Lauren Boebert – who voted against several bills that would have supported US veterans – has posted a Veterans Day message telling US service members that they are “loved”, while she remains deadlocked in a race to hold onto her House seat.
The MAGA Republican shared a video on Twitter on Friday morning where she told veterans that she is “so proud to be an American and so grateful for the freedom we all enjoy because of you”.
“You are more loved than you will ever know,” she added as she spoke in front of an American flag.
Ms Boebert captioned the post: “We can never thank our Veterans enough. God bless you as we honor your service to our great country on Veterans Day!”
Her message comes after she came under fire from opponent Adam Frisch on the campaign trail for her “lies” about her support of veterans.
In September, Ms Boebert boasted that she had voted for four pro-veteran bills and urged Coloradans to learn more about “the work I’m doing to support America’s heroes”.
“I voted for four pro-veteran bills that were signed into law and led several amendments to provide funding for mental health and other important services for our veterans,” she tweeted.
Democrat Mr Frisch quickly fact checked her on her claim, pointing out her lack of support for multiple bills put forward to help and support US veterans.
“With Lauren Boebert claiming she supports our Veterans over and over the last few days, we couldn’t stand by and let those lies go unanswered. We went over her votes that pertain to Vets. Check out what we found,” he tweeted.
In a Twitter thread, he reeled off a list of 15 bills that Ms Boebert had voted against during her two years in Congress, including a bill to automatically enroll veterans in Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) healthcare.
“Lauren Boebert is no friend of Veterans. I will protect their interests once in Washington,” he said.
Prior to being called out by Mr Frisch, Ms Boebert infamously heckled President Joe Biden during his State of the Union address in March as he was speaking about veterans who are sick and dying from toxic exposure to burn pits.
Danielle Robinson, whose husband Heath died because of burn pits exposure and who had been invited to attend the speech, told The Independent at the time that Ms Boebert’s outburst was a “slap in the face” to people like her late husband.
“That was very disrespectful to all those who gave their life to this country,” she said.
“It was so disrespectful. It was a slap in the face. We shouldn’t have her sitting on the House floor.”
Just 48 hours later, when the Honoring our PACT Act – a bill to provide healthcare and benefits to veterans affected by burn pits – went to the House, Ms Boebert voted against it.
Now, Ms Boebert and Mr Frisch remain locked in a surprisingly close race for the US House seat in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District.
After trailing for much of the race, the Donald Trump ally clawed her way back to a lead on Thursday, inching past the Democrat.
As of Friday morning, she is now 1,122 votes ahead, leading the race with 50.2 per cent of votes to Mr Frisch’s 49.8 per cent, with 99 per cent of votes reported.
The race is still too close to call and it could head to an automatic recount if the victorious party fails to win by a margin of more than 0.5 per cent.
Ms Boebert told reporters on Thursday that she is confident she will hold onto her seat.
“Of course I expect to win. It’ll be great,” she said.
The tight race came as something of a surprise to both Republicans and Democrats – as well as pollsters – after the controversial, gun-toting congresswoman had been expected to enjoy a comfortable reelection.pollsters – after the controversial, gun-toting congresswoman had been expected to enjoy a comfortable reelection.
Ms Boebert’s 2022 campaign was one of the most expensive House races across the US, with the far-right incumbent raising over $6.6m in campaign contributions in the run-up to the midterms, according to data from Open Secrets.
None of the mainstream polling groups had even surveyed voters in the race for the House seat, indicating the shock factor that it has now shaped up to be a close race.
Ms Boebert had easily sailed to victory in the Republican primary, earning two in every three votes.
However, she only won the seat in 2020 with 51 per cent of votes.
A loss for Ms Boebert would be a surprise upset for Republicans, whose so-called “red wave” has failed to materialise.
It could also raise further questions about Donald Trump’s future in the GOP if one of the most infamous MAGA Republicans fails to hold onto her seat.
Ms Boebert was elected to Congress in 2020 and, since then, has carved out her position as a far-right figure in the GOP, a vocal Trump supporter and a 2020 election denier.
Mr Frisch, a currency trader who served on the Aspen, Colorado city council for eight years, took on Ms Boebert because he opposed her performative brand of GOP politics.
In an earlier interview with The Independent, he said he decided to challenge her after finding some of her bizarre comments “disgusting and anti-ethical to America”.
“I was thinking, you know, if a moderate, pragmatic, pro-business Democrat could get by the Democratic primary, which wouldn’t be easy – and it wasn’t – I thought I could build a coalition,” he said.
The close race in Colorado comes as Republicans have failed to generate the red wave they were anticipating across the US with control of the US Senate still up for grabs.
