Challengers Hope to Douse Popularity of Colorado’s Fiery Rep. Boebert 

Congressional candidate Adam Frisch hasn’t paid pollsters to assess how he might finish in the 3rd District Democratic primary in Colorado on June 28.

His approach to gauging his chances to be the party’s nominee in November involves a bit less reliance on big data. There’s still some number-crunching, though.

Prognostication starts as he pulls up in an unfamiliar town, snatches a folding table out of his tow-behind camper, and creates a pop-up mini-office, where he can chat with voters.

Cars whiz past. Data collection begins.

That day, the numbers looked promising.

“We have 29 thumbs-ups, and nine ... let me just say ... reactions that I don’t think you should print in a PG newspaper.”

The primary winners will advance to the general election on Nov. 8.

Kristin Skowronski, an independent, will join them on the ballot. The district’s 722,000 voters also may write in the name of Marina Zimmerman, a Republican.

Throughout the debate, the four challengers lobbed verbal grenades at Boebert, who flashed a confident smile and fired back in trademark machine-gun tempo with facts about her record.

The district she represents in the U.S. House sprawls across 49,000 square miles, about half of Colorado’s geography, in the shape of a boot. The top of the district encompasses the west side of the Rocky Mountains, known to Coloradans as the “Western Slope,” the terrain on the Pacific side of the Continental Divide. In the southern part of the district, the toe of the boot pokes into the southeastern plains, part of what locals call the “Front Range.”

Boebert has spent much of her first term sparring with Democrats and voting against their policy initiatives.

Her opponents say her flashy style—such as posing in a dress emblazoned with “Let’s Go Brandon” across her posterior while standing with Trump—is an embarrassment.

But donors favor Boebert.

Boebert won Trump’s endorsement in December last year.

Coram has raised almost $229,000 and spent about half of that in the same time period.

While the general election is more than four months away, Boebert is considered the likely winner by multiple analysts who track congressional races. However, political surprises have occurred recently, including the elimination of popular Trump-backed Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) in his primary this May.

Of Colorado’s more than 3.73 million voters, almost 46 percent are unaffiliated with any party. So they are the most populous and influential group of voters in the state. Moreover, they’re allowed to vote in whichever primary they choose. Their whims easily could sneak up on any candidate and swing an election’s outcome in an unexpected direction.

Democrats make up the next largest group of Colorado voters, representing a little more than 29 percent of the electorate. Republicans make up a little more than 26 percent.

Turnout in the state often is unusually high, even when a presidential race isn’t on the ballot, a time when much of the country experiences sluggish voting, especially among Democrats. In the November 2021 election, about 98 percent of voters in the state returned ballots, according to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office.

Across the nation, voters are getting craftier and more strategic in their voting. A current trend is for voters to “cross over” and strategically vote in the primary of the party they don’t prefer. It can be a coordinated effort to try to eliminate the candidate presumed to be the biggest threat to their preferred party’s strongest candidate.

Early voting patterns in Colorado suggest some crossover voting is occurring. But it’s probably not enough to derail Boebert’s chances of making it past the primary.

“She’s become a lightning rod for Democrats, which actually helps her with base Republican voters,” Gonzales said. “And unlike Cawthorn, Boebert isn’t solely focused on being provocative, but she’s actually tried to tout legislation and work she’s done for the district. Her controversies have been about style and ideology, rather than the personal issues that plagued Cawthorn and caused his GOP colleagues to ostracize him.

He chided her for listing legislation she has introduced as accomplishments.

“The key here is passing,” Coram said. “If you’re going to do this, you’ve got to get it passed. And you got to do that through civility, negotiations, and knowing what you’re talking about.

“I know how to get it done. Cowboy logic rules.”

Boebert remained cheerfully unflappable, saying, “My legislative record clearly demonstrates I’m a fighter for our public lands, our water, good-paying jobs, while supporting our veterans, senior citizens, job creators, and our children. I’ve fought for American energy, health care, roads, and public safety. I’ve delivered results for our district while calling out the left for their insane policies.”

Proudly pro-life, Boebert said that all her opponents in the race “support liberal policies that are failing the country, failing our district, and failing our families.”

As the son and the brother of obstetricians, he said he believes abortions should be “safe, legal and rare.” When it comes to immigration, he said he supports policies to bring “new people into this country with the respect and dignity they deserve.”

Frisch has raised more than any other challenger, bringing in almost $1.05 million in donations and spending about $420,000 on his campaign.

She said she’s a lifelong Democrat, running because people should be able to “retire with dignity, because we shouldn’t have to work until our last breath.”

“My rights and our daughters’ rights are on the line. We must elect someone who is going to fight ... for all people. I’m running because no one is coming to save us. We have to save ourselves. Join me in saying ‘Adios’ to Lauren Boebert,” she said.

He derided her repeatedly in his debate responses.

“It’s time to push back on extremism from all sides. As a young, gay man, I’m fighting for my life and rights. But this isn’t about me. It’s about hundreds of thousands of families who suffer under extremist leadership,” he said.

“We need to start voting for a new generation of common-sense change-makers, who don’t subscribe to blind party fealty.”

Relatively little outside money has been spent in support of or against candidates in the race, according to OpenSecrets. In total, $380,957 was spent by political action committees in support of Boebert, and $59,500 was spent by groups backing Coram.

Paying at the pump was how Frisch spent money to spread his message. After converting his family’s 19-foot camper, he set out on his Beat Boebert Buggy Tour. A fresh red-white-and-blue wrap on his rig proclaims his goal of “driving her out of office.”

Already, he'd logged more than 7,000 miles visiting the district’s largest towns, including Pueblo, with its more than 110,000 residents. He stopped in small towns, too, including Dinosaur, a place that 240 folks call home.

On Election Day, he'll wrap up a one-week, 1,800-mile trek. That final push to meet voters before the primary will bring him to libraries, schools, and firehouses in 56 communities.

While he objects to Boebert’s brand of brash confrontations with Democrats, he’s critical of Democrats, too, saying they’ve done “a really poor job of looking after rural America.”