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May 7 (UPI) -- Sen. Michael Bennet, one of two Coloradans running for president in 2020 as a Democrat, said his campaign is based on restoring integrity to the government. Bennet announced his campaign May 2, a month after he announced plans to have surgery to treat prostate cancer.
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"We cannot be the first generation to leave less to our kids, not more," Bennet wrote in a Twitter post announcing his campaign. "That's why I'm running for president. Let's build opportunity for every American and restore integrity to our government."
On the issues
In the week since his announcement, Bennet has touched on a number of key issues, including increasing employee wages and making housing, healthcare, childcare and higher education more affordable.
During an event in Ankeny, Iowa, he said he plans to expand the Child Tax Credit as part of his American Family Act and improve public schools, which he expects will lift 4 million children out of poverty.
"If we consider policies through the eyes of the next generation, and we make sure they are represented in our political system, we will make smarter investments in our future," he said on Twitter.
Bennet said he also plans to fight climate change through investment and training veterans to enter the energy industry. Unlike some of his fellow Democratic candidates, he was not one of the co-sponsors or vocal supporters of the Green New Deal, but he has called for innovation and for wind and solar tax credits.
He faces a crowded field of competition, including several colleagues in Congress, in the Democratic primary to challenge GOP President Donald Trump.
Background
Bennet grew up in Washington, D.C., where his father was an aide to Vice President Hubert Humphrey and headed the United States Agency for International Development under President Jimmy Carter.
His first jobs out of Yale University included working as an aide to Ohio Gov. Richard Celeste, serving as a law clerk for the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and as counsel to the deputy attorney general during the Clinton administration.
He moved to Colorado to work as managing director for the Anschutz Investment Co. before working as an adviser for John Hickenlooper's Denver mayoral campaign. (Hickenlooper is also seeking the Democratic nomination for president in 2020).
Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter named Bennet to the empty U.S. Senate seat vacated by Ken Salazar in 2009. He was re-elected in 2010 and 2016. He serves on the agriculture, nutrition and forestry, finance, and intelligence committees.
Bennet has been married to Susan Daggett since 1997, and they have three daughters together.
