Lauren Boebert wins crowded House GOP primary in new Colorado district

Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert emerged victorious in the primary election in her new Colorado district.

The controversial congresswoman beat five GOP opponents in a competitive primary in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District and will be the favorite to win the seat in the November general election. She will face Trisha Calvarese, winner of the Democratic primary.

Boebert won Tuesday evening with just over 43% of the vote. With 94% of votes counted, she received 52,006 votes.

At his victory party in northern Colorado, Boebert wore a Make America Great Again hat signed by Donald Trump and Trump designer sneakers. She called for a unified GOP and building bridges with other Republicans.

“We have to engage at the local level and start taking back our state,” she said. “And we have to stay informed and never again let ourselves be lulled into submission by the enemy. Never let anyone say that your voice doesn’t matter, that your vote doesn’t count. Because it absolutely does.”

Boebert currently represents Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, but decided to run in the very conservative District 4 after fellow Republican Ken Buck resigned earlier this year.

CD4 includes much of the eastern part of the state as well as Loveland and Windsor in northern Colorado and Douglas County in the southern part of the Denver metro area. Nearly half of the district’s voters are in Douglas County, where CBS News Colorado politics pundit Shaun Boyd says Republicans are “less MAGA and more mainstream.”

Despite there being nearly twice as many Republicans as Democrats in the county, former President Trump won Douglas County by just seven percentage points in 2020. Overall, Trump lost Colorado by 13 percentage points in 2020.

Boebert gave up his place in CD3 after almost losing to Democrat Adam Frisch in 2022. When she announced she would run in another district in January, she said the move was coming after “a pretty difficult year for me and my family.” This involved going through a divorce that makes headlines.

During her campaign, Boebert touted her support of Trump, which CBS Colorado Democratic political analyst Mike Dino said helped her immensely.

“President Trump’s support cannot be underestimated,” Dino said. “That was very helpful to her in the beginning because, you know, it was a big risk for her to leave her comfortable – or at least seemingly comfortable – 3rd Congressional District to move to the other side of the Continental Divide . »

Boebert spoke extensively about immigration issues during his campaign. During a debate on CBS Colorado last monthshe claimed that undocumented immigrants were overwhelming systems and services in the United States and called for mass deportations.

“Build the wall, expel them all,” she said, in a phrase she repeated throughout her campaign.

CBS Colorado Republican political analyst Dick Wadhams said Boebert’s significant fundraising advantage over his opponents also gave him a big boost.

“Congresswoman Lauren Boebert had two very distinct advantages in this campaign: the money she had in the bank and her prominence as an incumbent,” Wadhams said. “None of her five opponents had anything comparable to either of them, so this wide, diffuse field helped her a lot.”

Boebert reminded his supporters Tuesday evening that “it’s not over” and urged them to get involved in the presidential campaign.

“President Trump needs us more than ever to put 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 let up.”

During CBS Colorado Debate Last Monthseveral Boebert opponents pointed to their farming and ranching backgrounds, and in doing so indirectly highlighted Boebert’s status as a newcomer to the district. Only candidate Deborah Flora, a conservative radio host, attacked Boebert for her approach, accusing her of “abandoning her neighbors in CD3.”

Flora described the controversial congresswoman as someone who cares more about being in the national spotlight than representing Coloradans.

“We saw how Lauren Boebert would represent us,” Flora said. “Missing key votes by chasing cameras and being the center of DC drama instead of offering real solutions to people.”

From 10:30 p.m. Flora was in third place in the primary with about 13.8% of the vote.

“Lauren Boebert won tonight and that’s how it went in this race,” Flora said after the race was announced.

Jerry Sonnenberg comes in second with about 14.3%. Mike Lynch and Richard Holtorf each held 11% and Peter Yu 7%.

“At the end of the day, (Boebert) didn’t get over 50 percent, and I think that’s important to consider,” Dino said.

Republican Greg Lopez won Tuesday evening special election in CD4 and will serve the remainder of Buck’s term. Calvarese defeated Ike McCorkle and John Padora in the Democratic primary in CD4.