This state senator is looking to replace an incumbent that is retiring after 16 years of service in Congress. While the district isn’t one that is most at risk, we also cannot afford to be caught napping if the political environment goes completely sour for us later this year. That is why Majority Savers is choosing to highlight Brittany Pettersen, who is running for Colorado’s 7th district!
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Brittany Pettersen for Colorado-7:
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Candidate Background
There aren’t many details about her background available, even on her campaign website. I have cobbled together what I was able to find, and I hope this is enough to get to know her.
- She comes from a working class family that has been in the Jefferson County, Colorado area since her childhood. Her mother hurt her back and got addicted to opioids at a young age, which obviously caused family issues.
- She graduated from Metropolitan State University of Denver with a bachelor’s degree in political science. This she would put to good use later on in life.
- She became a State Representative after the 2012 elections, and then became a state senator after the 2018 elections. She was subject to a failed recall attempt in 2019 when petitioners couldn’t gather enough signatures to oust her.
Signature Issues
This was a tough section to write, mainly because she doesn’t have an “issues” page on her campaign website yet. I have scoured her Twitter account and gleaned what I could glean based off of impressions there and her legislative work. She seems like she will be a progressive in Congress.
Health Care and Abortion: Pettersen is pro-choice, and would codify Roe into law if elected. She would also sponsor legislation to tackle the rampant opioid crisis in this nation, as that is a personal issue to her as she basically lost her mother to opioids.
Climate Change: Like many in Colorado, Pettersen knows that we need solutions to the climate crisis. Reduced snowpack in the high mountains means less water for farmers and less drinking water for the area. She was aghast at the West Virginia vs. EPA ruling that gutted our chances of addressing this issue.
Election Integrity: Pettersen mentions several times that she is running in order to protect democracy, with conspiracy theories about elections taking center stage in Colorado. She would definitely support the John Lewis For the People Act if elected.
Elections History
Recent Elections —
2020 President: Joe Biden (D) 55.7%, TFG (R-inc) 41.5%
2020 House: Ed Perlmutter (D-inc) 59.1%, Casper Stockham (R) 37.6%
2022 Race Rating: Likely Democratic
2022 PVI: D+4
The 7th district of Colorado has only existed for a couple of decades, having first appeared in the 2000’s. It was at first designed to be a fair fight district, which either political party could win. It operated like that in 2002, as Rep. Bob Beauprez won one of the closest elections that year to come to Congress. He had a short tenure in Congress, choosing to leave in 2006 to run for another office.
2006 happened to be an excellent year for the seat to get open, as it was a blue wave year for our party. Rep. Ed Perlmutter easily secured this seat that year, and then easily won re-election in 2008 as Obama easily carried the district and Colorado’s electoral votes that year. Perlmutter largely went unchallenged after those two races, with the closest the GQP coming after that was in 2010.
What is different this year is that the district isn’t as secure as it once was, having traded the northern suburbs of Denver for very rural and conservative turf. Add that to the fact that this is an open seat, and State Sen. Brittany Pettersen should have a contest for this seat, which hasn’t happened for a long time. She is still favored, but in a bad midterm this seat could fall.
Political Tour of the District
The anchor of the district is Jefferson County and the independent city of Broomfield, which are the western suburbs of the Denver metro area. The district then stretches into the Front Range and covers more rural terrain west of Colorado Springs. This district is much more competitive in theory than previous versions of this district with the addition of that conservative turf in central Colorado.
Here's where races are won for us in the 7th district.
- Jefferson County and Broomfield: These suburban areas of the Denver metropolitan area are the population anchor of the entire district, and it is important that Pettersen win both areas handily. Failure to hit at least the Clinton margins (if not Biden margins) could spell trouble.
- Lake and Chaffee Counties: These rural counties in the Rocky Mountains are the exception to the rule, in that they are a light blue hue in spite of being rural. In a close race, it will be important to get a good margin out of these two small counties.
Here’s where we need to keep the margins down, or we will lose.
- Exurban Jefferson County: There are some more undeveloped precincts in Jefferson County, closer to the southern borders of the county. These areas are not quite conservative, but it is important that Pettersen doesn’t allow the margins to get too large here.
- West of Colorado Springs: Park, Custer, Teller, and Fremont Counties are hopelessly red in nature, and Pettersen is best off getting what little support she can. Luckily, there isn’t much in terms of population in this area (except for Canon City), but in a close race supercharged turnout here could spell trouble.
Activism — Help How You Can!
State Sen. Brittany Pettersen brought in $746k in Quarter 1, which should be enough for a race on the periphery of being competitive currently. She could be in trouble if dark money senses an opening or the race becomes unexpectedly competitive. Her GQP rival brought in little money in Quarter 2, so she should be fine for now.
In terms of cash on hand, Petterson is dominating her GQP opposition (who had a primary to handle first). She has a total sum of $964k cash on hand, while her rival had less than $50k available in his coffers at the end of Quarter 1. Petterson has stepped up her fundraising game, so let’s keep up the momentum with a small donation!
DONATE TO BRITTANY PETTERSEN HERE
Colorado is like Virginia in that people assume it has transformed into a blue state — but it still can throw a surprise at you. We cannot afford to make the same mistakes in Colorado that we made in Virginia last year. Volunteer for the campaign at https://brittanypettersen.com/volunteer in order to make sure our voters turn out for this race and for the governor and senator races as well!
Pettersen is still working on building up her social media profile, which is middling in terms of Majority Savers I have done. She has 7,344 followers on Twitter, which is a healthy amount for a first time Congressional candidate. Go ahead and follow her if Twitter is your main platform!
She also has a presence on Facebook at brittanypettersenforcolorado and on Instagram at brittanypettersen. I don’t use those platforms for politics, but if you do, check out our candidate!
Thank you for reading the 39th article in the Majority Savers series! I am currently looking at some of the races that may not be as competitive (or they may turn competitive) so that the most critical races remain later on. State Sen. Brittany Pettersen definitely could have a tough race in a bad environment, which is why I have spent some time highlighting her today!
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Brittany Pettersen for Colorado-7:
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