administration for discriminatory or unconstitutional interpretation of the law.
[Very much related to that,] I’m curious about any plans you have to address the safety and healthcare concerns of this population, especially the transgender population here.
Well, I think Colorado is the first state in the country to explicitly include gender affirming care and services in our health insurance plan. Colorado requires health insurance plans to cover gender affirming care deemed medically necessary by a healthcare provider. Notwithstanding what Donald Trump may say about that, I think it’s going to be very important to continue to support Colorado’s leadership here.
Understood. During the Biden administration, hundreds of billions of infrastructure money was approved for Colorado that’s now being frozen by the Trump administration. Do you have plans to help regain that money?
We’re gonna keep fighting to make sure Colorado gets our money because in total we secured $17 billion for Colorado during the last four years of the Biden administration, which included the American Rescue Plan, the Inflation Reduction Act, and congressionally directed spending. Of that, about $8.7 billion was for Colorado infrastructure. I think we’ve been punching way above our weight, and we’ve got to make sure that every dollar we are owed is delivered. I think it’s important for people to know that this freeze particularly hurts rural Colorado, the very communities that in many ways voted for this administration are the communities that most need this investment. So, I’m going to keep working with the entire state to make sure the administration hears these concerns directly. We have lots of funding we’re owed.
Image Provided by Michael Bennet's Office
Colorado is often, especially right now, listed as one of the most expensive states to live in for people. Do you have a plan to address this affordable housing crisis?
I think that Colorado is a place where every single person is proud to live in our state and believes we all live in the greatest state in the country, whether we were born in Colorado or whether we came to Colorado. But all over Colorado people are worried that their kids are not going to be able to afford to live in the state and may have to go somewhere else to work. In particular there’s not a neighborhood in our state where people feel like their kids are going to be able to afford housing. So, I think it is very important for us to work, if I were to get elected governor, with local communities and our private sector to build more housing across the state. A one-size-fits-all approach won’t work, but I do think interacting with local governments and the private sector and homebuilders, that we can get to that place where we’re building more housing, and we’re building it less expensively, and we’re building it more quickly. This matters to me a lot because when I was superintendent of the Denver Public Schools, which I was before I was in this job, I never met a teacher who didn’t live in Denver. Unlike Seattle or San Francisco, people could afford to teach in Denver and live in Denver. That meant they could live in the communities they were teaching, and it meant they could get homes to their own kids after school. Part of defining whether a community is sustainable or not is whether you can live near where you work. Too many communities in Colorado these days, both urban and rural, people cannot afford to live near where they work. I don’t want us to turn into Seattle. I don’t want us to turn into San Francisco. I think we can create a much more sustainable future. While we’re working on the cost of housing, we’ve also got to work to lower the cost of healthcare and the cost of education and drive up the wages for people that are working in our state so they can live the American Dream, which is what I think all of us really want.
Related to people here maybe chasing the American Dream, there’s obviously an immigrant and a refugee crisis, especially with people coming from Venezuela at this moment seeking asylum. I’m curious for your plans to address that, especially for a sanctuary city like Denver.
I think we’ve worked very hard to support the state and local communities and a strong network of nonprofits have done incredible work to provide resources and shelters to refugees that have come to our state. I was pleased to lead the federal delegation in bringing home millions of dollars from FEMA to support the efforts of the state and the efforts at the local level and will continue to do that work. As part of the Gang of Eight of 2018 who wrote the last conference of immigration bill to pass the senate but got crushed in the house of representatives by the Tea Party, I feel very strongly that one of the real unfinished pieces of business for our nation is comprehensive immigration reform for the 21st century. Donald Trump is clearly not going to deliver that, but I hope to be an advocate for that from the governor’s position in Colorado, just as I have been while in the senate and also while I was superintendent of the Denver Public Schools. We have to get this issue addressed.
Image by: Flickr -Creative Commons
Earlier this month you and other senators asked President Trump to resume working towards a ceasefire deal between Palestine and Israel. I’m curious how your actions towards that will shift as you’re in this race and also potentially carry on if you’re elected and the conflict is continuing.
The situation in Gaza has been a horror for everybody that’s concerned with it. That’s everybody in the world, I think. We need to get to a ceasefire. Beyond that we have to somehow build the basis in the region for a two-state solution. I’ve been an advocate for that the entire time I’ve been in the senate, and I will continue to try to advocate for that from the governor’s office, even while there are people on both sides of that conflagration in the Middle East who believe there is no possible future that encompasses a two-state solution. I don’t believe there is any way out of the situation we are in without a two-state solution.
What do you feel has been your biggest accomplishment and also your biggest challenge of your time in the Senate?
The passage of the Child Tax Credit during the Biden administration that for a brief moment cut childhood poverty in half in the United States of America. That demonstrated for the very first time that we don’t have to accept a permanent state of poverty for our kids. Unfortunately, it has since expired, but I continue to fight for it. I would say the public lands legislation that we’ve passed in Colorado had the most significant additions, from Camp Hale to Thompson Divide to Brice Canyon, in general. I actually think the work on immigration, even though we have not gotten that to the finish line, is one of the most difficult pieces of legislation and policy that the senate has grappled with from the time that I’ve been here. To be part of the small group of people who wrote that bill and got it to 68 vote results in the senate was an unbelievable experience. To go to your second point, to see it essentially vetoed by a small minority of radical ideologues in the house of representatives was heartbreaking. There are so many times that things should have happened that made sense to the American people and didn’t pass because of either the ideologues that killed the immigration bill or misuse of the governing institutions in the caucus. It’s really important in this moment for us to figure out how we cannot just push back, and not just fight against Trump, but also build a positive vision for the future. I think Colorado is in an exceptional position to lead. I think we can do a lot to make housing more affordable. I think we can do a lot to make healthcare more available. I think we can do a lot to transform our education system so that young people in Colorado know that when they’re ready to enter the workforce they’re ready to earn a living wage, not just the minimum wage. I don’t think those things can be achieved today in Trump’s chaos. I don’t think they can be achieved today in the broken parts of the institutions in Washington. But Colorado is in a position to set an example to lead us out of the chaos and into a place where all of us feel that the next generation is going to have more opportunities and not less, which is what people, I think, feel today. That is something worth fighting for.
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About the author
An Alabama native, Alexander Elmore is the Head Researcher of the Webby award winning podcast Dark History with Bailey Sarian and Director of Marketing & Film Programming - Features at Denver Documentary Society. He holds a B.F.A. in Film and Television from the University of Colorado Denver. His reporting has appeared in The CU Sentry, Looper, and Westword. He has screened work at Denver Film, International Film Series at CU Boulder, Jersey Devil, DracFest, and internationally with 48 Hour Film Project.