Lauren Boebert called out by local paper for knowing nothing about her new district

A local Colorado paper has called out Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) for appearing to know very little about her new district.

The anti-LGBTQ+ lawmaker recently announced she is switching her re-election campaign from Colorado’s Third District (where many expected her to lose) to the state’s Fourth District. Boebert claimed in her interview with the Durango Herald‘s Reuben M. Schafir that she wanted a “fresh start” due to her “personal life,” as she has recently gotten divorced.

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But it seems far more likely the switch came from Boebert increasingly losing favor in Colorado’s Third. Her former Democratic opponent, Adam Frisch, who came extremely close to beating her last time around, was significantly outraising her, and polls were not looking good for her either.

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Schafir criticized Boebert for failing to concoct a platform that dealt with any issues specific to her new district. “Her pitch is rooted less in her new stumping grounds and more in conservative issues of state or national interest,” he wrote, adding that her “pitch to District 4 voters parrots boilerplate conservative talking points” and that “rather than specific 4th District issues, Boebert hammers what might be considered an indisputable fact: She’s a known commodity….”

As she reportedly continued to struggle to point out any differences between the Third and Fourth districts, Boebert said she would learn on the job: “My job is on-the-job training.”

But as Schafir noted, Boebert’s move has not been embraced by GOP leadership.

While Boebert believes her decision is a way to protect conservative seats in the house by making room for a Republican more likely to win in the Third, Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams (who was not even told Boebert was switching districts until hours before she announced it publicly) believes the opposite is true. He told the Herald he believes any Republican could win the Fourth but that a Republican who isn’t Boebert may struggle in the less conservative Third.

“We know are going to have a nominee that is not as well known, that doesn’t have as much money or the ability to fundraise as much money as Lauren Boebert did,” he said. “So from a party chair’s perspective, we’re going to have to spend more money, more resources and more effort boosting a nominee that doesn’t have as great of a name ID.”

He also does not believe Boebert is a shoo-in for District 4. She is up against several Republican opponents. Beyond that, Williams isn’t confident she can overcome the Beetlejuice controversy (in September, she was kicked out of a Beetlejuice performance after she was caught vaping and groping her date).

In contrast to Boebert’s inability to name any big differences between the Third and Fourth districts, Williams said Boebert will have to convince District 4 voters why she should “represent a completely different geographical, and… cultural constituency.”

And in a scathing op-ed, former state GOP chairman Dick Wadhams tore into Boebert for trying to become a career politician, “resorting to the very motivations she claimed to abhor in 2020.”

“Political self-preservation and remaining in public office are now her priorities,” Wadhams said. “She just doesn’t need those ungrateful voters in the 3rd CD anymore.”

“How about just announcing she is not seeking reelection in the face of certain defeat?” he continued. “Or having the courage to defend her controversial record and continue to campaign for reelection in the 3rd CD? Those heady Tea Party/MAGA days of being so ‘principled’ in 2020 are long gone. Lauren Boebert is inexpendable and must be in Congress. Just ask her.”