Colorado’s Republican representative Lauren Boebert has announced that she will be changing congressional districts ahead of her 2024 Republican nomination bid for the House.
In a Facebook video on Wednesday, the 37-year old, far-right representative announced that she would be moving from Colorado’s third district to its fourth district.
The fourth district, which has been categorized as “solidly Republican” according to the Cook Political Report, is currently led by Ken Buck who has served in Congress since 2015. In November, Buck announced that he would not be seeking re-election, citing the Republican party’s reliance “on this lie that the 2020 election was stolen”.
Boebert’s current third district has been categorized as a toss-up, according to a Cook Political Report rating from earlier this month. Following her announcement, the Cook Political Report changed its categorization of the third district to a “lean Republican”, the Hill reports.
In her announcement on Wednesday, Boebert called her decision a “fresh start”, adding, “I promised I would do whatever it takes to stop the socialists and communists from taking over our country. That means staying in the fight but also not allowing Hollywood elite and progressive money groups to buy the third district, a seat that they have no business owning.”
She went on to say: “We cannot lose the third and Colorado’s fourth district is hungry for an unapologetic defender of freedom with a proven track record of standing strong for conservative principles.
“I will be moving to the fourth in 2024 and will continue to take my conservative fight directly to them. And the Aspen donors, George Soros and Hollywood actors that are trying to buy the seat, well they can go pound sand. We aren’t going to give them the opportunity to steal the third. Republicans will hold the third and I’ll proudly represent the fourth and Republicans will be stronger for it,” Boebert continued.
In 2022, Boebert won her re-election bid for Colorado’s third district by beating her Democratic opponent, Adam Frisch, by just 546 votes.
Earlier this year, Frisch, a 56-year-old former banker, announced that he would be running against Boebert again, tweeting in February that he was launching his campaign to unseat her and “restore dignity to #CO03 representation”.
In response to Boebert’s announcement, Frisch said, “From Day 1 of this race, I have been squarely focused on defending rural Colorado’s way of life, and offering commonsense solutions to the problems facing the families of Colorado’s 3rd congressional district,” the Hill reported.
“My focus will remain the same, and I look forward to bringing these issues with me to Congress in 2024,” Frisch added.
Boebert’s announcement follows what she called a “pretty difficult year for me and my family”. In May, Boebert filed for divorce from her husband with whom she has four sons. The former couple also ran a gun-themed restaurant called Shooters Grill which shut down in 2022.
In September, Boebert faced widespread backlash after she and a male guest were kicked out from a Beetlejuice production in Denver for inappropriate behavior including vaping, recording video and groping each other.
Following Boebert’s announcement on Wednesday, Richard Holtorf, a Colorado Republican state representative who is also running to represent the state’s fourth district in the House, criticized her.
“Seat shopping isn’t something the voters look kindly upon. If you can’t win in your home, you can’t win here. I’m in it to win it and I welcome the lady from Rifle to the race,” he said, adding, “She is grossly lacking in understanding the needs of the 21 counties in eastern Colorado that make up this district. She knew she’d lose in her own district and I’ll show her that she’ll lose here too.”
• This article was amended on 29 December 2023 to correct Lauren Boebert’s age from 36 to 37.
