Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert has emerged victorious in the primary election in her new Colorado district.
The controversial congresswoman defeated five Republican opponents in a competitive primary in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District and will be favored to win the seat in November’s general election.
CBS
Boebert won with just over 43% of the vote. That was at 8:47 PM when 91% of the votes had been counted.
At her victory party in Northern Colorado, Boebert wore a Make America Great Again hat and Donald Trump Branded Sneakers and called for a united Republican Party and building bridges with other Republicans.
“We need to get involved at the local level and start reclaiming our state,” she said. “And we must stay informed and never let the enemy lull us to sleep again. Don’t ever let anyone say that your vote doesn’t matter, that your vote doesn’t matter. Because it absolutely does.”
Boebert currently represents Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, but decided to run for the heavily conservative District 4 after Rep. Ken Buck resigned earlier this year.
CD4 includes much of the eastern part of the state, as well as Loveland and Windsor (both in Northern Colorado) and Douglas County (in the southern part of the Denver metro area). Nearly half of the district’s voters live in Douglas County, where CBS News Colorado political specialist Shaun Boyd says Republicans are “less MAGA and more mainstream.”
Although there are almost twice as many Republicans as Democrats in the county, former President Donald Trump only won Douglas County by 7 points in 2020. In total, Trump lost Colorado by 13 points in 2020.
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Boebert gave up her place in CD3 after nearly losing to Democrat Adam Frisch in 2022. When she announced she would run for another district in January, she said the move came after “a pretty difficult year for me and my family.” That also included going through it a divorce that makes headlines.
During her campaign, Boebert touted her support from Trump, something CBS Colorado Democratic political analyst Mike Dino said helped her immensely.
“President Trump’s endorsement cannot be understated. That was very helpful to her early on because, you know, it was a big risk for her to leave her comfortable — or at least seemingly comfortable — 3rd Congressional District and move to the other side. the Continental Divide,” Dino said.
Boebert also spoke extensively about immigration issues while she was campaigning. During the day a CBS Colorado debate last monthshe claimed that undocumented immigrants are overwhelming this country’s systems and services and called for mass deportations.
“Build the wall, deport them all,” she said, in a line she repeated during her campaign.
CBS Colorado Republican political analyst Dick Wadhams said Boebert’s massive fundraising advantage over her numerous opponents also gave her a big boost.
“Congresswoman Lauren Boebert had two very clear advantages in this campaign: the money she had in the bank and her name recognition as a sitting congresswoman. None of her five opponents had anything close to either,” Wadhams said . “So that big, diffuse field helped her a lot.”
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Boebert reminded her supporters Tuesday night that “it’s not over yet” and that everyone should get involved in the presidential race.
“President Trump needs us now more than ever to get him in the race, in the fight, in the White House on November 5,” she said. ‘We have a lot of work to do, don’t slow down. Don’t give in.’
During the CBS Colorado debate, several of Boebert’s opponents spoke about their backgrounds in agriculture and ranching, indirectly emphasizing Boebert’s status as a newcomer to the district. Sole candidate Deborah Flora, a conservative radio talk show host, directly attacked Boebert for her move, criticizing her for “abandoning her neighbors in CD3.”
Flora described the controversial congresswoman as someone more interested in being in the national spotlight than representing the people of Colorado.
“We saw how Lauren Boebert would represent us,” Flora said. “Missing important voices while chasing cameras and being in the middle of DC drama instead of delivering real solutions for the people.”
Flora came in third in primary voting with about 13.8% of the vote, and Jerry Sonnenberg came in second with about 14.3%. Mike Lynch and Richard Holtorf each had 11%.
“The bottom line is (Boebert) didn’t get more than 50%, and I think that’s important to consider,” Dino said.
Republican Greg Lopez won Tuesday night special election in CD4 and will serve the remainder of Buck’s term. The Democratic primaries in CD4 were still too close to take place at 9 p.m. Trisha Calvarese had a narrow lead (45%) over Ike McCorkle (41%).
