Sen. Michael Bennet on Friday said Democrats need to expand their appeal beyond the party’s base if they have designs on beating President Trump in 2020.
“We need to appeal not just to our base, but also to independents and others if we’re actually going to beat Donald Trump this time, which is what is required,” the Colorado Democrat said on CNN’s “New Day.”
Unlike most of his 2020 Democratic presidential rivals onstage at last week’s debate, Mr. Bennet did not raise his hand when the candidates were asked if they supported changing jumping the border to a civil offense, rather than a criminal one.
Mr. Bennet said Republicans will try to paint Democrats as the party of “open borders,” but pointed out that he helped craft a comprehensive immigration proposal in 2013 that included about $46 billion worth of border security and also provided a path to citizenship for the approximately 11 million illegal immigrants in the country.
“He certainly won’t be able to accuse me of being weak on border security because I helped write that bill,” he said. “Democrats more generally I think can’t be accused of it because every single member of the Senate at that time voted for that border security in that ’Gang of Eight’ bill.”
Mr. Bennet’s campaign brought in $2.8 million in contributions in the three-month fundraising period covering April, May, and June - well back of other candidates like South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, and Sen. Bernard Sanders.
He said he was “very pleased” with the total, pointing out that he entered the race later than some candidates. He also transferred about $700,000 from his Senate campaign funds.
“I think that’s a pretty good start for being at a standing start,” he said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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