Congress Member Brittany Petersen– “Please Pass the Torch, President Biden” July 15, 2024
Yes, President Biden delivered a steady 50-minute performance at his high-stakes July 11, 2024 press conference. He showcased his strength in foreign policy, one of his strongest assets. However, IMHO, had Biden not tanked his June 27 debate with Demagogue Donald, he would not be in the horrible political mess he now is in. Again, his debate performance, which was meant to show that his aging was no problem, did exactly the opposite. Donald has increased his general polling lead and too many state’s electoral votes, which should not be in play (MN, NH, and maybe even NY) are. And as we all should know by now, elections in the U.S. are won in the Electoral College, state by state, not by the popular vote. Ask Al Gore and Hillary Clinton. Biden’s refusal to leave the race and turn his position over to VP Harris or another competent Democrat puts far too many House and Senate “Team Blue” legislators in danger of defeat in November, 2024. Any Democratic attempts to recapture the House and expand their Senate lead will, according to many pundits and legislators be crushed. Anti-democracy Trump could win in a landslide and push the awful Project 2025. Biden’s excellent presidential reputation and savvy political work in getting major legislation passed will be horribly sullied. Even during this mainly strong press conference that seemed to look similar to his 2024 good State of the Union address, Biden still made a noticeable gaffe by calling his running mate Kamala Harris, “Vice President Trump.” And earlier that day, he called Ukrainian leader Zelensky “President Putin,” the mad strongman who has invaded Zelensky’s Ukraine (poltico.com, Diaz, Wu, & Ferris, 7/11/24).
And Biden has not stopped his post-debate political bleeding. With the GOP’s convention starting this week, Demagogue Donald, if he looks even “mildly sane” will get a bigger bounce against Biden. And the attempted July 13, 2024 assassination attempt on Trump might also gain him a “sympathy” vote. Democrats, moderates, and anti-Trump Republicans should not have to hold their breaths every time Biden has a press conference, enters a debate, or speaks anywhere. Presently, over a dozen Democratic lawmakers have called on Biden to leave the race. These Democrats come from all over the U.S. and they are liberals as well as swing state legislators. Several congress members, right after Biden’s press conference, called on him to step down. On July 12, 2024, the day after the press conference, Democratic Congress Member Brittany Petersen joined this growing “don’t run Biden” crowd. Petersen correctly stated, “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 (kdvr.com/news/politics, 7/12/24).” Meet Cong. Petersen.
First-term Democratic Congress Member Brittany Pettersen (42) currently represents Colorado’s 7th Congressional District (CD). The present CO 7th is centered in the western and northern Denver suburbs (Cohen & Cook 2022 Political Almanac). The newly reconfigured Centennial State 7th includes Jefferson County and also takes in a much more rural population. Still, the bulk of the population lives in Jefferson and Broomfield Counties. Jeffco (Jefferson County) is affluent in its southern end and more marginal near the Denver city limits. Pivotal Jeffco is one of the nation’s most competitive battlegrounds. The 7th’s current Cook PVI (Partisan Voting Index) is a mildly “Blue” D+4 .The 7th’s Jefferson County voters backed “W” Bush in 2000 and 2004, and then went for Democrat Obama in 2008 and 2012. Hillary won the entire 7th in 2016 with 51% of the vote. In 2020, Biden clobbered Donald in the 7th with 60% of the vote. National political campaigns have battle-tested their messages in the 7th’s Jefferson County and political reporters run to this county to try to get their fingers on the pulse of the nation. One political observer stated that Jefferson County is “symbolic in every way of the battle for the soul of the middle class (Cohen & Cook 2022).” The 7th also contains the cities of Golden, home of Coors Brewery. Arvada, Lakewood, Westminster, and Wheat Ridge lie in the 7th. Middle-income Arvada and Wheat Ridge have an increasing number of Latinos. The 7th is over 74.9% White and 15.1% Hispanic (wiki). The 7th includes two-thirds of Adams County, which is 41% Hispanic. Adams County is projected to be the fastest growing CO county between 2020 and 2040. As recently as 2016, Jefferson County was strongly GOP in down-ballot races. Despite Biden’s strong 2020 showing, his age and awful debate performance could easily flip the weak PVI-rated Democratic 7th into the GOP camp. The 7th, therefore, remains a swingy CO district (See Cohen & Cook).
Jefferson County native Brittany Petersen graduated from Denver’s Metropolitan State University. Before getting into politics, Petersen worked for New Era Colorado. This group is a non-profit progressive organization that works to increase youth participation in politics and government (votesmart.org, ballotpedia.org). In 2018, she won election to the Colorado House of Representatives from that state’s 28th district. She served in that state chamber from 2013-2019 (wiki). Petersen opposed a repeal of CO’s death penalty in the 2013 legislative session (Stokols, E., kdvr.com, 3/26/13). In July, 2019, a recall petition was launched against her, but failed nearly two months later, because it did not get the needed signatures. The recall was launched against Petersen because she supported taxpayer funded heroin-injection sites, a bill to expand voting rights, as well as allowing a judge to prohibit an individual from possessing a firearm (denverpost.com, 9/10/19, Staver, sos.state.co, 7/18/19). When the 7th’s incumbent Dem. Cong. Ed Perlmutter stated he would retire from the House after the 2022
election, Petersen ran for his seat and won in Nov., 2022 with over 56% of the vote (businessinsider.com, results, Kang, H., 11/09/22).
In the House, Cong. Petersen presently sits on the influential Financial Services Committee (CQ 118th Congress At Your Fingertips). She is a member of the New Democrat Coalition and the Problem Solvers Caucus (petersen.house.gov.). These groups appeal to moderate/centrist Democratic Congress members and emphasize working across the aisle with Republicans. It should not come as a surprise that in the swingy CO 7th, first-term member Petersen would very carefully listen to her constituents and not always declare, “I’m all in for Biden no matter what he does.” In the current 118th Congress, Petersen broke from her Democratic party with her votes 3.1% of the time. Former Speaker and liberal Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) only broke with her party .8 % of the time (Pro Publica, Comparison of Congressmembers records 118th Congress). Fellow Colorado Dem. Congress Member Jason Crow, serving his third term, voted against his party .9% of the time (Pro-Publica). You get the idea. Cong. Petersen pays close attention to her swing seat constituents.
If the Democrats want to recapture the House, they need to keep the likes of members who represent swing districts such as Rep. Petersen. Biden himself indicated in his press conference that it was all right for Democrats not to campaign with him or to oppose his record in order for them to politically survive. IMHO, although I still feel that Biden should not run again because his age horribly showed in the debate with Trump, should Biden remain the nominee, all Democrats must come out in droves and “ride with Biden” and back all of the Democratic down-ticket. If VP Harris or another Democrat replaces Biden as the 2024 “Team Blue” presidential nominee, we must ride with them in “y uu ge” numbers as well. The present GOP has become a cult that blindly pledges allegiance to Demagogue Donald. Should Donald win a second term, he would hire people just like him who would be out for vengeance against their opponents and destroy our democracy.
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