DENVER — No matter what concessions fellow Republicans threw her way, no matter how much pressure she faced in or out of Congress, Colorado’s U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert held fast in her opposition to U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s bid for speaker of the House.
The slim Republican majority in the House is already working in Boebert’s favor, offering her and a few other far-right members leverage over hundreds of their colleagues. And political experts say it’s not yet clear whether she’ll face any consequences for her dissension. GOP leaders, they say, might not be able to afford to alienate the Colorado congresswoman further.
If House members eventually elect McCarthy as speaker “he obviously has a very thin majority,” Seth Masket, a political scientist with the University of Denver, said, “and can’t really afford to alienate much of his caucus.”
