Sen. Michael Bennet’s town hall at Harrison High School in Colorado Springs Thursday marked his third stop in the state this week, as Colorado’s senior senator continues to grapple with his party’s loss of power in Washington while also mulling a bid for governor. Bennet’s previous two town halls in Greeley and Golden had a similar line of questioning as Thursday’s—where are the Democrats going?
“I do think the Democratic party needs to think very hard about how we lost to this guy twice,” Bennet said of President Donald Trump. “We do need…to come up with a policy agenda and a political agenda that is future oriented that the American people can embrace.”
“We're bleeding out young people, people of color, Hispanic people are moving away (from the Democratic party),” Colorado Springs resident Elfego Gomez told CPR News. “It isn't just the message; it isn't just what we do. There's a cultural shift there. I'm dumbfounded on what to do.”
Some attendees asked for the senator’s help in removing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer from his leader, mirroring what’s he’s heard from voters in other parts of the state. Bennet responded by criticizing what he described as Sen. Schumer’s “lack of vision” in ultimately voting to pass a recent Republican-sponsored continuing resolution.
“It's not a secret that we've been having debates there about what the future should look like,” Bennet said. “I think we should be looking at all the Democratic leadership.”
Bennet voted against the budget bill, along with fellow Colorado Democratic Senator John Hickenlooper. (Schumer and nine other senators had argued more damage would be caused in a government shutdown scenario.)
Bennet has been openly critical of the minority leader this week. In Golden on Wednesday he told voters “It's important for people to know when it's time to go” when discussing Schumer. But on Thursday he again stopped short of calling for Schumer’s removal. Notably, just nine months ago, Bennet was one of the first sitting Democratic senators to openly criticize former President Joe Biden after a career-ending debate performance in June.
Bennet’s visits were part of a concerted effort by Democrats to hold in-person town halls after Republican congressional leaders discouraged their members from meeting voters in-person and instead opting for telephone or digital town halls. Rep. Brittany Pettersen and Hickenlooper discussed funding cuts earlier in the week; Rep. Joe Neguse has a town hall Saturday; and 50 thousand people are expected to attend two rallies hosted by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Greeley and Denver. The trips intentionally involve swing districts currently held by Republicans, such as Greeley and Colorado Springs, as Democrats attempt to find answers and regain their electoral footing.
Like many of the visits, attendees in Colorado Springs on Thursday were filled with wide-ranging concerns about the Trump Administration’s reduced federal budget and workforce as well as frustration with Democrats. The discussion veered from the importance of local elections to possible cuts to Medicaid to lowering corporate political contributions.
Just hours after President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for a significant drawdown of the U.S. Department of Education, Bennet called the decision “craziness” from the Harrison High auditorium stage.
“We should have a president who's fighting to make sure that every kid in America has access to early childhood education,” Bennet said, “who is ensuring that every kid that graduates from high school in this country has the skills to earn a living wage, not just the minimum wage.”
Some loudly criticized the senator for his support for Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza. Bennet, whose mother is a Polish holocaust survivor, reiterated his stance that a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine is the only long-term solution to hostilities.
Ultimately, the conversation returned time and time again to how Democrats can recover and how the left can effectively fight the Trump Administration’s agenda. Many agreed on one thing: that the party has lost its connection with working-class voters.
“The Democratic party I think has been very unresponsive to the concerns and worries of working people in the United States,” Bennet said. “We might have the rhetoric, but we haven't really delivered very much for a long time.”
But just how to reconnect with the Democratic base of yesteryear? That was still an open question.
