House Oversight and Government Reform Committee member Lauren Boebert. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Just two months ago, there was a “revolt” in Congress over the Trump administration’s efforts to bury the Epstein files. Once it became clear that a few House Republicans would support a discharge petition requiring the files’ release, Donald Trump himself flipped on the issue and ordered GOP lawmakers to do the same. Nearly all congressional Republicans voted for the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which gave the Department of Justice 30 days to release all of the materials (with redactions of materials that might harm Epstein’s victims). Some observers thought it might be the beginning of the end of Trump’s iron grip on the Republican Party or even over his own MAGA movement, where the Epstein files have long been the object of powerful conspiracy theories.
That 30-day deadline has now come and gone, and only a small fraction of the Epstein files have seen the light of day. Indeed, as the Guardianreports, the slow-walking from Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice seems downright defiant:
Justice department attorneys said in a 5 January Manhattan court filing that they had posted approximately 12,285 to DoJ’s website, equating to some 125,575 pages, under this legislation’s requirements. They said in this same letter that justice department staff had identified “more than 2 million documents potentially responsive to the Act that are in various phases of review”.
That these DoJ’s disclosures apparently comprise a drop in the bucket – and have done little to shed light on how Epstein operated with apparent impunity for years – has roiled survivors’ advocates and lawmakers.
The original House co-sponsors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, Democrat Ro Khanna and Republican Thomas Massie, are so furious about the administration’s noncompliance that they have petitioned federal district court judge Paul Engelmayer of the Southern District of New York to intervene and force an independent audit of the files and their release, arguing that the “DOJ cannot be trusted with making mandatory disclosures under the Act.”
Meanwhile, most of Massie’s congressional Republican colleagues seem to be moving along to other matters having made their one gesture the passage of the law Team Trump is now refusing to implement. As Politico reports, the widespread indifference is typified by Colorado representative Lauren Boebert, one of the handful of House Republicans who joined Khanna and Massie and forced the issue to the House floor via a rare discharge petition:
“I don’t give a rip about Epstein,” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) said last week when she was asked to take stock of the month since the Dec. 19 deadline.
“Like, there’s so many other things we need to be working on,” she added. “I’ve done what I had to do for Epstein. Talk to somebody else about that. It’s no longer in my hands.”
Even those Republicans who do “give a rip” about the Epstein files seem more interested in selectively than completely releasing them:
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who has worked with Democrats on a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee investigation into the Epstein case, said in a recent interview she’s now more more focused on holding Bill and Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress for not honoring the panel’s subpoena to testify about Epstein.
Many of the photos released by the DOJ so far feature the former president consorting with Epstein, and the administration has sought to portray Bill Clinton as the real pariah, not Trump.
This is entirely contrary to the law that Representative Anna Paulina Luna and 215 other House Republicans voted to impose on the DOJ in an atmosphere of great self-righteousness. Luna told Politico the original deadline for release of the files wasn’t “realistic,” which does make you wonder why she voted for it just two months ago. Once viewed as a demonstration of the legislative branch’s last-ditch willingness to show just a little bit of independence from Team Trump, the Epstein files saga is now showing that only the judicial branch and perhaps midterm voters can exercise effective oversight of this lawless administration.
new video loaded: Behind the Vote to Release the Epstein Files
The House approved a bill directing the Justice Department to release all files related to its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, in a near-unanimous vote. Hours later, Senator Chuck Schumer won unanimous agreement for the Senate to pass the measure as soon as it arrived in the chamber.
DENVER — The U.S. Department of Energy is canceling more than $7.5 billion in funding for clean-energy projects across the country, including more than $500 million earmarked for Colorado projects.
Russ Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, announced on Wednesday that funds would be canceled for 223 projects across 16 states, all of which voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election.
According to a list by House Appropriations Committee Democrats, 34 projects in Colorado are on the chopping block.
The cancellations affect places like Colorado State University, the Colorado School of Mines and the Colorado Energy Office, among others, whose grants have been marked for termination.
“Following a thorough, individualized financial review, DOE determined that these projects did not adequately advance the nation’s energy needs, were not economically viable, and would not provide a positive return on investment of taxpayer dollars,” the Energy Department wrote.
Denver7 political analyst Alton Dillard said the cuts send a clear political message.
“One, it is always going to be concerning that having a clean climate is somehow become politicized,” said Dillard. “But it also is sending the message that if you are in a state that supported Harris, that you’re going to pay.”
Denver7
Alton Dillard, Denver7 Political Analyst
Dillard warned of significant consequences for Colorado’s energy sector.
“In a state like Colorado that’s known for innovation and entrepreneurship, the downstream effects, I think, are going to be dire,” he explained. “So you add this back in again to the fact that we’re also in the middle of a government shutdown, and I know it’s an overused term, but we are at a major inflection point in not only clean energy, but just government in general.”
Dillard added that no one should be surprised by this move, as it delivers on exactly what the Trump administration said it was going to do.
The cancellations are likely to face legal challenges. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, recipients of those awards will have 30 days to appeal the department’s decision.
Reaction from Colorado’s lawmakers
In the wake of the cuts, Denver7 is hearing from Colorado lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, who represents Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, said the move was connected to the government shutdown and blamed Senate Democrats.
“This wouldn’t be an issue if Senate Democrats would stop their temper tantrum and vote to open our government. Their failure to act is hurting Colorado, from federal employees working here to ranchers and farmers depending on stability whose future is now uncertain. If anyone needs to answer questions about this, it’s Senate Democrats who are voting to shut our government down.”
Rep. Lauren Boebert / (R) Colorado
Democratic Senator John Hickenlooper, meanwhile, said the cuts “punish Americans who dared to vote against” the Trump administration.
“The cancellation of this funding for political vengeance is blatantly illegal. Congress approved this funding to create jobs and to generate cleaner, cheaper power. Even if for some dark reason you are against cleaner energy, these projects are well underway. To abandon them now wastes the funds already invested, and needlessly cripples dozens of honest, hard-working small businesses that believed having a legal contract with our country meant something. The White House strategy during their shutdown is to punish Americans who dared to vote against them.”
Scripps News Group and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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What could go wrong here? Photo: Bryan Dozier/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images
On September 23, the federal government will be exactly one week away from shutting downabsent congressional action.
There’s another thing about that date you should know: It’s when Democrat Adelita Grijalva will almost certainly be elected to the House seat in Arizona that was made vacant by her father’s death earlier this year. As soon as she is sworn in, she’s expected to join every other House Democrat in signing on to what’s known as a “discharge petition” that will bring the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a bill to force the Department of Justice to immediately release all the files in its possession, to the House floor for a vote. With four Republicans already signed on, this should bring the total number of petitioners to 218, a majority, giving Speaker Mike Johnson and the congressional leadership no choice but to give it a vote. The timing couldn’t be much worse, particularly for Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
The government-shutdown negotiations will be complex and time consuming, but the dynamics generally favor Republicans. They’ll be in a position to draft the measure that will be the vehicle for avoiding a shutdown and can make it as tempting or repellent to Democrats as they choose, depending on how they want the crisis to end. And that’s assuming they want it to end without a shutdown that many of them would happily greet. Democrats will be in a position to kill another spending bill with a Senate filibuster, or to cut a bipartisan deal if one is on offer, or to “cave” again and earn the fury of the party base. Some Democrats think an agreement to extend the Obamacare premium subsidies due to expire at the end of the year would be a sufficient trophy,for instance. The White House will dictate the GOP strategy during the government-shutdown talks, and Republicans will fall in line. That’s an asset Democrats can only envy, and it’s why they probably aren’t going to “win” the spending negotiations.
The Epstein files legislation, however, unites Democrats and divides Republicans, precisely at the time Republican solidarity will be more essential than ever. Word is that the White House is already putting the screws to the four House Republicans who have signed the discharge petition. One of them, Thomas Massie, who is co-sponsoring the bill with Democrat Ro Khanna, is a professional troublemaker who has already crossed Trump in the past and survived a MAGA primary challenge. Two of the other three, Lauren Boebert and her frenemy Marjorie Taylor Greene, have longstanding ties to the QAnon conspiracy crowd for whom cabals of sexual predators are the keys to understanding all world affairs. And the fourth, Nancy Mace, is running for governor of South Carolina and accusing one of her rivals of going easy on sexual-abuse offenders, including her own former fiancé. These four will be nearly impossible to move on the Epstein bill and Republicans can’t use too much force without risking their support for the spending measures needed to keep Democrats on the defensive and out of power.
Successful discharge petitions are so rare that the precise rules for dealing with them are a bit murky. Johnson could probably exercise some delaying tactics prior to the vote and, even if it passes, getting the Justice Department to comply over Trump’s objections would be difficult to put it mildly. Only Trump himself probably knows exactly how much damaging material is in danger of floating into the atmosphere like radioactive fallout. But after all these months when everything Trump did was described as a “distraction” from the Epstein files by those who were certain it was deadly for him, the Epstein files themselves are proving to be the biggest distraction of all.
The country has been waiting for years now for the release of the Epstein Files — all the info the government collected on underage sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein both before and after his death. Many of Donald Trump‘s supporters believed he would be their champion and make all of it public… but it’s become clear even to most of MAGA that’s a long wait on a train that ain’t comin’.
No, Trump — a longtime pal of Epstein, and not the only one in the government — has made clear where he stands. He doesn’t want any of it out, he wants everyone to shut up and stop asking about it, he even went so far as to say the entire thing was just a fake Witch Hunt — repeating as recently as Wednesday that it’s “a Democrat hoax.”
But of course, we know that’s not true. Epstein’s right-hand woman and sometime girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted on sex trafficking charges, essentially proving in court that Epstein was guilty, too. We mean, he died rather inconveniently in prison before he was able to face justice, but his accomplice’s guilty verdict was pretty definitive legal proof. After all, the victims said it was both of them who recruited, sexually abused, and trafficked them to powerful men.
So there’s just that one loose end. Why the hell aren’t any of these powerful men facing justice? The ones who participated in the underage sex trafficking? That’s who everyone has been hoping would be exposed when the Epstein Files finally went public. But that… never happened.
Well, thankfully a few Republicans are standing up to Trump and siding with Democrats to demand everything be released. Congressmen Ro Khanna (D-California) and Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) are asking their fellow reps to sign a discharge to force Trump’s DOJ to release all the files. They already have 134 of the 218 signatures they need, including Republicans Lauren Boebert, Nancy Mace, and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Wow. We may not agree with them on anything else, but at least we can all agree that UNDERAGE SEX TRAFFICKING IS WRONG! Jeez, why does this have to be difficult at all??
In a press conference on Wednesday morning, Rep. Massie hit back directly at Trump’s “hoax” defense, saying:
“I think it’s shameful that this has been called a hoax. Hopefully, today, we can clear that up. This is not a hoax. This is real. There are real survivors. There are real victims to this criminal enterprise, and the perpetrators are being protected because they’re rich, powerful, and political donors to the establishment here in Washington, DC.”
In their most powerful push for votes yet, Khanna and Massie invited some of those real survivors of Epstein to speak out about what was done to them — and why it’s so important these files be released. Trump’s FBI and DOJ used the victims as an excuse why the files should be kept private, to protect them — but these women are standing up and calling BS. And we are so in awe of their bravery.
Annie Farmer was just 16 years old when Epstein and Maxwell assaulted and took sensitive photos of her and her sister Maria Farmer. They even reported it to authorities at the time, and… nothing. That was in 1996, btw. Now she’s had three decades to witness the inaction when powerful men are involved. She told the crowd gathered on Capitol Hill on Wednesday:
“I am now 46 years old; 30 years later, we still do not know why that report wasn’t properly investigated, or why Epstein and his associates were allowed to harm hundreds, if not thousands, of other girls and young women.”
She added, pointing at the men still being protected:
“Not only did many others participate in the abuse, it is clear that many were aware of his interest in girls and very young women and chose to look the other way because it benefited them to do so. They wanted access to his circle and his money. Their choice to align with his power left those of us who had been harmed by this man and his associates feeling very isolated.”
Sky Roberts, brother of the late Virginia Roberts Giuffre — who died by suicide earlier this year, echoed these sentiments:
“The justice system was not designed to serve the powerful, it was meant to protect the people — and it’s time it started doing just that.”
He has every reason to be furious. The President of the United States admitted to knowing that Epstein “stole” his 16-year-old sister from Mar-a-Lago, and has faced no consequences whatsoever…
But the victims weren’t just there to inspire Congress to try to find them justice — they revealed they’re ready to fight with the one weapon they have: information.
As Haley Robson, who says she was trafficked by Epstein to other men starting when she was 16 years old, said:
“We are the keys. We know the games. We know the players.”
She also blasted the DOJ for using the victims as their shield for not releasing the files, saying:
“Shame on you for using our trauma to weaponize this moment.”
Well, you know who isn’t going to exploit the survivors and their trauma? The survivors themselves. Accuser Lisa Phillips declared to thunderous applause:
“And let me announce now: Several of us Epstein survivors have been discussing creating our own list of names. We know the names. Many of us were abused by them. Now together as survivors we will confidentially compile the names we all know were regularly in the Epstein world. And it will be done by survivors and for survivors. No one else is involved.”
Whoa. Whoa whoa whoa! Hell yeah! This is a total game changer!
We have to assume they’ve stayed quiet for so long because they were afraid of what would happen to them. After all, accusers have faced threats both of the legal AND violent kind. Well… not anymore! Now that it’s become clear the government has to be dragged kicking and screaming to truth and transparency, it’s well past time for these women to take charge.
It sounds like one way or another, an “Epstein list” is going to get released. After all, they know who some of the men who abused them are. Why shouldn’t they be allowed to shout it from the rooftops? Who’s going to stop them from outing sexual predators and rapists of minors??
Oh, right.
A White House official blasted the efforts to release the Epstein files, even though they clearly have the backing of the victims. They said:
“Helping Thomas Massie and Liberal Democrats with their attention-seeking, while the DOJ is fully supporting a more comprehensive file release effort from the Oversight Committee, would be viewed as a very hostile act to the administration.”
A “very hostile act” to the Trump administration?! Why would the push for a release of information be hostile to Trump? Hmm, let’s think about that one…
Some of the victims hinted at the men involved. Chauntae Davies pointed out how Epstein and Maxwell were consistently “boastful about their famous or powerful friends.” And Epstein loved bragging most about how close he was with Trump:
“And his biggest brag forever was that he was very good friends with Donald Trump. He had an 8 by 10 framed picture of him on his desk with the two of them, like they were very close.”
Several men have been associated with Epstein over the years. Bill Clinton rode on his plane and apparently had him over to the White House. Attorney Alan Dershowitz had some kind of relationship, though he’s quite litigious about what kind. Prince Andrew has been straight up accused of having sex with 17-year-old Virginia Roberts.
The infamous photo of Prince Andrew with Virginia Roberts, who says she was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with the Royal when she was just 17. / (c) BBC/WENN
But we don’t know of any other name as closely associated with Jeffrey Epstein as our 47th President.
Trump was good friends with Epstein for years, they were party pals, having been described by mutual friends and acquaintances as “best friends” and “wingmen.” There’s a ton of photo and video evidence of them partying together. There are stories about them hanging out with young women. Hell, Trump even said in a profile in 2003:
“I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy, He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
If that weren’t suspicious enough, Trump actually has been accused of wrongdoing with Epstein. A woman going by the pseudonym Katie Johnson told a horrifying story years ago, accusing Trump of tying her to a bed at Epstein’s apartment and raping her. She said she was only 13 years old when this happened. The same age as his daughter Ivanka Trump that year.
Johnson withdrew her lawsuit against Trump, citing fears for her safety, and has since disappeared. You can read her entire story HERE, if you have the stomach for it.
The point is, there may be a huge reason Trump is so keen to sweep all this under the rug — and always has been. But he can no longer silence the survivors.
We don’t know what will come first, the victims’ unofficial Epstein list or the actual release of actionable material by the US government… but if we had to bet, the smart money is on the women to come through.
And damn, we cannot wait.
See the full press conference for yourself (below):
According to Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert, the Democratic Party has a bone to pick with ol’ Saint Nick. Maybe it’s because Santa Claus’ red suit just so happens to represent Republican colors. Or maybe because Democrat mayor Eric Adams is getting a lump of coal in his stocking this year? Who’s to say?
Why do Democrats (allegedly) hate Christmas?
Lauren Boebert claims that the Christmas hate comes from a proposed amendment to the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program, a program put in place to reduce the risk of wildfires across the nation and encourage landscape restoration. That sounds like something that would land you on the nice list, sure, but what does it have to do with Christmas?
Boebert’s proposed amendment to the program would require foresters to submit a yearly plan concerning the sale of Christmas trees and firewood on government-owned land. She claims the amendment will allow families to better heat their homes and cut back on overgrown forests. Opponents of the amendment, such as California Representative Katie Porter, claim that it is nothing but a thinly veiled cash grab that favors selling trees over protecting them. “Tree harvesting for anything other than the purpose of landscape restoration is not in the spirit of the program,” said Porter, as reported by The Independent. She went on to add that tree harvesting regulations already fall within the purview of the forest service, and that the amendment is unnecessary.
Boebert responded that Democrats’ opposition to the bill could only mean one thing: they hate Christmas. “It’s so sad to hear my colleagues on the other side of the aisle hate Christmas,” she said on Tuesday, September 24.
Porter was quick to respond that Democrats, naturally, do not hate Christmas. “This bill is not about, nor has nothing to do, with inhibiting people from celebrating their religious holidays,” Porter retorted. “We have ways to enjoy trees without cutting them down or burning them,” she added, stressing that one can enjoy the holidays without chopping down a still-living tree and putting it in their living room.
Despite Porter’s defense of Democrats and their opinion of Christmas, the amendment passed.
Does Lauren Boebert actually believe that Democrats hate Christmas?
Of course not. Boebert’s response was a textbook example of what is known as a “bad faith argument.” What’s a bad faith argument? It’s an argument made with dishonest and manipulative intent, meant to misrepresent the views of an opponent with hyperbole or distorted facts to distract and derail the conversation from the topic at hand.
For example, Politician A proposes legislation to limit car emissions to stop climate change. Politician B asserts that if Politician A’s legislation is passed, citizens will be forced to stop using cars and be forced to ride horses to work instead. Suddenly, the debate becomes about how the average citizen can’t afford to become an equestrian owner, and the conversation spirals into useless ideological sparring. American politics is lousy with it. Why? Because it works. Boebert was able to use a bad faith argument to derail the conversation around the amendment, forcing Porter to defend the Democratic stance on Christmas instead of the reasons why the amendment should be struck down.
All we can hope is that Santa heard it too, and Boebert’s stocking will be full to the brim with coal this year.
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DENVER — Congresswoman Lauren Boebert hosted a community roundtable Friday to discuss recent reports of gang and criminal activity at Aurora apartment complexes, which have since become talking points for politicians discussing U.S. immigration policy.
Boebert, the firebrand Republican who represents Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, hosted the roundtable at Aurora City Hall with Texas Congressman Chip Roy, also a Republican.
The roundtable lasted about 90 minutes and also featured state and local leaders as well as concerned citizens.
As the U.S. representative for the 3rd Congressional District, Boebert doesn’t represent any part of Aurora, nor would she represent the neighborhoods where the apartment complexes are located if she’s elected to the 4th Congressional District seat in November.
But Boebert has taken an interest in the recent developments. Friday’s roundtable was the latest example.
“The purpose of this meeting was to get information out to Coloradans because, unfortunately, the media has done the complete opposite,” Boebert said. “They want to cover this up and label it a conspiracy.”
Aurora
Aurora mayor addresses Venezuelan gang activity claims in one-on-one interview
Cindy Romero said during the roundtable she lived in constant fear every night as a tenant at the Edge at Lowry apartments in Aurora.
“If you guys don’t know what it feels like to be a minority in your own home, I’m telling you: It’s terrifying,” said Romero.
Romero said she was the person who took video showing armed men at the apartment complex. The video has since gone viral.
“I seen them moving the guns that morning, I called and reported it,” said Romero. “I have cameras picking them up, moving the guns from one building to another.”
Residents at Aurora apartments say narrative surrounding Venezuelan gangs is false
The roundtable was held on the same day Boebert, Roy, and U.S. Reps. Greg Lopez and Doug Lamborn, also Republicans, sent a letter to Gov. Jared Polis, the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, the FBI director, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the executive associate director of Homeland Security Investigations.
The letter asked them to provide answers about activity involving Tren de Aragua (TdA) in Colorado and the role nonprofits may have played in bringing immigrants to the state.
They cited several claims made by Denver law firm Perkins Coie, whose lawyers said they investigated “widespread criminal conduct” at Whispering Pines Apartments.
The law firm also claimed it found evidence of gang members committing several crimes, from “flagrant trespass violations, assaults and battery, human trafficking and sexual abuse of minors, unlawful firearms possession, extortion, and other criminal activities, often targeting vulnerable Venezuelan and other immigrant populations.”
Lawyers from the firm said it represents the lender for the apartment complex.
The law firm’s findings were outlined in a letter sent to Aurora’s interim police chief, the mayor and city manager on Aug. 9.
“The city received the letter and immediately included it in its ongoing investigative work,” a spokesperson with the Aurora Police Department said, adding the city would continue to “aggressively investigate and pursue any criminal activity reported on or related to the properties owned by CBZ management.”
APD did not say, however, if the claims made by the law firm were true.
Aurora
APD investigates claim of Venezuelan gang takeover of apartment building
“This is a nonpartisan law firm that has come out with this. This is information that is vetted. It is nonpartisan,” Boebert said when asked why she cited the law firm’s letter to federal officials and whether she had any evidence beyond the letter.
She also accused the media of trying to gloss over the law firm’s report.
“Why the media would want to try to disprove something and just gloss over it like it’s some sort of conspiracy, instead of actually going in and helping Coloradans and doing whatever they can at any means necessary to expose the criminal activity and the violence that is taking place and the harm that is being caused, is why we are here today,” Boebert said. “We have a media that wants to cover up anything that does not go with the narrative of wide open borders, anything that aligns with sanctuary policies put forward by the Democrats in office here in Colorado.”
On Friday, Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman said he visited with tenants at the Dallas and Helena Street apartment complexes.
He said while he believes “Venezuelan gang related problems” caused the property management to flee, he does not believe gangs are in control of either complex.
“At this time, I agree with Interim Chief Heather Morris’ current assessment that a Venezuelan gang is not in control of either of these two apartment complexes,” Coffman said.
Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky and Councilwoman Stephanie Hancock also participated in the roundtable, along with State Sen. Mark Baisley, R-Woodland Park; State Rep. Ron Weinberg, R-Loveland; and State Rep. Anthony Hartsook, R-Parker.
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DENVER — U.S. Rep Lauren Boebert is projected to win her bid to be the Republican candidate in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, according to Decision Desk HQ and the Associated Press.
The Colorado Republican fled a tough reelection bid in the 3rd District to run in a more favorably red congressional district on the other side of the state.’
Boebert beat a group of homegrown primary candidates who had far less name recognition and generally less combative political styles.
She is expected to win the November general election in the 4th District, which is a dark shade of red and tilted heavily toward former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
Her opponents in the primary were more traditional rivals including former state Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg; current state Reps. Mike Lynch and Richard Holtorf; and parental rights advocate Deborah Flora.
While the theater incident and Boebert’s district jump rattled some Republicans, Gilbert Kendzior, 68, a voter in Boebert’s new district, shrugged them off, asking “who’s perfect?”
Kendzior said he voted for the congresswoman because she shakes things up. “It’s gotten too staid. Same promises, nothing happens,” he said. “We need to get rid of the old farts.”
It’s still too close to call Boebert’s Democratic opponent.
Colorado’s 4th Congressional District special election
Former Parker Mayor Greg Lopez has won the 4th Congressional District special election on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.
Lopez will serve the remainder former Republican U.S. Rep. Ken Buck’s term.
The staunch conservative announced in November of last year that he wasn’t going to seek reelection, citing his party’s handling of former President Donald Trump. Buck resigned from Congress in March.
Lopez had said if he wins the special election, he intends to be a “placeholder” member of Congress and has no interest in serving a full term of his own.
8th Congressional District Republican primary
Republican state Rep. Gabe Evans, a former police officer, defeated former state Rep. Janak Joshi, a retired physician, in the race to challenge Democratic incumbent Yadira Caraveo. Caraveo won the 8th District, which stretches north of Denver, by fewer than 2,000 votes in 2022.
The primary winner will likely benefit from a windfall of support from the National Republican Campaign Committee, which is intent on defending the party’s thin House majority.
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Thank you, Rep. Emily Sirota for ensuring that Colorado voters and county clerks are not overwhelmed with massive election changes that moneyed interests hope to foist on us through the ballot box this November.
Sirota’s amendment to Senate Bill 210, an election reform bill, will ensure the rollout of ranked-choice voting, should it pass by voter initiative, will be implemented thoughtfully. The amendment, which passed unanimously, would require a dozen Colorado municipalities of varying sizes and demographics to conduct ranked-choice voting before it goes statewide.
The phase-in will allow cities to develop best practices before all jurisdictions are required to implement a complicated and wholesale change. Just as mail-in voting was phased in over several years, the Sirota amendment will give clerks time to develop policies, purchase software, train employees, and educate their constituents.
It also gives voters the opportunity to see how ranked choice voting works and gives them a chance to repeal it after the new car smell fades and they see how confusing and unfair it is. This election, Alaska voters are looking to repeal the ranked-choice voting system they approved just four years ago. They would have saved themselves a lot of money and frustration if the system had been implemented in a dozen jurisdictions instead of going all in from the start.
A ranked-choice voting system for Colorado is being sought by the wealthy former CEO of DaVita, a Denver-based kidney dialysis provider, Kent Thiry. His proposal, which has been approved for signature collection, would impose an open primary and ranked-choice general elections on the state.
Here’s how it would work: Anyone, regardless of party affiliation, could run in the primary with the top four contenders advancing to the general election. In the general, voters would be asked to rank candidates in order of preference.
It’s a confusing system, so I’ll put names to an example. Let’s say that out of a gubernatorial primary former Sen. Cory Gardner, current Sen. Michael Bennet, former Rep. Ken Buck, and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston advance to the general.
I vote in the general for Bennet, Johnston, Buck, and Gardner in that order. If nobody gets 50% of the statewide vote, the votes are retallied. Let’s say that in the first tally, Bennet gets the least number of votes and is eliminated. Johnston, my second choice will get my vote. If Johnston is eliminated in round two, Buck will get my vote and either he or Gardner will emerge from the final round.
In some elections, after all the tallying is done the most popular candidate (the one most voters ranked first) will go home empty-handed. In the 2010 Oakland mayoral race, the candidate who received the most votes in round one ultimately lost the election after nine rounds of vote redistribution. How fair is that to candidates or voters?
If you’re confused, imagine how much effort, time, and money the Secretary of State and county clerks will have to expend to educate voters. It is likely the complexity will persuade some voters to chuck their ballot. Then there will be less voter participation.
Being confusing isn’t the only problem with ranked-choice voting. Let’s say you picked only Johnston and Bennet and neither of them made it to the third round; your ballot will be considered exhausted and tossed out. Only those who voted for Buck and Gardner in whatever order, will be counted in the final tally.
This has happened. In Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, the candidate who got the most votes ultimately lost to the second-place candidate. The Maine Secretary of State threw out more than 14,000 exhausted ballots from people who did not vote for the top two candidates. Sound fair?
Proponents of ranked-choice voting think that such a system will reduce the number of extremist candidates and help voters coalesce around a mainstream candidate. This is a solution looking for a problem that isn’t a problem.
Colorado does not have a problem with extreme candidates or officeholders. I did not vote for either of the state’s U.S. senators, my congressman, my representatives in the Colorado General Assembly, the governor, the attorney general, the secretary of state or the treasurer. While they are wrong on most issues, not one of them is extreme. Not one. Fanatics do come along but the current system is self-correcting.
Extreme Democrats like Reps. Elisabeth Epps and Tim Hernández face formidable primary opponents this year and extreme Republicans like Ron Hanks and Dave Williams are unlikely to win in their primaries. Congresswoman Lauren Boebert had to flee her home district because voters yearned for normalcy and were poised to turn her out in the primary or general.
While we’re popping illusion balloons, the Sirota Amendment was not some sneaky last-minute ploy. County clerks and the Colorado Clerks Association approached Sirota with the concerns they have about implementing the Thiry proposal if it passed and she listened. Matt Crane, executive director clerks association, told me that organization “strongly support[s] the amendment and appreciate[s] Rep. Sirota’s willingness to include it in the bill.”
Sirota explained the reasoning behind the amendment and the language was displayed for all to read. It passed unanimously on voice vote. Every member of the House had the opportunity to read the bill before the final vote which passed easily. Later that day, the Senate voted unanimously to concur with the House amendments. Republican and Democratic leadership all voted for the bill as amended. If any have second thoughts, it’s on them.
Krista L. Kafer is a weekly Denver Post columnist. Follow her on Twitter: @kristakafer.
They stood outside Trump Tower filming their support for the indicted former president. They filed into the Manhattan courthouse “standing back and standing by,” as Rep. Matt Gaetz put it — invoking Trump’s call to the extremist Proud Boys. They were admonished to put down their cell phones.
And the House Republicans commandeered the spotlight — much like House Speaker Mike Johnson did earlier in the week — to rant against what they called the “kangaroo court” and the “political persecution” of Trump, as their day jobs waited for their return.
“President Trump is not going anywhere,” said Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., as hecklers interrupted.
“And we are not going anywhere either. We are here to stand with him.”
The split-screen scene between New York and D.C. provided one of the more vivid examples yet of how Republicans have tossed aside the de rigueur tasks of governing in favor of the engineered spectacle of grievance, performance and outrage that powers Trump-era American politics.
As much of Congress stalled out yet again, unable to legislate through the country’s challenges, the Republicans chose to spend the day going viral.
The excursion was all the more remarkable because it comes as House Republicans were focused Thursday on moving to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress — part of a broader campaign attack on President Joe Biden.
The House’s Oversight and Judiciary Committee Republicans are demanding the Justice Department turn over evidence in the classified documents case against Biden, including an audio interview that is potentially embarrassing to the president as he stumbles through some answers. The Judiciary panel soldiered on Thursday, while the Oversight committee punted its hearing to evening, once lawmakers return.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, perhaps the most outspoken of Trump’s allies who joined him in New York when he was first charged in the case, lambasted her GOP colleagues for dashing to Manhattan when she said they should be back in Washington doing congressional business.
“I’m here doing my job,” Greene said on the eve of the trip.
Greene particularly criticized Johnson, the speaker she tried to oust, for “running up” to New York when she is pushing him toward her next big project, dismantling Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office and its federal indictments against Trump, including for trying to overturn the 2020 election in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
It all unfolds as Congress is on record as being among the most unproductive in recent times, with few legislative accomplishments or bills passed into law.
Republicans swept to House majority control in 2023, but became quickly consumed by infighting as traditional conservatives were pushed aside by Trump’s national populist Make America Great Again movement. They ousted their own leader, then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, derailed priority bills and left Johnson forced to rely on help from Democrats to stay in power, an unheard of scenario.
“The extreme MAGA Republicans have brought nothing but chaos, dysfunction and extremism to the Congress from the very beginning,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic leader. “And they cannot point to a single thing that they’ve been able to do on their own to deliver real results, to solve problems for hardworking American taxpayers.”
“Get a job,” the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee posted on social media.
Outside the courthouse, the dozen or so Republican lawmakers didn’t dress the same, as others did with matching dark suits and Trump-styled red ties earlier in the week, but still formed a unified front for Trump.
“We’re watching the persecution of a patriot,” said Rep. Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn. “What a price to be a patriot President Trump has paid.”
Gaetz called it the “Mr. Potato Head doll of crimes” where the prosecutors had to “stick together a bunch of things” to make a case.
While some like Gaetz are among Trump’s biggest backers in Congress, others are working quickly to burnish their credentials with the MAGA movement that now defines the Republican Party for their own political survival.
The chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., had been late to endorse Trump, and now faces a difficult primary next month. His Trump-aligned challenger, Republican John McGuire, had a potentially even better position — riding with Trump’s motorcade to the courthouse.
“We’re here to have his back,” Good said of Trump. “We’re here to defend him and to tell the truth about this travesty of justice, this political persecution, this election interference, this rigging of elections.”
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who had been a supporter of his home state presidential contender Nikki Haley, derided the “kangaroo court” prosecuting Trump.
Arizona Rep. Eli Crane said Democrats are prosecuting Trump because “they can’t beat him” at the ballot box in November.
Crane said he and other Republicans are fighting to “Make America Great Again,” which after the afternoon of heckling, drew a round of cheers.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Lauren Boebert, the volatile national embarrassment from western Colorado, has delivered once again. Over the weekend, the second-term Republican congresswoman denied punching her ex-husband in the face several times after the two reportedly got into it at a restaurant located in her district. She has since conveniently cited the incident to justify her preexisting plan to leave Colorado’s Third Congressional District—where she eked out a reelection win in 2022—and head east to compete for the state’s deep red Fourth District.
“This is a sad situation for all that keeps escalating and another reason I’m moving,” Boebert said Sunday in a statement to the Daily Beast, the outlet first to report on her alleged restaurant row. (Boebert could conceivably avoid her ex simply by settling in another part of Colorado’s Third, a 49,730-square-mile district that makes up more than 47% of the entire state.)
“I didn’t punch Jayson [Boebert] in the face and no one was arrested,” she added. “I will be consulting with my lawyer about the false claims he made against me and evaluate all of my legal options.”
Mike Kite, the police chief of Silt, Colorado, confirmed to TheWashington Post that officers were called to the Miner’s Claim restaurant on Saturday following an alleged physical altercation between the lawmaker and Jayson Boebert. The incident remains under investigation, with the department reviewing surveillance footage and interviewing potential witnesses. However, Boebert’s ex-husband told TheDenver Post that he had informed police that he did not wish to pursue charges, despite having claimed to be a “victim of domestic violence.”
The Boeberts have a history of accusing each other of domestic violence, dating back to before their marriage in the mid-2000s. The couple divorced last year, but even with her ex out of the picture, the congresswoman has continued to cause national scandal with her personal life. In September, she and a date were removed from a Denver performance of the Beetlejuice musical after being disruptive; the two were later seen groping each other on CCTV video.
Meanwhile, Jayson Boebert has his own criminal record. He was arrested in 2004 after allegedly exposing himself to two women at a Colorado bowling alley. He ultimately pleaded guilty to charges of “public indecency and lewd exposure” and was sentenced to four days in jail and two years of probation.
Rep. Lauren Boebert is under “active investigation” related to an alleged incident in Colorado, authorities confirmed to CBS News on Sunday.
The Daily Beast reported Sunday that the Colorado Republican is the subject of an investigation into “an alleged physical altercation with her ex-husband,” which the outlet said occurred at a restaurant in Boebert’s district on Saturday. Silt Police Chief Mike Kite confirmed to CBS News that an “active investigation” was underway, though no further information was provided.
In a statement to CBS News, Boebert denied the allegations circulated on social media that she punched Jayson Boebert in the face, calling it a “sad situation.”
“I didn’t punch Jayson in the face and no one was arrested,” Boebert said. “I will be consulting with my lawyer about the false claims he made against me and evaluate all of my legal options.”
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) leaves a House Republican caucus meeting where the conference met to vote on a Speaker of House nominee in the Longworth House Office Building on October 11, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Joe Raedle / Getty Images
In April, Boebert filed for divorce, which was finalized months later. Jayson Boebert told The Denver Post that he does not want to press charges related to the alleged incident on Saturday.
American Muckrakers, a Boebert-opposed super PAC, first posted the claim on social media late Saturday, alleging that Boebert “punched her ex-husband Jayson in the nose 2 times and then continued to beat him up.”
The development comes months after Boebert was escorted out of a theatrical performance of “Beetlejuice” in Denver for disruptive behavior. Days later, Boebert released a statement apologizing for the incident, while citing her “public and difficult divorce” and saying she “fell short” of her values.
Boebert, who narrowly won reelection in Colorado’s 3rd district in 2022 by around 500 votes, announced in recent weeks that she plans to run in 2024 in a neighboring district more friendly to conservatives. In her statement to CBS on Sunday, Boebert said the news of the alleged incident over the weekend is “another reason I’m moving.”
“Personally, this announcement is a fresh start following a pretty difficult year for me and my family,” Boebert said in a video announcing the move last month. “I had never been in politics before and I’d never been through a divorce – something I never intended to go through. I’ve made my own personal mistakes and have owned up and apologized for them.”
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Colorado Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert announced Wednesday that she was switching districts in next year’s 2024 House race, in a bid to salvage her scandal-plagued political career.
In a video announcing the move, Boebert said she’d be running in Colorado’s 4th district—the state’s most conservative—which represents the eastern part of the state, instead of the 3rd, which covers a huge swatch of the state’s south and west. Boebert said that, if elected, she’d move to her new district, though House members only need to reside in the state where they’re elected.
Boebert said her decision was partly motivated by “not allowing Hollywood elites and progressive money groups to buy” her current seat. “The Aspen donors, George Soros, and the Hollywood actors that are trying to buy this seat, well, they can go pound sand,” she added. “We aren’t going to give them the opportunity to steal the third.”
The move makes it more likely that Boebert, a major supporter of former President Donald Trump, will be able to remain in Congress next year. In her 2022 re-election bid in the 3rd district, Boebert barely eked out a 546-vote victory against Democrat Adam Frisch, an outcome that shocked political observers and triggered a recount. The 4th district is significantly more conservative: Trump carried it by 20 points in 2020, compared to just 8 in the 3rd.
Boebert was facing a rematch with Frisch next year, and so far in the campaign, had been significantly outraised. As of the last campaign finance deadline in late September, the congresswoman’s campaign had over $1.4 million on hand, while the Frisch campaign reported over $4.3 million, according to Open Secrets, a group tracking money in politics.
It wasn’t even clear that Boebert would make it out of the Republican primary, with her opponent, the more moderate Jeff Hurd, garnering significant financial support from some of the state’s top Republicans.
Boebert acknowledged that the move was also a “fresh start” after “a pretty difficult year for me and my family.” Boebert filed for divorce from her husband in May, and the divorce was finalized in October. (The Boeberts’s gun-themed restaurant, Shooters Grill, closed in 2022.) And in September, Boebert was kicked out of a showing of Beetlejuice in Denver. Video footage of the crowd captured her repeatedly vaping and groping her date. The congresswoman, who initially lied about what happened at the event, later apologized.
In her new district, Boebert has the advantage of running for a seat that Republican Ken Buck is currently vacating. Buck announced in November that he would not seek re-election, citing the many Republican leaders who he said were “lying to America, claiming that the 2020 election was stolen, describing Jan. 6 as an unguided tour of the Capitol and asserting that the ensuing prosecutions are a weaponization of our justice system.” Buck has represented the district since 2015.
Frisch, whose campaign against Boebert recycled the slogan “stop the circus” from his 2022 bid, said that Boebert’s departure would not change his approach to the 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 in a statement.
One of Boebert’s new primary opponents in the 4th District, Republican state representative Richard Holtorf, mocked her for “carpetbagging” after the announcement. “Seat shopping isn’t something the voters look kindly upon,” he said Wednesday. “If you can’t win in your home, you can’t win here.”
Controversial Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert is leaving her 3rd District seat to compete in the state’s 4th Congressional District.
“I am going to do everything in my power to represent the 3rd District well for the remainder of this term as I work to earn the trust of grassroots conservative voters in the 4th District to represent them in 2025,” the far-right U.S. representative announced Wednesday night.
The 37-year-old two-term congresswoman narrowly won reelection in her heavily Republican district in 2022. Boebert doesn’t live in the 4th District but said she plans to move there. Members of Congress are not required to live in the district they represent.
If Boebert remained in the 3rd District, she would find herself running against Democrat Adam Frisch, who nearly pulled off an upset when the pair faced off last year. Thanks to aggressive fundraising, national support from the Democratic party and Boebert’s own behavior, Frisch would appear to be a bigger threat in a rematch.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) arrives to a Republican caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol Building on September 13, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
While the MAGA firebrand has long been known for inflammatory rhetoric, she was humiliated in September after reports of her behaving obnoxiously in a Colorado theater were confirmed by video that showed her vaping and appearing to engage in heavy petting during a live performance of “Beetlejuice.” She was asked to leave.
Boebert’s odds of winning in the 4th District, which has a +26 Republican lean, would seem stronger than her odds of holding her seat in the 3rd district, where Republicans hold a +9 majority, according to Colorado Public Radio. The 4th District seat is currently held by Republican Rep. Ken Buck, who isn’t seeking reelection.
DENVER (AP) — Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert announced Wednesday she is switching congressional districts, avoiding a likely rematch against a Democrat who has far outraised her and following an embarrassing moment of groping and vaping that shook even loyal supporters.
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 — and which she was in peril of losing next year as some in her party have soured on her controversial style.
Boebert implied in the video that her departure from the district would help Republicans retain the seat, saying, “I will not allow dark money that is directed at destroying me personally to steal this seat. It’s not fair to the 3rd District and the conservatives there who have fought so hard for our victories.”
“We have to protect our majority in the House,” she said.
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 Democrat Adam 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.
Instead, 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.
COLLBRAN, CO – OCTOBER 22 : Lauren Boebert, Republican nominee for Colorado’s 3rd congressional district, display her campaign posters before her starting speech during “trash clean-up” event of West Slope Colorado Oil & Gas Association at Terrell Park in Collbran, Colorado on Thursday. October 22, 2020. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
Hyoung Chang/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images via Getty Images
In 2022, Frisch’s campaign found support in the conservative district from unaffiliated voters and Republicans who’d defected over Boebert’s brash, Trumpian style. In this election, Frisch’s campaign had revived the slogan “stop the circus” and framed Frisch as the “pro-normal” alternative to Boebert’s more partisan politics.
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.”
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.
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 tried to enter the U.S. Capitol carrying a pistol and began to feud with prominent liberal Democrats like Rep. Ilhan Omar and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
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Former President Donald Trump once wanted to withdraw the U.S. from the obsolete NATO alliance. 2024 presidential candidate Trump has said the same thing.
So Republicans in Congress, rather than securing the border, cutting spending, cutting taxes, reducing red tape, slashing regulations, shoring up the industrial base, or anything else useful, spent their time helping Democrats make sure he can’t do it if he wins.
Including some Republicans who have claimed to be ‘America First’.
The measure, spearheaded by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), was included in the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which passed out of the House on Thursday and is expected to be signed by President Biden.
The provision underscores Congress’s commitment to the NATO alliance that was a target of former President Trump’s ire during his term in office.
Some normally reliable “MAGA” votes, like Rep. Lauren Boebert, voted in favor of this measure, baffling supporters.
So Lauren how could you vote yes on NDAA and betray the Constitution and the American people? This is disgusting and not America First. Who are you?
Criticizing NATO in October, Trump reportedly called the alliance a “paper tiger.”
With the U.S. being by far the largest member nation of NATO, Trump has said repeatedly that it was time to put America First and insist that Europe begin pulling their weight.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio was far from the only Republican behind this bill.
After years of screaming about FISA abuses against Trump, here are some self-declared “MAGA” Republicans who just voted to renew FISA 702 surveillance:
Max Miller (OH) Lauren Boebert (CO) Mike Kelly (PA) August Pfluger (TX) Elise Stefanik (NY) Mike Waltz (FL) Ryan Zinke (MT)
It should be noted that while Congress’s constitutional role is to declare war, it hasn’t done so since World War II. Few in Congress seem concerned about that.
But on Thursday they voted to make sure a president couldn’t singularly take America out of organization in which belonging likely means more war.
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Boebert told Oren “Hank” McKnelly, an executive counselor for the SSA, that the agency was allowing “delinquent employees to sit on their sofas at home” instead of “actually getting to work and doing their jobs” as she took aim at telework policies during a House Oversight Committee hearing.
“This is absolutely unacceptable,” said Boebert, who is known for her bizarre behavior in – and outside of – Washington.
McKnelly, who was testifying before the committee, swiftly checked Boebert and broke down how SSA employees’ performances are monitored as they work from the office or at home.
“So real time understanding of what actions are being processed at any particular given time,” noted McKnelly, who added that employees are required to be “accessible” during work hours to supervisors, clients and colleagues.
Boebert pressed further on employee productivity before McKnelly shut the Republican down.
“Because we’ve been historically underfunded for a number of years now,” McKnelly replied.
“I don’t think you’re underfunded. You’re funded at the Nancy Pelosi levels, at the democrat levels. We just continued that same funding,” said Boebert, adding that it’s at “pandemic-level spending.”
“So I’d say we’d have an increase of over eight million beneficiaries over the last 10 years. At the same time, we experienced our lowest work staffing levels at the end of FY 22. That’s a math problem,” he replied.
“I mean, that is a problem. If you have those workloads increasing and you don’t have the staff to take care of those workloads, you’re going to have the backlogs that you’re talking about, representative.”
President Joe Biden sharply criticized Rep. Lauren Boebertin her Colorado congressional district on Wednesday afternoon, attacking the Republican directly for several minutes during his 23-minute long speech. It came as she hurled sharp criticism at him throughout the day on social media.
Rep. Lauren Boebert leaves a House Republican caucus meeting on Oct. 11 in Washington. / Credit: Joe Raedle / Getty Images
The president spoke at CS Wind in the afternoon after touring the wind turbine company’s plant in Pueblo, which is in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District. He praised CS’s plan to hire hundreds of new workers and was quick to point out that funding from the infrastructure law that his administration pushed through helped to make it possible.
“(Boebert), along with every single Republican colleague, voted against the infrastructure law that made these investments in jobs possible and that’s not hyperbole, that’s a fact,” he said.
President Joe Biden speaks in Pueblo, Colorado, on Wednesday. / Credit: CBS
Biden paused for a moment when he first mentioned Boebert’s name. He then made the sign of the cross and smiled at the laughs that elicited. He said Boebert voted, first against the infrastructure law, and then to repeal key parts of the law. Boebert has repeatedly defended her voting record on the bill and called the law an example of “Green New Deal extremism.”
The attacks come a little less than a year before the 2024 general election. In 2022, Boebert was re-elected after narrowly defeating Democratic challenger Adam Frisch. Frisch is actively campaigning in the district in hopes of winning the seat next time around, but he didn’t appear onstage with Biden.
Frisch’s absence on Wednesday came under criticism from Boebert, who referred to her 2022 challenger as “Aspen Adam.” Frisch’s previous political experience includes serving on the Aspen City Council.
“(Frisch) is so scared of Biden’s sinking poll #’s that he declined to join him on the campaign trail in Pueblo today,” she tweeted. “If Aspen Adam won’t show up for his President and Pueblo, how can Third District voters trust he’ll show up for them?”
Biden referred to Boebert in his speech as “one of the leaders of (the) extreme MAGA movement.”
“She called (the infrastructure) law a massive failure,” said Biden, who then addressed employees of CS Wind, asking, “you all know you’re part of a massive failure?”
“Tell that to the 850 Coloradans that are getting new jobs in Pueblo and CS Wind thanks to this law,” he said. “Tell that to the local economy that’s going to benefit from these investments.”
Boebert was active on social media on Wednesday with a series of political jabs directed at Biden and Frisch. On X, formerly known as Twitter, she wrote that Biden came to Colorado after taking a break from “his lavish vacations” — a reference to his visit to Nantucket for Thanksgiving last week. She tweeted that Biden should be coming to Colorado to “apologize for his all out war on on fossil fuels and his Green New Deal agenda which have cost the great people of Colorado’s 3rd District dearly.”
PAGOSA SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Retreating from the turmoil in Washington, D.C., Rep. Lauren Boebert arrived in bucolic southwest Colorado to turmoil of a different sort — the lingering impact of an embarrassing moment when she was caught on tape vaping and groping with a date during a musical production of “Beetlejuice.”
The scandal threw a wrench into an already tough reelection bid. After Boebert won her last race by just 546 votes, she began revamping her campaign strategy. It now includes apologies to voters at campaign events for an episode that has rattled even loyal Republicans.
“Most of us were like ‘holy cow,’” said Beverly Cuyler, a long-time Boebert supporter. “And one of the big reasons for that is a gap between how she presented herself as a Christian and what ended up happening.”
Expected to face a rematch with Democrat Adam Frisch, in a race that could determine which party controls Congress, Boebert tackled the embarrassment head-on at the Lincoln Day Dinner in Archuleta County.
“I owe each and every one of you here a deep, heartfelt apology,” she said as murmurs of agreement faded to attentive silence.
It’s an unusual tone for Boebert. The congresswoman’s unapologetic, Trumpian style had propelled her to MAGA stardom nationwide; now, she’s fighting for political survival at home.
Boebert, who defended former President Donald Trump’s claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election and stood in the vanguard of his Make America Great Again movement, appears clear-eyed about the challenge ahead.
She’s offered olive branches to local newspapers she once spurned as biased. So-called ballot harvesting, which she’s decried as an underhanded Democratic tactic, will be part of her campaign strategy. Her supporters can attend boot camps to become versed in her talking points, which have partly shifted from national priorities to more local matters, a strategy endorsed by the state GOP.
“Her misstep in 2022 was not being as focused on (the district), so she’s making adjustments to not make that mistake again,” said Dave Williams, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party.
Frisch has raised at least $7.7 million — the third largest House campaign chest nationwide — to Boebert’s $2.4 million. He’s asking voters to help him “stop the circus,” reviving a slogan from the 2022 election.
“Democrats certainly smell blood in the water,” Boebert said in an interview, sitting in a long hall in southwest Colorado before the Lincoln Day Dinner.
Boebert said she’s always focused on district issues in past campaigns, but added that this time around they are pushing more aggressive messaging on the ground — emphasizing legislation she’s helped push through Congress that directly impacts southwest Colorado.
“Certainly when you had the closest congressional race in the entire country, you know, it’s a big deal,” her new campaign manager, Drew Sexton, said in an interview. “There was a need to kind of beef up on staff after, you know, the last cycle and, you know, kind of wanted to have a different approach.”
It’s a balancing act. Boebert has cultivated a national profile as larger-than-Colorado, a far-right agitator who ascends to the stage of conservative conferences to geysers of sparks. In speeches across the country, she’s blurred the line between political rally and religious revival.
But she also has a job as a policymaker, where she’s focused on nuts-and-bolts issues that matter to her constituents: forest management, water rights, jobs, and public lands. For many supporters, the two roles overlap.
Her district’s vast expanse includes ruddy red mesas standing sentry over ranches owned for generations, coal mining hamlets in the Rocky Mountains, and a streak of frontier libertarianism among its residents — where God and big government are both feared.
Voters take deep pride in their way of life, and many feel it’s being forgotten and demeaned. Boebert’s full-throated defense of agrarian, conservative, Christian values helps explain how she got to Congress in the first place.
“Our voices get drowned out by bigger cities,” said Cody Perkins, 31, who arrived at the Lincoln Day Dinner bedecked in an American flag suit. “I just like that she’s not afraid to speak up. … We need a voice.”
Those values are the same reason Perkins cringed when the videotape surfaced of Boebert at the theater in Denver.
Boebert’s apology, Perkins said, was “definitely needed.”
“I hope we can all move past this,” he said.
For other Republicans, Boebert’s provocations are disheartening.
“It should be a lot easier to get a Republican candidate into the district. We shouldn’t be pulling teeth to get votes,” said Dusty Mars, 44, who voted for Boebert in the past but isn’t sure what he’ll do in the primary.
Mars will vote for the Republican candidate in the general election, he said, but hopes for one “that will represent our values in a way that doesn’t offend other people.”
Dennis Anderson, who publishes several newspapers in the district, said Boebert appears to be returning to her 2019 roots as a scrappy, electrifying candidate fighting for the people. While campaigning in the district this election, Boebert seems “more empathetic” than her disruptive national profile.
“Lately, it feels like she’s been knocked back down to earth a little bit,” he said.
At events and debates in the last election, Boebert railed against then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who became a foil for bloated government, a broken system and Democratic demagoguery.
“She was very focused on being a foot soldier for Donald Trump, being kind of a thorn in the side for the Biden administration,” said Seth Masket, director of the Center on American Politics in Colorado.
Boebert’s updated campaign strategy — not all that far removed from Pelosi’s election adage of “owning the ground” — seemed a smart way to pivot, said Masket, who expects Boebert to do better in the 2024 election anyway. He thinks Trump’s presidential campaign will draw more Republicans to the polls.
Pelosi’s dethronement, which Boebert said freed her up to push for laws that help her constituents, also raises fresh questions about Boebert’s effectiveness as a lawmaker.
In trainings where supporters learn her messaging, the aperture has shrunk to local policy and legislative changes Boebert fought during the first speakership battle — leaving efforts to impeach President Joe Biden out of the frame.
Boebert’s demands during McCarthy’s weeks trying to get elected speaker included 72 hours to read a bill before a vote — an issue that attendees at the Lincoln Day Dinner in Colorado enthusiastically applauded.
Still, after her narrow victory last time, Boebert will have to win back some unaffiliated voters and moderate conservatives who defected to Frisch last time.
Boebert says she is intent on sending a message “that I can work with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle… and not compromise my principles.”
While everyone is familiar with the congresswoman’s stance on hot-button national issues, Boebert and her campaign are emphasizing her work on lesser-known policies — including her bipartisan efforts to retain jobs as a chemical depot shutters in her district.
After Colorado’s largely city dwellers voted to reintroduce wolves to Colorado, Boebert has also proposed legislation to give ranchers greater recourse to defend their flocks.
That legislation received raucous applause at the Archuleta County event from the voters seated around folding tables. But when Boebert turned her attention to the scandal, a hush came over the room.
“I let you down. I fell short of my standards, and I’m taking full accountability of what you’ve seen and what you’ve heard,” said Boebert, “And I will never put myself in a position to dishonor you.”
Some voters said she still has work to do. Many, including Cuyler, said they appreciated her words.
“She screwed up. She needs to up her game,” she said. “But, you know, we still love her.”
Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
