Constituents say good riddance to “complete bozo” Lauren Boebert

Inside the Rifle, Colorado McDonald’s where Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) once worked as a shift manager after dropping out of high school, Independent reporter Sheila Flynn spoke with her constituents to find out how they feel about her recent departure from the district.

And it turns out, they’re pretty thrilled.

Related:

Lauren Boebert mercilessly mocked by GOP colleague in just 8 words

It’s the second time this week Boebert has been the butt of a fellow House Republican’s mockery.

“She’s always in drama here in Rifle and Silt,” said one grandmother who chose to remain anonymous. “She’s not the most popular person anymore.”

Your LGBTQ+ guide to Election 2024

Stay ahead of the 2024 Election with our newsletter that covers candidates, issues, and perspectives that matter.

Daily

Weekly

Good News

Another voter, age 40, told Flynn they know Trump supporters who were once on Team Boebert but who no longer support her. “Now they’re just embarrassed,” they said. “Because she just makes a fool out of herself. When she comes to public places around here, it’s just not professional.”

They added that all Boebert does is “cause ruckus” and that she “doesn’t actually do anything in her position. I can’t think of anything that she’s actually done.”

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 an 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.

But most people see through that argument and believe Boebert is simply terrified of losing to her former Third District democratic challenger Adam Frisch, who came extremely close to beating her last time around and was significantly outraising her. Polls were not looking good for her either.

Frisch told Flynn he was happy to see Boebert “pack her bags.”

“We’re excited about that,” he said. “That whole circus of her own personal stuff has now left the building, left the district.”

According to Colorado political science professor Justin Gollob, the switch has completely changed the Third District’s race.

“Her exit really changed the message,” he said. “This was an election largely based on a referendum of Lauren Boebert – and now it’s become a much more meat-and-potatoes issue, where Republicans gain an advantage within the district and Democrats have to figure a way how to chip away at that advantage through retail politics and focusing on issues that resonate with voters.”

But not everyone agrees that Republicans have the advantage now.

Pueblo resident Curtis Urban – who has voted for both parties and is happy there is no longer a “complete bozo” running in his district – said everyone is “tired of all the shenanigans of the Republican party” and might favor a moderate Democrat.

But Boebert’s departure is bittersweet for some. Despite the relief she is gone, they still feel abandoned by someone who committed to serving them, according to State Rep. Matt Soper (R).

“They were so offended by the fact that she just basically bailed from the ship,” Soper, who is considering running in District Three, told the Independent. “She abandoned her duties. When the going got tough, she just left, and she behaved like a carpetbagger, moving from one district to another. And I will tell you that, on the Western Slope, that is one thing that’s not tolerated.”

“I have yet to run into any Republican who’s like, ‘Yeah, she did it for the good of the party, she’s going to allow us to retain the Third and, if we’re lucky, we’ll get her elected to the Fourth.”

But it’s not looking good for Boebert in the Fourth, either. She scored an “embarrassing” fifth finish in a recent straw poll ranking the eight Republicans running in her new congressional district. While the poll was unscientific, her unpopularity in it suggests that “she’s finished,” one Republican group said.

In January, a Colorado paper also called out Boebert for appearing to know very little about her new district.

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.”