Lauren Boebert, the controversial MAGA Colorado Congresswoman, nearly lost in 2022.
But the Democrat who nearly defeated her has announced that he’s going for it again.
Lauren Boebert Has a Problem
One of the biggest surprises on election night in 2022 was that Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), one of the more controversial members of the House.
She nearly lost her bid for a second term. Adam Frisch, the Democratic nominee in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, actually led on election night, in a race that wasn’t expected to be that close.
In a race that wasn’t called until later in November, Boebert ultimately won, by just 546 votes, in a race that went to a recount and was the closest House race in the country.
But Frisch announced months back that he is running again in 2024, setting up a potential rematch with Boebert.
It’s bound to be one of the most closely watched House races in the country next year.
In an announcement on Twitter back in February, Frisch shared a video from Election Night of Steve Kornacki on MSNBC reporting about Frisch’s better-than-expected performance, including other MSNBC personalities, such as Rachel Maddow and former White House Press Secretary Jennifer Psaki.
“I. AM. RUNNING.,” Frisch said on Twitter. “You heard it here first! I am officially launching my campaign to unseat Lauren Boebert and restore dignity to #CO03 representation. We lost by a mere 546 votes in ’22 — the closest race in the country — and know we can make that up in ’24.”
Frisch made clear in his launch announcement that he thinks he has a better chance to win in 2024 than he did in 2022, and that with Boebert not having changed her rhetoric in any way, adding that Boebert “has only doubled-down on her divisive antics, attention-seeking, and angertainment that does nothing to benefit the people of Southern and Western Colorado.”
In a Denver Post op-ed in reaction to the news that Frisch is running, columnist Krista Kafer saw it as a sign that the GOP “needs to wake up.”
Kafter noted that due to Boebert’s high profile and the close result in 2022, Frisch is likely to get a great deal of support from Democratic donors, including nationally.
She also stated that Boebert has not changed her style in any way since the narrow re-election.
“Some hoped that Boebert would moderate her rhetoric after the close election. But has she? Thus far she has refrained from calling fellow representatives terrorists. Boebert did not sit with her erstwhile bestie Marjorie Taylor Greene during the recent State of the Union or heckle the president like she did the year before,” the columnist wrote. “Unlike Greene, however, Boebert took center stage in the weeklong Speaker vote melodrama.”
Greene and Boebert have broken with one another, once reportedly even getting into a fight in a bathroom off the House floor. Greene was a backer of McCarthy in the Speaker fight in January, while Boebert opposed him. Both are members of the House Oversight Committee after Greene was restored to her committees after losing them in the previous Congress.
She added that the Congresswoman is “still quite the flibbertigibbet” in her Twitter usage.
Even Lauren Boebert, per the Denver Post, is fundraising off of how close her race was in 2022.
“Here’s the thing… I won my last race by a razor-thin margin,” Lauren Boebert said in a campaign email, per the newspaper.
“As you can imagine, left-wingers are going to rally around him big time after they came so close this past election. We need your help now to fight back.”
KCCO reported from Frisch’s opening campaign months back, quoting the candidate as stating that he’s focusing on four major issues in the district: “ranching and farming, domestic energy production, agriculture, and water.” Those mark quite a contrast from the culture war bombast with which his likely opponent is associated.
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Expertise and Experience: Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
