Results: Democratic state Sen. Brittany Pettersen defeats Republican Erik Aadland in Colorado's 7th Congressional District election

Brittany Pettersen's campaign; Erik Aadland's campaign; Insider

• Explore more race results below.
• Democrat Brittany Pettersen defeated Republican Erick Aadland in Colorado's 7th Congressional District.
• The 7th District is anchored in Jefferson County. 
• Redistricting made the district less Democratic, but Pettersen still scored a win.

Democratic state Sen. Brittany Pettersen defeated Republican Erik Aadland in Colorado's 7th Congressional District. Democratic incumbent Ed Perlmutter, who served Coloradans for 16 years, previously announced he would not run for reelection, leaving the seat up for grabs.

Polls closed in the state at 7 p.m. local time, or 9 p.m. EST.

Colorado's 7th Congressional District candidates

Brittany Pettersen represents District 22 in the Colorado State Senate. Prior to being elected state senator, Pettersen was a Democratic member of the Colorado House of Representatives from 2013 to 2019. 

Perlmutter formally endorsed Pettersen's bid for the 7th Congressional District seat. 

Aadland, Pettersen's opponent, is a veteran who served in the US Army for eight years, including two combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last June, Aadland announced his candidacy for US Senate, but after struggling to gain traction, he pivoted to the 7th Congressional District when new boundaries for the congressional districts were established. 

He defeated his opponents in the three-way GOP primary, bringing in nearly half the vote. 

Voting history for Colorado's 7th Congressional District

Colorado's 7th Congressional District is anchored in Jefferson County and stretches into Broomfield and several mountain counties to the west and south.

Joe Biden had a near 23 percentage point margin of victory over President Donald Trump under the district's previous boundaries in 2020 before the once-in-a-decade redistricting process following the 2020 Census made it less Democratic.  

The money race

According to OpenSecrets, Pettersen raised $2.65 million, spent $2.25 million, and had $445,000 of cash on hand, as of October 19. Her opponent, Aadland, raised $1.27 million, spent $1.22 million, and had $49,000 of cash still left to spend, as of October 19.

As of November 3, nearly a dozen super PACs, national party committees, politically active nonprofits, and other non-candidate groups together spent more than $1.5 million to advocate for or against candidates in this race, including during the race's primary phase. 

What experts say

The race between Pettersen and Aadland was rated as "likely Democratic" by Inside Elections, "likely Democratic" by The Cook Political Report, and "leans Democratic" by Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.