Bennett

Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) made a special stop in Marshalltown on Sunday.

Traveling from Waterloo to Warren County for the Democrats Annual Fall Dinner in Indianola, the candidate stopped by the office of the Times-Republican for a quick chat.

It was not Bennet’s first visit to Marshalltown. He had stopped in May on a campaign stop and fondly remembered the Taylor’s Maid Rite sandwich he had.

Considered a long-shot by many, Bennet is low on many polls. Democratic candidates Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) are the leading the pack of 15 contenders. Bennett said he thinks the race is still wide open.

“What I believe is in the end to be successful against Donald Trump, the Democrats need to nominate somebody who can not just unite the Democratic Party but can win back the nine million people who voted twice for Barack Obama and once for Donald Trump,” Bennett said. “I am the only candidate in the race that’s won two national elections in a purple state. Almost nobody else has run in a purple state. Iowa is a purple state.”

The candidate said he believes his stances on everything from climate change to healthcare to agriculture smartly aligns with those in the Hawkeye State. One of the national issues that has a lot of impact on Marshalltown is immigration and Bennet was one of the Gang of Eight – a bipartisan group of senators that wrote a comprehensive immigration reform legislation called the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013. The legislation passed the U.S. Senate but was defeated in the U.S. House of Representatives by a group of Congressmen led by Steve King (R-Iowa).

“I wrote the agricultural provisions in that bill with Marco Rubio from Florida,” Bennet said. “It was the only immigration bill ever to get support of farm workers unions and growers across the country. If I was president, we would pass a bill similar to the one we passed in the Senate.”

In addition to immigration reform, Bennet wants the country to reinvest in the education system.

“We need an education system that is running better in the 21st century and supports our kids,” he said. “The Democrats are running on free college. I am much more interested in free preschool than free college.

Bennet ended the visit by saying the money that America borrows from the Chinese government to pay for wars can be invested into infrastructure and education.

“I really believe we need to have a different set of priorities going forward the next 20 years – investing in the United States, in rural America,” he said.

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 or

lbradstream@timesrepublican.com