Michael Bennet

Michael F. Bennet (born November 28, 1964) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Colorado since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, he was appointed to the Senate in January 2009 to fill the vacancy left by Ken Salazar's resignation as Secretary of the Interior and won the ensuing special election in 2010 by a narrow margin of less than 1%, followed by reelections in 2016 and 2022. Prior to his Senate tenure, Bennet served as superintendent of the Denver Public Schools from 2005 to 2009, implementing reforms such as a merit-based teacher pay system amid efforts to improve urban education outcomes, and earlier as chief of staff to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. With a background in private equity, including as managing director at Anschutz Investment Company, Bennet has emphasized pragmatic, bipartisan approaches to issues like economic competitiveness, infrastructure investment, and education policy during his Senate career. In 2019, he briefly pursued the Democratic presidential nomination, focusing on anti-corruption measures and reducing partisan polarization, but suspended his campaign in February 2020 after struggling to gain traction in early primary polling.

Michael Bennet was born on November 28, 1964, in New Delhi, India, to U.S. parents Douglas J. Bennet Jr., a career foreign policy official, and Susanne Klejman Bennet, of Polish-Jewish descent. His father's role as administrative assistant to U.S. Ambassador Chester Bowles in India during the early 1960s necessitated the family's temporary residence there, resulting in Bennet's birth abroad to American citizens. Douglas Bennet subsequently advanced in the State Department, serving as Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs from 1977 to 1979 and as Administrator of the Agency for International Development from 1979 to 1981, roles that involved oversight of U.S. foreign aid and diplomatic coordination.

Bennet's mother, Susanne Klejman Bennet, was born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1938 to Jewish parents and survived the Holocaust after being hidden separately from her family during the Nazi occupation. This maternal Jewish heritage shapes aspects of his family background, though Bennet maintains a secular outlook, identifying as an unaffiliated theist without regular participation in organized religious worship or affiliation with a congregation. He and his wife were married by an Episcopal priest.