Sen. Bennet and Rep. Pettersen hold community town hall at Red Rocks Community College

BY OLIVIA JEWELL LOVE OLOVE@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

A community town hall turned into a lively conversation between elected o cials and constituents about TikTok, immigration and legislative priorities.

Colorado U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Colorado U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen answered many questions and heard comments from constituents at their town hall hosted at Red Rocks Community College on April 10.

Pettersen, a member of the freshman class of congress, outlined some of her priorities such as addressing the opioid epidemic, rising costs for families, workforce shortages, gun safety and abortion legislation.

Bennet stressed his commitment to mental health for youth and his support of SB 686, also known as the RESTRICT act. is bill looks to restrict security threats that risk information through technology; the bill itself does not cite any speci c app, but Bennet has been vocal about his disapproval of the Chinese owned TikTok video app.

e senator heard multiple comments from attendees about his strong stance against the popular app TikTok, but he maintained that he is concerned about many digital platforms. e elected o cials heard comments from constituents wondering what they are doing to “secure the southern border,” and both Bennet and Pettersen quickly rebuked the apparent xenophobia.

“I am deeply worried about what our own national digital platforms are doing to our teenage mental health,” he said.

He went on to say that TikTok is not the only o ender, in his eyes.

“Mark Zuckerberg (owner of Meta) is regulated less than your average business in Je erson County and I think that’s wrong,” he said.

Bennet explained to the crowd that one third of the growth of Colorado’s GDP over time has been from immigration.

“Illegal!” someone from the audience shouted as the senator spoke.

“It’s not illegal immigration, it’s immigration over that period of time….there are serious economic consequences to deciding we aren’t going to have a functional immigration system,” Bennet replied.

Bennet went on to discuss the circumstances that led to the election of former president Donald Trump, including that the former president stated “Mexicans are rapists” as part of his campaign for building a border wall. is remark led to cries of dissent from members of the crowd, some saying “he didn’t say that…what he meant was…”

Bennet, in his passionate speech, responded directly to those defending the former president.

“ at is what he said. Run the tape,” Bennet said.