Sen. Michael Bennet on High Housing Costs, His 38% Approval Rating, and Gov. Polis’ Vetoes

Today on CityCast Denver, Senator Michael Bennett, after representing Colorado and the US Senate for more than 15 years, Bennett is running for governor. So how would he tackle our biggest challenges like housing and the rising cost of everything? After a very bolder governor in Jared Polis, what would Bennett have in store for us is Denver Heights? Oh, and just a heads up, this episode contains some explicit language. Today is Monday, October 27th. I'm Brie Davies, and here's what Denver's talking about. Senator Michael Bennett, welcome back to CityCast Denver. Thank you so much for having me. And producer Paul Caroley is also here. Hi, Paul. Hey, what's up, Brie? So Senator Bennett, it seems like you've been spending a little more time around Denver since you've been back on the campaign trail. And I wonder, do you have a go-to spot for Mexican food? That is the easiest question that you anybody has ever asked me in the answer to that is El Taco de Mexico on Santa Fe. It's my litmus test. I'll be honest with you how people answer this. It is. I'm so delighted that you asked because a lot of times people ask lifestyle questions. I'm like, what? What? What? That is emphatically the answer to that question. And I can give you a considered view, which is that is the best taco restaurant in the United States of America and certainly in Colorado. I think a lot of folks would agree with me. And I started to go there when I was the superintendent of schools in Denver. Well, let's talk about your run for governor. The primary isn't until June of next year. What's the biggest problem facing Colorado right now in your opinion? I think we're facing an affordability crisis in this state that is getting worse and worse and worse. And it is becoming devastating to people that are living here. There's not a county in Colorado where people feel like their kids are going to be able to afford to live there. There's not a there's not a there's not a neighborhood in Colorado where people feel like their kids are going to be able to afford to live there. And their kids worry that they're not going to be able to afford to live in Colorado. My kids worry that they're not going to be able to afford to live in Colorado. This isn't just a housing issue. This is a childcare issue. This is the cost of of auto registration. It's the cost of health care. It's the cost of health insurance. And it's our version, I think, in Colorado of the economic misery that has elected Donald Trump, not just once but twice in this country. And so I think we can sit here on our hands and color inside the lines and have another decade go by where the median family house price doubles again in Colorado or the cost of childcare goes from $20,000 on average to $40,000 or we can do something about it. And I think if we do something about it, we can restore our faith that our exercise and self-government actually can work. And if we can't do anything about it, we shouldn't be surprised if Trump is continues and continues and continues. He is a symptom of our problem. I think fundamentally as a nation, I blame him for many, many things, but getting elected is not one of those things. And I think if you don't understand him as a symptom, you're never gonna understand what we have to do to move him out of the way. Give us an idea to fix this affordability crisis. Well, I've already read the first issue. The first policy proposal I put out was a very comprehensive approach to housing. That's about building much more housing, trying to get to a place. Certainly to have a goal that nobody in Colorado has to pay more than 30% of their income for housing. That's gonna be obviously not something that's gonna be fixed overnight. But I think we can take steps today to build more housing, to build it more densely, to build it more affordability to give people more choice in the housing that they buy. And by the way, it's not just my kids I'm worried about here or young people in the state. It's also seniors who wanna have a place to move other than the place that they're in. I think that, well, I'm sorry, this is the problem we know. This is the problem Jared Polis talks about. These same words could have come out of his mouth and he's been working on it for years. What's an idea? What's something you'd do differently than him? Well, I think that first of all, I hope you'll look at the policy proposal that I've made. I listened to your announcement. I was kind of confused. Well, let me help you be confused. What, no, tell me what challenge. Well, I just, you said stuff like, I wanna unleash private industry. I wanna cut red tape. I wanna remove barriers. And I was like, what? How? What are the ones? What are the moves? What are the bills that he is not considered or proposed that you wanna do? Well, I think for example, first of all, this isn't just about bills. So I think that's a huge mistake. This is about propelling our entire state to have an aligned set of incentives and an aligned commitment to a set of outcomes that is gonna make it possible for our kids to afford housing here. One of the ideas that I included was using the state's balance sheet so that we can provide 30% more state-supported housing than the state government has been able to do so far. That's the idea that's totally different than what Jared Polis has proposed. I think my approach would be totally different as well. I've spent my entire career, my entire political career building coalitions and creating the kind of collaboration that we need to be able to align those incentives and to be able to much better align our, the credits and other federal and state and local tax incentives that are available to people to build housing in Colorado. I don't think we've done that good a job of aligning that. I described in my plan that we should have a one-stop shop in the state of Colorado to make sure that projects are, people don't have to shop in one agency and another agency and another agency to get the benefit of the state subsidies for housing. I mean, that's something that the state has not done. So I think it's very different from what has been proposed before. I think it's one thing to observe the problem. It's another thing to actually create an ecosystem where we can achieve a goal that I think is achievable, which is to try to get to a place where people don't have to spend more than 30% of their income on housing, which by the way, we are very, very hard from that today. When I was the superintendent of schools in Denver, every day I did a faculty meeting in Denver. And I almost never met a teacher that didn't live in Denver. That was one of the awesome things about teaching in Denver, unlike Seattle or San Francisco or Portland. Our teachers could actually live near where the schools where they taught. That's no longer true in Denver. It's not true in Jeff Cohen. It's not true in Douglas County. It's not true in rural Colorado. We are going to have to take this on as a state. And I think we will. I just want to ask one more question about housing because this is very important to our listeners. You talked about a collaborative approach. And you've also talked about density. And I think that's exactly the problem Jared Polis has run into. As he passed this big package of legislation, he has called on local municipalities to increase density, to do transit oriented development. And then they all, especially some of these South suburbs, I'm thinking about a little bit of Englewood, like all these South suburbs have sued him when he tried to compel them to make these changes with an executive order. What would be your approach to creating this density that you and him have both pursued? I think my approach would be very different from that. I'm not some, but I've spent my entire career stealing other people's really good ideas. And the way you do that is by listening to other people, the way you do that is by spending time with them in their neighborhoods and in their city council chambers and in their schools and on their farms and ranches, taking in their input and their suggestions. By the way, my housing plan itself was the result of a process just like that. My childcare plan that I have introduced was itself a process like that. And in my view, that is fundamentally an exercise in coalition building. And that is fundamentally an exercise in building the kind of collaborative work that has to be done with every level of government in the state and with the private sector and with nonprofits and other organizations. So I think I am friends with Jared. I admire Jared. I think he's done a good job as governor. Our approaches on this question might be aligned in the sense of, you know, seeing the need and wanting to think about how to make it better. I think that our approach in terms of doing the work will be vastly different. And I'm not running for this job to fill a seat. I'm not running this job, running for this job to color inside the lines or nibble around the edges. We can't do that anymore. And be able to look ourselves in the face and know that our kids are gonna be able to afford to live in Colorado. You think he's nibbling around me? I can't do that anymore. We can't do that anymore and believe that these are challenges that actually can be solved in a way that can give people hope that they still have the American dream for their kids. I don't think I'm not accusing him of anything but I don't think we've delivered. Listen, the median family cost of a single family house in Colorado is $650,000. The cost of childcare in Colorado is $20,000 on average. That is a disgrace. We are the fifth most expensive state in America to buy a single family house. We are the fourth, I think, most expensive state in America to buy childcare. That is a fucking disgrace. And we have to address it because people aren't gonna be able to live in this state if we don't. And for me, it's not a problem. This isn't about playing politics, it's not about rhetoric, it's about how are we gonna roll up our sleeves and actually do the work and I think we'll be able to do it. Mandatory up zoning, that wouldn't be nibbling around the edges. I mean, this is the direct problem. These local municipalities, they want to preserve the character of the neighborhoods. They want to preserve the character of their communities. There it is. Would you go and help them to up zone? Let me see. I don't think there actually is. I'm gonna push back on you. I don't think there is a one size fits all approach that's gonna work. I don't think it will work. I think that what Lakewood is gonna do and what Bracken Ridge is gonna do and what Lyman is gonna do and what Durango and Grant Junction are gonna do are all gonna, and Alamosa are all gonna look different. It would, you would be, I think that it would be a fool's errand to believe that every one of these diverse communities is gonna approach this work in the same way or that they're gonna respond well to some edict from the central office or that you're even gonna be able to do it all at the same time in the same place. I just don't think that's how you make change. I think what you have to do is find willing dance partners in this state and there are many of them who are elected officials at the local level and the county level who are business leaders, who are the CEOs of hospitals, who are people that have the responsibility to figure out how to deliver mental health care and health care and education to the people who live in their communities who don't need a lecture from you about the need to build housing in their community. What they need is a collaborative partner from the governor who can help think differently about how to create a set of financing structures that can make the capital stack cheaper so that people can afford housing who can help align the incentives and incentives up and down the state through local governments down or through county governments, down local governments who can make it possible for people to be able to actually build housing in a cheaper and more quick way. And that's I think you are obviously passionate about this. I'm obviously passionate about this and I think that we need to deliver results because I think we're out of time for the reasons that I said and I apologize for using the word I used but I don't want to do it again. I've never heard your curse before. Well, I've heard you raise your voice before though. You do have, you do have the occasional viral moment. It's an interesting topic that affects every one of us. I didn't bring tech crews with me today. I don't know, I live in a neighborhood that has one of the first pilot programs for ADUs. I, you can see public housing from my porch. We are already integrating all of these housing styles that I don't necessarily see in some other neighborhoods in Denver. So it's something that I think about a lot too. Well, when you think about things like the, you know, the bill that ran last, by the way, passing a bill in Denver is not the same thing as building more housing in Colorado. And passing a bill in Denver is not the same thing about as making childcare cheaper in Colorado or I mean, it's about execution. And I think that that's been some of the huge challenges that we've faced as a nation. And it's not surprising to me that we're facing some of those same challenges in our state of the situation as well. This episode is brought to you by Multipass. Did you know you can sell event tickets and memberships for your organization, business or create them in Denver with Multipass? 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So I've heard from lots of liberals and more progressive-minded people that they don't feel so good about the Democratic Party and that leadership can feel like an old boys club. Like it's guys like you, Hickenlooper, Polis, you've worked together, you've rotated, I mean, you've been in these positions and you've been in positions of power for a long time and maybe that you aren't super in touch with what everyday people want. Do you think you're out of touch with the average Colorado? No, I don't. I think that I've spent my life in public service in touch with the average Colorado. And I think it's reflected in the decisions that I've made all throughout my career. I'm not aware of anybody in the history of our country who has been both an urban school superintendent and a three-term senator. I'm not aware of anybody in the history of our country who's been an urban school superintendent and a three-term senator and somebody who turned around failing companies and knows something about how the private sector actually works, which I don't think is a bad thing for us to have leaders that do. And I have fought many times that when I've been in the Senate, that it's too late to grow a spine when you get there. You need to have done it before you get there. And the work in particular that I led in the Denver Public Schools, I think has stood me in very good stead since I've been there because we had to make very hard choices. We're very difficult over a pretty long period of time to be able to deliver for the people that I work for. So quite apart from being out of touch, I feel like I'm actually quite in touch and I am horrified by the situation we find ourselves in, which is with the entire economy and the entire democracy at risk because of the failures of my generation. I feel moral obligation to my own three-dollar daughters that is no different from the moral obligation. I feel to the kids I worked for in Denver or to the kids who live all over rural Colorado whose parents want for them exactly the same thing that the parents in the Denver Public Schools want for their kids but who are divided from each other because of a political system that is serving only the interests of the politicians. And by the way, nobody, nobody can take a backseat to me. I don't think in terms of my anger at the National Democratic Party and the failures that led to the election not just to Donald Trump once but twice. I share that view. Yeah, I think we're here in your anger today for sure. But I think that you do know what Bree's talking about though this sense, like young people have this sense, we see him in this poll last month, Magellan Strategies, 44% disapproval for you among several of your peers, like Jared Polis, Hickenlooper, compared to 38% approval. We're seeing the numbers, it's not good numbers. Well, I think that I'm not, I stand by my public service and I stand by the arguments that I'm making in this election and people can make their decision about whether or not they think that what I'm saying is what I believe and what I'm saying is relevant to what they believe and what they think that's a choice they're gonna have to make. I feel very confident that if I somehow lose this election, it's not gonna be because people think I'm out of touch with them. There may be other reasons, but I don't think that will be the reason why. And I do think that a much more important question is why young people in America and in Colorado feel like they hate all politicians, they hate all political parties, they hate our political system and believe that our democracy won't work for them. And I understand completely why they believe what they believe. And my argument is that, you know, that is not to argue that we don't have a corrupt system. We do have a corrupt system. We do, it is corrupt. The question is, what do you do about that corruption? And I think that we have to find a way to be able to engage young people in a system that has not delivered for them. But it depends on them for our survival. The system of American democracy will not survive if people that are the age of my children do not grab the levers of this democracy. And that is a huge challenge. Here's a specific on this topic that's been in the news this week. Your main opponent in the Democratic primary just commented on this. He was the first statewide elected official, Phil Weiser Attorney General, to come out in support of an exceptional redistricting, congressional redistricting, to allow Democrats to send an additional Democrat to Congress to help retaliate against what Trump is doing in Texas and other states. I don't think you're on the record one way or the other on this. So we want it to know, do you support an exceptional redistricting to send more Democrats? And I've said, and I've said, I've said again, we shouldn't, we should at a moment when Trump is doing what's Trump doing, what Trump is doing. We should keep all our options open, we should keep all our options available to us. But our focus right now needs to be on 2026, not on 2028. Our focus needs to be on winning the House of Representatives. That is what every single elected leader should be focused on. That is what the people of this country need to be focused on. We have the eighth congressional district which we've lost in the last election, shockingly, to Donald Trump. We have to get that back. We have a congressional election we can win. And I think in El Paso County, and let's go and do that. Let's take on Lauren Bober. Let's make sure that we win. So I say, sure. Let's not take anything off the table, but let's not get distracted from the stuff that actually matters because if we don't win those elections, if we don't win that majority, it doesn't matter. So that's the most important thing that we can do. So just so I'm clear, you're saying don't take it off the table. I'm hearing that as a yes. You like the idea. I'm saying don't take it off the table. That's what I'm saying. Okay. Okay. I think we should talk about some of these other issues that Governor Polis has recently taken a stand on, just some issues that were hot topics in the legislature in the last year. There were three in particular bills that he vetoed that a lot of young people were pretty upset about. People listeners to our show here in Denver, we wanted to hear what you would have done or might do if you were faced with these same bills. So, Bri. Would you sign the Worker Protection Act which would make it easier to form a union? I haven't made a public statement about that. I'm not yet the Governor. I said... Would you make one now? I said at the last time that Polis was considering this that I believe that we should come to a compromise on this and that I thought a compromise was possible. Unfortunately, the deal fell apart and he's going to have the chance to negotiate another, you'll have another opportunity to negotiate this and I think we only have one governor at a time. So, I'm watching it carefully. I'm just thinking about people listening to this and going, how is this going to be different from Polis? How are you going to be different from Polis? I don't know why you keep asking that question because I think that maybe it's because... Because people know what it's like to live here under Polis. We want to know what it would be like to live under a governor Bennett. Well, I've tried to express that during the course of this conversation. Yeah, okay. So, here's another issue. Uber Sexual Assault Bill, which would increase regulations on rideshare companies. He vetoed it after the rideshare companies threatened to leave the market. I would not have vetoed that bill. Okay. The next one on the topic of housing. Some people would call this red tape a regulation or something but there was a bill that's come back now twice to ban products like real page that use algorithms to help landlords set the rent. I don't look at it. Oh. Huh. What about restaurants? Polis was all gung-ho about this bill about lowering the tip minimum wage. Denver restaurants are closing. What we want to know what you think about that bill? I think the much more important question is can we create a set of conditions in our state where we're not losing a quarter of the restaurants in Denver where small businesses aren't being driven out of their business and I think we've got to address that. We're going to have to find ways of dealing with it and I think a bunch of well-intentioned legislation piled up in a way that resulted in there being more closures than during COVID and that's a huge problem. Hmm. I want to ask you about something that Denver rides are going to be voting on here pretty soon and I know you just released a policy platform on childcare this morning. I haven't had a chance to dig in but there is one question on Denver ballots right now that is related to kids which is I wonder how you're planning to vote on this proposal to repeal Denver's ban on flavored tobacco. I believe that we should support the ban on flavored tobacco. But I'm glad you asked that one because I've not actually had a chance to review all of the ballot and so there's more to think about between now and then. Are there any election issues you're watching? I mean, I know it's an off-year election but you vote in Denver, right? Yeah. Okay. I just answered a question on the ballot. Yeah, I don't know. Were there other questions on there that you're thinking about? Or like the bond? I'm thinking about all of the bond. I'm thinking about Mayor Johnson's bond. I'm thinking about all of the ballot initiatives all over Colorado they're trying to make childcare a little bit more affordable for people. I'm thinking about all the ballot initiatives across the state that are starting to think about what do we do about these housing questions. Yeah. Any thoughts on the Broncos stadium? Yeah, I hope it'll be awesome. All right. Senator Michael Bandit, thanks for joining us. Yeah, thank you so much. Thanks a lot for having me. That's all for today here on CityCast, Denver. If you enjoyed this show, want to take a minute to tell Uber Sexual Assault Bill sponsor Jenny Wilford about us. Rate the show wherever you get your podcasts. And subscribe to our morning newsletter and learn more about us at denver.citycast.fm. 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