Boebert’s seat switch draws swift reaction
Right-wing firebrand seeks to avoid embarrassing defeat in her own congressional district race
Reaction was swift to Lauren Boebert’s announcement that she’ll try to get elected from Colorado’s 4th Congressional District instead of trying for re-election in the 3rd CD.
Boebert announced Wednesday evening that she was abandoning her re-election attempt on Colorado’s Western Slope in hopes of being more successful out on the High Plains. Within hours she was accused of “seat shopping” and “carpetbagging” by political figures from both parties. Richard Holtorf, Colorado state representative who announced his candidacy for the congressional seat earlier this year, responded almost immediately with a fiery statement.
“The voters of Colorado’s 4th Congressional District want steady conservative leadership from their communities,” Holtorf said. “Seat shopping isn’t something the voters look kindly upon. If you can’t win in your home, you can’t win here.”
Holtorf hinted that Boebert is unqualified to represent eastern Colorado because she knows little or nothing about the area.
“She is grossly lacking in understanding the needs of the 21 counties in eastern Colorado that make up this district,” he said. “She knew she’d lose in her own district and I’ll show her that’ll she’ll lose here too.”
Former State Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, who announced his candidacy for the seat in early December, was more restrained, though no less dismissive of Boebert’s chances in the primary race.
“I look forward to welcoming Lauren to the 4th District and representing her in Congress,” Sonnenberg said. “I’ve lived, worked, and raised my family here and I’m blessed to have always called eastern Colorado home. The 4th District is my home, and I’m going to continue to work hard to represent the principled conservative values of everyone who lives here just as I have always done.”
Colorado Democratic Party Chair Shad Murib mocked Boebert as a known loser.
“Lauren Boebert can run, but she can’t hide. The good people of Western and Southern Col
orado didn’t wait for an election to beat Lauren Boebert — we scared her straight and chased her out of her own district,” Murib said. “With this carpetbagging move, Lauren Boebert has shown herself to be everything she claims she isn’t: a typical swampy politician looking for a reason to call Washington D.C. home. She’s a loser in CD3, and she’ll be a loser in CD4 — Coloradans won’t buy her bulls**it in 2024.”
Murib indicated that the Democratic effort to oust Boebert from the 3rd District will pivot to keeping her from winning in the 4th.
“Colorado Democrats launched The 546 Project, our unprecedented yearround campaign in Western and Southern Colorado, to make sure that rural Colorado is represented by someone committed to protecting our outdoor spaces, expanding health care, and treating people right — not hurting our farmers and ranchers with bad policies and foolish trade wars, or selling our public lands off to the highest bidders,” he said. “We look forward to this fight.”
Pundits overnight already were speculating that Boebert may have made a spectacular misjudgment in moving to the 4th District race. Both congressional districts are sprawling rural areas that otherwise have little in common. The 3rd District is home to Colorado’s famed wine and fruit country, but also contains most of the state’s posh ski resorts and other tourist attractions. The eastern plains are almost entirely agricultural. While the 4th District has a higher ratio of registered Republicans to Democrats than the 3rd, and thus is seen as more conservative, the population prides itself on its agrarian common sense.
Besides Holtorf, Boebert faces primary opposition from former state Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, conservative radio host Deborah Flora, Weld County Councilman Trent Leisy, Ted Harvey, Justin Schreiber and Mariel Bailey.