Boebert Trails Retired Navy Admiral in Colorado’s Reddest District as Count Drags On
Rep. Lauren Boebert is in danger of losing the most Republican congressional seat in Colorado.
Democrat Eileen Laubacher, a retired Navy rear admiral, led Boebert 169,103 votes to 164,133 in Colorado’s 4th District as of Wednesday evening, 49.2% to 47.7%. Libertarian Douglas Mangeris had 3.1%. The Associated Press, which estimated that 83% of the expected vote had been counted, had not called the race.
Counting has been uneven. Colorado Politics reported that 94% of ballots were counted as of 2 p.m. Wednesday, with Laubacher up 5,073 votes. That margin is too wide to trigger Colorado’s automatic recount.
A district Trump won by 18 points
The surprise is the terrain. Anchored by Douglas County, the 4th District takes in the Eastern Plains and the Loveland area. Trump carried it by more than 18 points in 2024, and Boebert won it by about 11.
The district has elected a Democrat only once in the modern era, in 2008, when its lines were far friendlier to Democrats. Forecasters moved the race to “leans Republican” only in the final week.
County returns show where Boebert is bleeding. She is running up the score in rural counties, taking 81.6% in Cheyenne County and 75.6% in Baca County, but Laubacher is winning suburban Douglas County 54% to 43%, according to Reuters-compiled results. Douglas County alone has cast more than 190,000 votes in the race.
Money and baggage
Laubacher, 58, is a former National Security Council official. She ran on national security credentials and promised “focused, mature representation” on health care, housing and everyday costs.
She also had a massive cash advantage. Colorado Politics reported that she raised nearly $14 million, more than 10 times Boebert’s $1.2 million.
Boebert, 39, is the senior elected Republican in Colorado and one of the best-known faces of the MAGA movement. She moved from the Western Slope’s 3rd District in 2024 after coming within fewer than 600 votes of defeat in 2022, the closest House race in the country that year.
Her image has taken hits along the way, including her 2023 ejection from a Denver performance of “Beetlejuice.” Colorado Politics wrote that the fact the seat was competitive at all was “due in part to the incumbent’s image.”
Boebert has also broken with Trump at times in recent years, USA Today noted.
Part of a wider wave
Colorado is not the only state where the blue wave reached deep into GOP territory. Next door in the 3rd District, Boebert’s old seat, Republican Rep. Jeff Hurd clung to a lead of about 2,000 votes over Democrat Dwayne Romero.
Democrats have already clinched control of the House, so Boebert’s seat will not decide the majority. It will help decide how deep the GOP hole is in January, and whether one of the movement’s best-known fighters survives.
Ballots are still being counted. CDN will update when AP or a network decision desk calls the race.
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