EMILYs List Endorses Brittany Pettersen for Congress

For Immediate Release
March 16, 2022

EMILY's List Endorses Brittany Pettersen for Congress

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, endorsed state Sen. Brittany Pettersen to represent Colorado’s 7th Congressional District. Laphonza Butler, president of EMILYs List, released the following statement: 

“EMILYs List is proud to endorse state Sen. Brittany Pettersen’s campaign for the must-win open seat in Colorado’s 7th Congressional District. Pettersen overcame tremendous challenges early in life with the help of dedicated public school teachers, and she has found strength in service to her community and state. Her distinguished record in the Colorado General Assembly includes sponsoring the state’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act and “red flag” gun safety legislation, as well as fighting for increased access to mental health care and substance abuse treatment — an issue deeply personal to her family. We know Pettersen has what it takes to win, and we are thrilled to stand with this champion for Colorado working families.”

A fourth generation Coloradan, Brittany Pettersen had to take on adult responsibilities at a young age as her mom battled with addiction. She began to work cleaning houses and taking odd jobs at the age of 12, and with relentless hard work and the support of her teachers, she beat tough odds to become the first member of her family to graduate from high school and college. Pettersen has dedicated her career to civic engagement, building community, and public service. She worked on President Obama’s historic 2008 campaign and engaged a new generation of Coloradans in their democracy through voter registration and advocacy before stepping up to put her own name on the ballot. In 2012, she ran a successful grassroots campaign in a competitive race for the Colorado House of Representatives — and became the youngest woman in the state legislature. In 2018, Pettersen was one of five young Democratic women candidates nicknamed the “Fab Five,” whose double-digit wins in 2018 helped take the majority in the state Senate. She and her husband, Ian are proud parents of a young son, Davis, and she is only the second Colorado legislator to give birth during a legislative session.

EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $700 million to elect Democratic pro-choice women candidates. With a grassroots community of over five million members, EMILY's List helps Democratic women win competitive campaigns – across the country and up and down the ballot – by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running nearly $50 million in independent expenditures in the last cycle alone, and turning out women voters and voters of color to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect the country's first woman as vice president, 159 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 16 governors, and more than 1,300 women to state and local office. More than 40% of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. After the 2016 election, more than 60,000 women reached out to EMILY's List about running for office laying the groundwork for the next decade of candidates for local, state, and national offices. In our effort to elect more women in offices across the country, we have created our Run to Win program, expanded our training program, including a Training Center online, and trained thousands of women.