Two Presidential Candidates in Town This Weekend

It's Wesleyan Commencement weekend, which means graduation, reunion and lots of campus activities.

It also means you may bump into a presidential candidate or two on Main Street.  Both candidates are Democratic Wesleyan grads with strong connections to Middletown and Colorado.

Presidential candidates rarely stop in solid blue Connecticut while campaigning for president.  Our population is small, and hence our delegate representation, and we don't hold an early primary.  Occasionally a candidate will sneak over the border from NYC to attend a fundraiser in money-drenched Fairfield County. 

But this weekend is different.

Senator Michael Bennet

Senator Michael Bennet is the son of former Wesleyan president Doug Bennet. The late Doug Bennett will be honored in a ceremony on campus on Saturday at the campus chapel.

Bennet worked in the Clinton administration as staff counsel, and was named superintendent of the Denver school system in 2005.  He was appointed Senator for Colorado in 2009, when sitting Senator Ken Salazar became Secretary of the Interior.  He was elected Senator in 2010 and 2016.  In May he announced his candidacy for President.

Governor John Hickenlooper is in town for his 45th reunion with the class of 1974.

Governor John Hickenlooper, fournder
of Denver's Wynkoop Brewing will
meet Middletown residents at
Eli Cannon's Saturday.

After being laid off with thousands of other geologists in the mid-1980s, John Hickenlooper was out of work for nearly two years, before he and a friend decided to scrap together the money to open a brewery in an abandoned part of Denver. Working with a few other business owners, Hickenlooper helped create a new neighborhood that became a national model for urban revitalization.  

In 2003, Hickenlooper ran, and won, as a "dark horse" for Mayor of Denver. He eliminated a $70 million budget deficit without major service cuts or layoffs--cutting his own salary by 25 percent. Hickenlooper also instituted major police reform, expanded pre-k, and created a sweeping mass-transit plan. In 2005, with an approval rating of 92%, Time Magazine rated him one of the 5 best big city mayors in America. 

In 2010, Hickenlooper ran successfully for Governor. He was reelected in 2014 - one of only three Democrats to win a swing state in one of the worst cycles for Democrats in 25 years.  

In the past 8 years, Colorado jumped from 40th in job growth to become the number one economy in the country. The state has one of the fastest growing rural economies in the nation, and nearly 95 percent of Coloradans have healthcare coverage. Hickenlooper also brought oil companies and environmentalists together to pass the strictest methane regulations in the country - a major contributor to climate change - helped rebuild communities after major fires and floods ravaged Colorado, and stood up to the NRA to pass landmark gun safety legislation, including limits on high capacity magazines. 

Hickenlooper will meet with the public at Eli Cannon's Saturday from 2:30-3:30.  The event is free and open to the public and will be held outside on Eli Cannon's patio/beach.