Democrats ‘have to do better,’ Sen. Bennet tells Greeley town hall

Greeley resident Robert Casey, left, poses a question to U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet during a town hall at the University of Northern Colorado on March 18, 2025. (Chase Woodruff/Colorado Newsline)

Greeley residents Claudia Milstead and Mary Stack were hoping to hear from their representative in Congress, first-term Republican U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans of Fort Lupton, at a town hall during this week’s congressional recess. Both even visited one of his district offices — “It’s hard to find,” said Milstead — to ask the lone staffer there when he’d face his constituents.

“He said, ‘Well, you need to subscribe to his newsletter, and then you’ll know all about it,’” she said. “So I did subscribe to his newsletter, and I got one or two. There’s nothing about a town hall.”

With Republican congressional majorities pursuing a sweeping plan to slash taxes and social spending, party leaders have advised GOP members not to hold in-person town hall events, Politico reported. Evans, elected last year to represent Colorado’s battleground 8th District, appears to have listened, and his spokesperson told the Denver Post this week that the congressman would only hold town halls “in a way that allows constituents’ concerns to be heard without being drowned out by yelling activists.”

Instead, Milstead and Stack were among hundreds of northern Colorado residents who heard Tuesday night from Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, in the first of three town halls that Bennet is hosting throughout the recess week.

“One thing about him is he actually answered questions, which was good. And there were a couple of questions … that some people would consider hostile,” Stack said. “That’s what you want from your government servants. They’re supposed to serve us.”

Bennet, serving his third full term in the Senate after handily winning reelection in 2022, spoke for about 90 minutes to the crowd gathered at the University of Northern Colorado, answering questions about the choices he’s making at what he called a “traumatic inflection point” in the country’s history.

“My hope is that we will use this moment in American history — which is a difficult, difficult, difficult moment in American history — to make the changes that are needed, to be able to put us on the path we need to go,” Bennet said.

Bennet will also hold events on Wednesday in Golden, with Democratic U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen, and on Thursday in Colorado Springs. In Evans’ absence, progressive groups plan to hold a “People’s Town Hall” near his office in Northglenn on Saturday.

‘Someone who will fight’

Bennet’s brief town hall tour comes amid unprecedented attempts by President Donald Trump’s administration to expand the executive branch’s power, including attempted shutdowns of congressionally established agencies, mass firings of federal workers and a freeze on certain federal funds that has persisted in defiance of court orders. Trump’s actions have ignited a wave of protests against the Republican agenda and pressure on Democrats to do more to stand in its way.

Robert Casey, a Greeley resident, asked Bennet if he would support replacing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — who is facing intense backlash for his decision last week to back a short-term Republican spending deal to avert a government shutdown — with “someone who will fight.”

“Are you guys looking for that?” Casey asked. “Because everyone out here, everyone I know — moderates, hardcore left people — they want someone who will fight, and we need that.”

Bennet reiterated his sharp criticism of Democrats’ handling of the shutdown fight, which he said in a private meeting had shown party leadership had “no strategy, no plan, and no message,” according to CNN. While he didn’t weigh in on Schumer’s future directly, he pointedly raised the subject of former President Joe Biden’s failure to allow “a new generation to step in.”

“Every one of us should be asking those questions all the time,” Bennet said. “And I’m glad that you raised this. We have to do better. We have to do better.”

But he also had words of caution for Democrats, saying the party had been “repudiated” in the 2024 election, and spoke of resisting what he called a “totally understandable reaction, which is that somehow we’ve got to react every two seconds to whatever happens.” It’s a feeling, Bennet told the crowd, that his own mother shares.

“I hear from her at least 25 times a day,” he said to laughter. “If you see Susie Bennet somewhere, you can tell her that I’m registering all of the texts and emails and articles that she’s sending.”

Bennet, who has urged his fellow Democrats to “select our battles,” said the party needs to give voters a better sense of what it’s fighting for and against.

“A fight for Medicaid? That’s a great fight. A fight against the tax cuts that they want to make permanent for social media billionaires and Elon Musk? That’s a great fight,” he said. “We have to be clear about what it is, and we also have to be clear about what we’re fighting for as well.”

‘We need direction’

Bennet was warmly received by the assembled crowd, though there were scattered interjections from attendees urging him to do more to oppose Trump’s agenda. Bee Garduno, a Fort Collins resident, interrupted the town hall to ask Bennet why he had voted to confirm several of Trump’s nominees for Cabinet posts.

Bennet and fellow Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper have been among the Senate Democrats most likely to back Trump’s picks, voting to confirm eight and 10 nominees, respectively, out of the 21 selected so far. Bennet defended his votes on the grounds that maintaining good relationships with leaders of important executive-branch departments will help his constituents more than taking a stance of blanket opposition.

Laurie Morris, a Brighton resident, thanked Bennet for holding the town hall, but said it wasn’t enough.

“I hear everybody here saying we need leadership,” she said. “We need direction. We need to know how to get together … Help us find that. Give us something really specific. Who can we go to? Where do we go? How do we do this?”

“I guess I’d say, don’t stop,” Bennet replied. “This is not just about tonight … If our voices are not going to be raised in the moment we’re in, when will they be raised?”

“I think grassroots protests are really important,” Bennet told Newsline after the event. “And coming to this town hall, and having this conversation and having neighbors, friends of neighbors, be able to hear each other’s perspective and points of view, I think that’s important too. Out of this gathering, hopefully we’ll be able to build momentum going into the future — and when I say ‘we,’ I don’t mean me, I mean all of us working together.”