(Headline USA) Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., announced Wednesday she was switching congressional districts to avoid a likely rematch against a Democrat who has far outraised her with support from dark-money leftists.
In a Facebook video Wednesday evening, Boebert announced she would enter the crowded Republican primary in retiring Rep. Ken Buck’s seat in the eastern side of the state, leaving the more competitive 3rd District seat she barely won last year after the far-left Colorado Supreme Court added bluer regions into the redistricted map.
Boebert hinted that, apart from their Aspen vacation homes, many of Adam Frisch’s donors appeared to have few ties to the district itself but were on a crusade to bring down one of Congress’s most outspoken conservative women.
“I will not allow dark money that is directed at destroying me personally to steal this seat,” she said.
“It’s not fair to the 3rd District and the conservatives there who have fought so hard for our victories,” she continued. “The Aspen donors, George Soros and Hollywood actors that are trying to buy this seat, well they can go pound sand.”
Boebert called it “a fresh start,” acknowledging the rough year following a divorce with her husband and video of her misbehaving with a date at a performance of the musical Beetlejuice in Denver.
The scandal in September rocked some of her faithful supporters, who saw it as a transgression of conservative, Christian values and for which Boebert apologized at events throughout her district.
She already faced a primary challenge in her district, as well as a general election face-off with Frisch, a former Aspen city council member who came within a few hundred votes of beating her in 2022.
A rematch was expected, with Frisch raising at least $7.7 million to Boebert’s $2.4 million.
Frisch’s campaign had revived its 2022 slogan “stop the circus” and framed him as the “pro-normal” alternative to Boebert’s pro-MAGA conservatism.
If Boebert wins the primary to succeed Buck she will run in the state’s most conservative district, which former President Donald Trump won by about 20 percentage points in 2020, in contrast to his margin of about 8 percentage points in her district.
While it’s not required that representatives live in the congressional districts they represent, only the state the district is in, Boebert said she would be moving—a shift from Colorado’s western Rocky Mountain peaks and high desert mesas to its eastern expanse of prairie grass and ranching enclaves.
The Republican primary candidate who has raised the second most behind Boebert in the 3rd District, Jeff Hurd, is a more traditional Republican candidate.
Hurd has already garnered support from prominent Republicans in the district, first reported by VailDaily.
In a statement after Boebert’s announcement, Frisch said he’s prepared for whoever will be the Republican candidate.
“From Day 1 of this race, I have been squarely focused on defending rural Colorado’s way of life, and offering common sense solutions to the problems facing the families of Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District.” he said. “My focus will remain the same.”
Boebert rocked the political world by notching a surprise primary win against the incumbent Republican congressman in the 3rd District in 2020 when she ran a gun-themed restaurant in the town of Rifle, Colorado.
She then set the tone for being one of the more controversial—and headline-grabbing—GOP lawmakers after trying to enter the U.S. Capitol carrying a pistol and feuding with far-left “Squad” members like Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
