U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert is on track to win Colorado’s congressional primary

U.S. Congresswoman Lauren Boebert answers a question during a debate for GOP candidates running in the 4th Congressional District election at the Fort Lupton Recreation Center in Fort Lupton, Colorado on January 25, 2024. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert was on track Tuesday night to defeat five competitors in the Republican primary to represent her newly adopted district in eastern Colorado in a contest that would determine the conservative’s future in Congress.

She led by 29,700 votes, or 43% of the total, in the initial results posted on the Colorado Secretary of State’s website at 7:27 p.m. Boebert was followed by Deborah Flora, with 16%; state Rep. Mike Lynch, with 12%; Logan County Commissioner Jerry Sonnenberg, with 11%; state Rep. Richard Holtorf, with 9.9%; and Peter Yu, with 8.2%.

The Associated Press called the breed for Boebert at 7:22 p.m

Democrat Tricia Calvarese, a labor advocate, led that party’s three-way primary. (See more about that race below.)

In recent weeks, signs on the Republican side have pointed to a likely Boebert victory, given the crowded field and her name recognition. Earlier this month, a poll showed her ahead of all other candidates by 35 percentage points, but a sizable chunk of voters in the sprawling 4th Congressional District were still undecided. It includes much of the Eastern Plains and Douglas County in Denver’s southern suburbs.

There has also been an active race in the Democratic primary, but the road to the Nov. 5 general election will be an uphill climb for whoever wins the nomination in a congressional district that is considered Colorado’s most Republican. The district, which runs from the Nebraska state line to the Oklahoma border and from the Front Range to the Kansas state line, shows a 20-point advantage among Republicans over registered Democrats, even though more than 40 percent of the electorate is unaffiliated.

A Democrat hasn’t won the 4th Congressional District since Betsy Markey sixteen years ago.

The race for the 4th District was disrupted last fall when incumbent Ken Buck said he would not run to defend his seat in 2024. He later resigned in March, resulting in a separate special election on Tuesday to otherwise fill the seat. of this period.

That opened the race for more than a dozen candidates on both sides of the political aisle — including Boebert, who said in the final days of 2023 that she would give up a reelection bid in the 3rd Congressional District and try her luck in the more conservative district. 4th.

The two-term congresswoman had bleak prospects in her original district, which she won in 2020 thanks to the fundraising prowess of her Democratic opponent, Adam Frisch, who nearly defeated her in 2022 despite the Western Slope-anchored district being a solid red had color. tint. Her behavior during a performance of the Broadway touring musical “Beetlejuice” in Denver in September, which generated national headlines, prompted some prominent Colorado Republicans to walk away from her.

Boebert, who has the support of soon-to-be Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, immediately faced accusations of being a runner for her sudden district change. But she dominated the fundraising game and was able to capitalize on her sky-high name recognition over her five remaining Republican foes.

Some of her top opponents have long called the 4th District home, most notably Sonnenberg, also a former state lawmaker. Holtorf runs a cattle ranch near Akron and Lynch lives in Wellington.

Flora, a former radio host, placed her bet on Douglas, the district’s most populous county, where she has lived for six years. Yu, a Weld County entrepreneur, is the last Republican in the race.

Democratic primaries

On the Democratic side, repeat candidate Ike McCorkle ran against political novices Calvarese and John Padora. In the early results, Calvarese led with 15,945 votes, or 46% of the total, followed by McCorkle with 41% and Padora with 13%.

Calvarese also ran in the district’s special election. Her Republican opponent was former Parker Mayor Greg Lopez, a Republican, who did not run in the primary for the next term.

McCorkle, who was defeated by Buck in 2020 and 2022, scored big in the last fundraising cycle. From April 1 to June 5, he collected more than $460,000 from contributors, surpassing Boebert in the money game by more than $100,000. He eclipsed his two Democratic opponents combined by a 3-to-1 margin in fundraising for the most recent reporting period.

McCorkle served in the U.S. Marine Corps for 18 years before retiring in 2014. He previously told The Denver Post that he would continue to run for the 4th District seat until he prevailed.

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