House Majority Leader Alice Madden announced Wednesday that she won’t run for governor, urging her supporters to instead back former Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter.
“It was a very personal decision about the time I’m in in my professional life and my commitment to the House and the majority that we reached,” Madden said. “I feel like we’re moving Colorado forward, and it’s going to take all of our efforts to maintain the House and the Senate and the governor’s race, so Democrats should be working together.”
Madden had been considering joining the Democratic race since Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper announced last week that he was not running.
After Hickenlooper’s announcement, Democratic U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar endorsed Ritter and urged all state Democrats to back the candidate. But some Democrats seemed committed to floating a candidate who supports abortion rights.
In fact, last year Madden, of Boulder, said it was important to approach other Democrats because Ritter is an abortion foe. On Wednesday, she said she would continue talking to Ritter about the issue.
“Obviously, if it was a big problem, I wouldn’t have thrown in my support of him now. I would have waited,” she said.
She said she heard that Ritter had “moved a bit” on the issue.
Ritter said his stance is unchanged. “It’s not part of our agenda to change the law, and our agenda is this: It has to do with reducing unintended pregnancies. I think that’s the part of it that people understand differently than before,” he said.
Madden said she could have raised the money needed for a primary and was not pressured to get out of the race, even by “people who didn’t think I should do it.”
Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, who cut a $500 check for Madden’s potential campaign, said she was disappointed but understood.
Fitz-Gerald said she was “not prepared to” back Ritter yet, “but if he’s the Democratic candidate, I certainly will.”
Ritter’s only Democratic opponent is Gary Lindstrom, a freshman state representative from Breckenridge who said Wednesday he remained open to instead running for re-election to his House seat.
Staff writer Chris Frates can be reached at 303-820-1633 cfrates@denverpost.com.
