On Sunday night, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) won a vote of attendees of a conservative forum in her new hometown of Windsor, which is located in Boebert’s new congressional district — the one she switched to when it appeared she might lose in November’s election.
Boebert left her southwestern Colorado congressional district (CD3) and decided to run in an eastern Colorado district (CD4), where Sunday’s forum took place (at American Legion Post 109, about an hour north of Denver). U.S. Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO), who represents CD4, says he’ll retire at the end of his term.
Boebert received a mostly cordial welcome at the event, with master of ceremonies David Hunt introducing her as “one of Windsor’s newest residents.”
“Neighbors,” Boebert told the crowd of about 200, “It is so wonderful to be with you. This is one of the easiest events that I got to go to so far, five minutes from home. So it’s great. I got to stop by, pick up a couple of kids. Roman is in the back; Kaydon might have already run off on us. [inaudible] might have already gotten away from us. Thank you for being so welcoming, first of all, to my family and I. Everywhere we have gone, it’s been absolutely incredible. The reception is wonderful, and I know we chose the right community to finish off raising my boys in and to live for years to come. So thank you, first of all.”
But Ted Harvey, a former state lawmaker and one of Boebert’s primary opponents, didn’t give Boebert the wonderful reception she talked about getting. Harvey finished in seventh place in the attendee straw poll.
“I have lived in this district for 27 years, not seven days, and I have been fighting every single day that I was in the Legislature for 13 years — five years in the House and eight years in the Senate — I have been fighting tooth and nail for the conservative cause,” said Harvey during his comments at the podium. “And the conservative movement. There is nobody in this race that has a more prestigious conservative record than I do.”
Sunday night’s forum was sponsored by the Colorado Conservative Patriot Alliance, which tabulated the votes by the crowd. Its Facebook page has a recording of the night’s speeches and states, “No Apologies – No Retreat – No Surrender.”
The CD4 Tally Was, With 125 Votes Cast:
Boebert – 33 votes (26.4%)
Deborah Flora, a right-wing KNUS radio host who ran for U.S. Senate in 2022: 26 votes (20.8%)
State Rep. Mike Lynch (R-Wellington): 18 votes (14.4%)
Trent Leisy, a Weld County Council member and businessman who sells shirts promoting Donald Trump as the “Sexiest Man Alive:” 17 votes (13.6%)
Logan County Commissioner Jerry Sonnenberg (R-Sterling): 9 votes (7.2%)
Businessman Peter Yu: 9 votes (7.2%)
Harvey 8 votes: (6.4%)
State Rep. Richard Holtorf (R-Akron): 5 votes (4.0%)
Last month at her first debate in her new district with most of the same candidates, Boebert finished fifth in a poll of attendees, behind Sonnenberg, Lynch, Flora, and Holtorf, in that order.
A January poll, commissioned by the left-leaning group ProgressNow Colorado, showed that over a quarter of MAGA Republicans in Colorado have an unfavorable view of Boebert — as do about 60% of voters in her new district (in a limited sample size in the poll).
Unlike CD4, which will almost certainly be won by a Republican, Colorado’s 8th Congressional District (CD8), located in northern Colorado, is expected to be the battleground for one of the most competitive U.S. House races in the country.
Three CD8 candidates attended the Windsor forum.
The CD8 Tally Was, With 106 Votes Cast Was:
State Rep. Gabe Evans (R-Ft. Lupton): 67 votes (63.2%)
Weld County Commissioner Scott James: 27 votes (25.5%).
Businessman Joe Andujo: 12 votes (11.3%)
