Bobo Ranks 5th Among 9 Candidates In Primary Straw Poll — After Being Called “A Carpetbagger”

Lauren Boebert may not go out with a bang, but rather a whimper. As a matter of fact, I would say that based on the following scenario you will read here, she’s not even going to make it to the ballot. And bear in mind, she won her 2020 contest against Adam Frisch in CO-03 by a bare 542 votes. You know all about the Beetlejuice scandal and about her decision to move to CO-04 to run for Ken Buck’s old seat. That is not the smooth sailing that she naively presupposed it to be. Colorado Newsline via Raw Story:

“I’m here to earn your support and earn your vote,” Boebert said. “This is not a coronation.”

In the end, Boebert fell short with the crowd, mostly composed of candidates’ family members, staff and people involved with the local Republican party. She got fifth-place among nine candidates in the evening’s straw poll, placing her behind Logan County commissioner and former state Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, state Rep. Mike Lynch, radio host Deborah Flora and state Rep. Richard Holtorf, in that order.

The race is open this year after Buck announced his retirement late last year. It immediately became a crowded race, and was shaken up even further when Boebert joined in late December. In 2022, Boebert barely held on to her seat when challenged by Democrat Adam Frisch, and this year would likely have been a rematch if she survived a primary challenge. Boebert, citing a desire for a “fresh start” for her family after her divorce, moved into the much more Republican-leaning 4th District.

Whoever wins the Republican primary is all but certain to win in the general election. The district covers the Eastern Plains and includes some communities along the Interstate 25 corridor.

This is a probable result but whether it’s an absolute result who knows? Colorado is a purple state and after Boebert’s shenanigans, she may stain the ticket generally. Or, conventional wisdom may hold and the Republican candidate will win by double digits. 2024 is a hard election to call on a lot of levels and in a lot of races.

Republican candidates for Colorado’s 4th Congressional District debate in Fort Lupton on Jan. 25, 2024. The candidates are, from left, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, Trent Leisy, Deborah Flora, state Rep. Mike Lynch, Chris Phelan, former state Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, former state Sen. Ted Harvey, Peter Yu, and state Rep. Richard Holtorf. (Sara Wilson/Colorado Newsline)

Boebert grilled on district switch

As expected, Boebert faced sharp questions about her decision to move into a new congressional district to escape a rematch with Frisch.

“Could you give the definition of carpetbagger?” Lynch asked Boebert.

Flora also asked a similar version of the question and referenced Boebert’s criticism of a Democratic opponent from the 2022 cycle who lived outside of the 3rd Congressional District post-redistricting.

Boebert said she is proud to be Weld County’s “newest resident.”

“My boys and I needed a fresh start. That’s been very public of what home life looked like,” she said. Boebert is newly divorced, and her ex-husband was recently arrested for alleged domestic violence incidents involving her and her son.

“I tried to put it into a very pretty package and bring my ex-husband lots of honor. But since there is nothing private about my personal life, it is out there and my boys need some freedom from what has been going on,” she said.

But in a telling moment, no other candidate said they would support Boebert in the primary if they were not running. Four people said they would support Sonnenberg.

That is pretty bad. That is the Republican family denouncing Boebert as a black sheep. And what a GOP family this is. Six out of the nine candidates have been arrested. Do you love it? Lawbreakers attempting to be lawmakers.

That included Boebert, Holtorf, Leisy, Lynch, Phelan and Sonnenberg.

The question was prompted by recent news of Lynch’s 2022 arrest for drunk driving. He stepped down this week as the state House minority leader amid the revelations.

“We need people (in the seat) that understand people are human and make mistakes. It’s not about how you get knocked down and the mistake you make. It’s how you get back on your feet, learn from that and move forward,” Lynch said.

Mebbe. Mebbe not. Mebbe the takeaway here is that the lowest of the low are drawn to run for public office on the Republican ticket. Anyhow, statistically speaking, CO-04’s chances of having an arrestee representing them in Congress is virtually assured — but it doesn’t look like it will be Boebert.

I don’t know what Boebert’s going to do, post politics. I figured that she would always become a televangelist, but the Beetlejuice debacle more or less quashed that. Maybe she could get a talking head job on OAN? I honestly think Newsmax doesn’t want her. One of their anchors openly mocked her on air post-Beetlejuice. But OAN is fairly desperate for “talent” so maybe that’s where she’ll wind up.

This could be a short year for Boebert. But not short enough. Hey, I’ve got an idea. She and Madison Cawthorn should hook up. They’re both cut from the same mold. They’re both ignorant, uneducated, stupid, and arrogant. They both took the kind of opportunity that few people get and squandered it because they were so in love with themselves and their conception of their “power” — as if it was something that they had earned, not something that they lucked into by virtue of being at the right place at the right time when riding Donald Trump’s coattails into a congressional seat was possible.

All they had to do was keep their heads down, be humble, and learn. But that’s not who they are. Boebert belongs out of office, just like Cawthorn. A primary did him in, after he switched districts and I’m betting the farm that the same thing will happen to Boebert as well.