SXSW 2019 in Austin

Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper praised Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet on Sunday during his interview at South by Southwest, but questioned what Bennet and other Democratic senators have to offer to the 2020 race.

“Michael Bennet is one of my favorite people in the world and I think he is a great senator, much better than I ever would be. And if he wants to get into the presidential race, you know, I’m all for it,” Hickenlooper said of Bennet, who was Hickenlooper's chief of staff when Hickenlooper was mayor of Denver.

But without much prodding by moderator Ben Smith of BuzzFeed, Hickenlooper then undercut his former top adviser.

"Not unlike the other senators, I have a very different history than Michael does,” Hickenlooper said. “And you know, he has, he is really brilliant at thinking through complex issues, but I don’t think he probably has the same level of experience that I do in terms of bringing teams together and actually, you know, getting stuff done. Really moving things forward.”

Hickenlooper, who opened a brewery in Denver before hopping into politics, responded to a recent flap over whether he identifies as a capitalist by saying he firmly believes Democrats need to get away from labels as a way to attack one another.

He joked that he was a “card carrying something,” but lamented the fact that capitalism has failed people in this country.

“It is not providing middle class people and poor people the security or the opportunity that it used to, and I think we have got to move forward,” Hickenlooper said.

He pointedly reacted to Democrats who are supporting the Green New Deal and lambasted those members of the party who are advocating for a more incremental approach to climate change.

Hickenlooper also was open to legalizing prostitution, comparing the current treatment of selling sex to the war on drugs.

CNN's Nick Neville contributed to this report.

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