Democrat Joe Neguse, who is seeking to replace U.S. Rep. Jared Polis in Boulder, received the support of two former congressional candidates.

State Rep. Brittany Pettersen of Lakewood and Sen. Dominick Moreno of Commerce City announced their endorsements of Neguse on Friday.

Moreno and Pettersen recently dropped out of the 7th Congressional District race after U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter of Arvada announced that he would run for re-election.

Neguse, a former University of Colorado regent and an attorney, announced that he would seek to replace Polis after Polis announced that he was running for governor.

In an odd twist of events, Polis may have contributed to knocking Perlmutter out of the gubernatorial race, which is what spurred Perlmutter to run for re-election, causing Pettersen and Moreno to end their campaigns.

State Sen. Andy Kerr of Lakewood also dropped out of the 7th Congressional District race.

In the left-leaning 2nd Congressional District, Neguse has essentially cleared the field so far, emerging as the likely winner in the race. Also filed to run on the Democratic ticket is Loveland resident Howard Dotson.

Neguse highlighted the endorsements from Pettersen and Moreno as joining a “long list of millennial leaders in supporting Neguse’s campaign.” Neguse is 33 years old.

“One of the reasons I ran for Congress is because we need a new generation of leadership.  Millennials represent more than 25 percent of America’s population – and yet, less than 1 percent of Congress – just 4 out of 435 representatives – are under the age of 35. We can change that by electing Joe to Congress and I’m proud to support him,” Moreno said in a statement.

“I have known and worked with Joe for years, ever since our days working together at New Era Colorado to get young folks more civically engaged. As a young progressive I know that Joe will fight every day for our values in Washington D.C., and I’m proud to endorse his candidacy,” added Pettersen.

Neguse co-founded New Era Colorado.

If elected, Neguse, would become the first African-American ever elected to Congress from Colorado, and he would be one of the youngest members of Congress.