U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen called on President Joe Biden to end his reelection campaign Friday, becoming the first Democrat in Colorado’s congressional delegation to do so publicly amid concerns about his age.
Pettersen, a freshman lawmaker from Lakewood, called the president a “good man” and cited her work on the 2008 Obama/Biden campaign as inspiring her own turn toward public service. Now, she says she’s asking him to “please pass the torch” so that Democrats “have the best chance to defeat Donald Trump, who is the greatest threat to the foundation of this country we have ever faced.”
She did not specify who should become the party’s new nominee if Biden were to drop out of the race — a move he has rejected repeatedly in recent days.
“I have a deep admiration and love for Joe Biden and all he has done for our country, which is why this decision is painful, but my son and my constituents can’t suffer the consequences of inaction at this critical moment,” Pettersen said in a statement posted on the social platform X. “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.”
Biden, 81, who is the oldest president in U.S. history, is facing increasing pressure to cease his campaign after a debate performance June 27 in which he seemed to struggle to end sentences or lost his train of thought. Recent stagnant polls have showed him slightly trailingTrump, the Republican former president who’s seeking a return to the White House.
Trump is 78, but his age has been less of a focal point in the campaign in recent weeks.
On Tuesday, Sen. Michael Bennet, a Colorado Democrat, warned on CNN that his party could lose in a “landslide” with Biden at the top of the ticket, though Bennet stopped short of explicitly calling on him to drop out. Other Democrats in the state’s congressional delegation largely have offered either support for Biden or silence since the debate, though Sen. John Hickenlooper told the news outlet Semafor this week that his office has heard overwhelmingly from constituents concerned about Biden.
Biden may have a chance to hear from Colorado Democrats directly in coming weeks. He plans a fundraiser in Denver on July 28, according to the Colorado Sun. A campaign spokesperson did not dispute the event details but said no travel plans had been announced yet.
In a statement Friday, U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, a Lafayette Democrat who is the House’s assistant minority leader, did not stake a position on Biden’s candidacy but underscored the need to defeat Trump at the ballot box.
“As a former impeachment manager following the attack on our nation’s Capitol on January 6th (2021), I understand just how destructive a second Trump presidency would be for our country,” Neguse said. “It is vitally important that Trump is defeated in November and that Democrats win back a majority in the House.”
As a member of Democratic leadership, Neguse has helped convene “candid, robust dialogue” between the caucus and the White House, he said in the statement. His description echoed a letter signed by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who wrote that he met with Biden privately to share the “full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward” that he’d heard from the caucus.
That includes diverse opinions from Colorado’s Democratic delegates. On Friday, a spokesperson for Rep. Diana DeGette, the state’s longest-serving member of Congress, reiterated her support for Biden.
Earlier in the week, DeGette told The Denver Post about Biden: “I do believe he has the capabilities, and he’s our nominee.”
On Friday, the New York Times reported that Democratic megadonors are threatening to stop $90 million in donations to a super PAC supporting Biden if he remains the candidate.
The Times also reported that Gov. Jared Polis, in Salt Lake City for the National Governors Association conference, called concerns about Biden’s candidacy “legitimate.”
“When you are down — and I think it’s important that President Biden and his team realize that they’re underwater in the polls, if the election was held today, he likely wouldn’t win — you need to change something,” Polis told the Times. “That could mean changing the message, the strategy, the candidate. But continuing to operate in the same way isn’t likely to lead to a different result.”
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Originally Published: July 12, 2024 at 10:07 a.m.
