Colorado Rep. Brittany Pettersen calls on Biden to drop re-election bid

Freshman Democratic Rep. Brittany Pettersen is calling on President Joe Biden to drop his bid for reelection. She is the first Colorado congress member to take such a step.

“Joe Biden saved our country once, and I’m joining the growing number of people in my district and across the country to ask him to do it again. Please pass the torch to one of our many capable Democratic leaders so we have the best chance to defeat Donald Trump, who is the greatest threat to the foundation of this country that we have ever faced,” she said in a statement.

In explaining her reasoning, Pettersen told CPR News that she really struggled with the decision because she considers the president “a genuinely good human who’s done so much for our country.” She noted that, having worked as an organizer for the Obama-Biden campaign in 2008, “he’s meant a lot to me personally.”

"And while it was difficult," Pettersen said, it was “a right and clear decision.”

“The biggest threat is another Trump presidency and we have to speak out now because my son and my constituents can’t suffer the consequences,” she said.

Her statement also thanked Biden for his decades of service. 

“I want to thank President Biden from the bottom of my heart and on behalf of every resident of Colorado’s 7th Congressional District,” she wrote. “ You have done so much for our country, and I know you will continue to do what’s right for our future."

Pettersen’s announcement adds to the trickle of Congressional Democrats who have publicly made the same ask this week. Ahead of Biden’s Thursday press conference, Reps. Ed Case, Greg Stanton, Bradley Schneider, and Hillary Scholten all came out and asked Biden to pass the torch. As soon as the press conference ended, Rep. Jim Himes called on Biden to drop out, as did Reps. Scott Peters and Eric Sorensen shortly after.

Pettersen, who represents Colorado’s 7th Congressional District, is in a fairly safe Democratic seat. 

She hinted at her concerns earlier in the week. Coming out of a Democratic caucus meeting Tuesday morning, Pettersen was asked about the mood in the caucus and she spoke about “the urgency of this moment and what’s at stake in November.”

“We’re not running against Mitt Romney,” said Pettersen, pointing out that Trump said he’d be a dictator on “day one.”

Biden has maintained all week that he is running for reelection, a message he repeated continually and forcefully at his press conference Thursday night.

But that hasn’t stopped others from questioning that decision.

Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet spoke out about his concerns on the trajectory of the presidential race. “Donald Trump is on track, I think, to win this election and maybe win it by a landslide and take with him the Senate and the House,” he said on CNN earlier this week. But Bennet stopped short of calling on Biden to step aside.

After a meeting with top Biden aides Thursday afternoon, Bennet said it was a “good discussion,” but it didn’t change his thinking about the state of the race.

Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette, who spoke with the president this week on a number of policy issues, said Biden maintained a “clear grasp of the issues and the same wit and energy I have seen throughout our nearly 30-year working relationship.”

Other Colorado Democrats have continued to underline that Biden is the nominee and it’s up to him to decide whether to stay in the race. Democratic Rep. Yadira Caraveo, who currently holds the state’s only toss-up seat, has said she’s focused on her race.

The tricky situation Democrats are in was accentuated by Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi during an MSNBC interview on Wednesday. “It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We’re all encouraging him to make that decision, because time is running short."

Sen. John Hickenlooper hinted at some of the logic behind this approach.

“Joe Biden is a fighter and the more you attack him, the more dug in he'll get,” Hickenlooper told CPR News. “And I think part of the process is to give him space to really, you know, reconsider… what is best for the country."