Rep. Boebert downgraded to toss-up in Colorado reelection duel

Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert is now locked in a toss-up fight for reelection as the right-wing firebrand is getting clobbered in the fundraising race by a Democratic rival who came nearly 600 votes of ousting her in the midterms.

The non-partisan Cook Report downgraded the controversial Trump-loving lawmaker’s seat to “lean Republican” as repeat challenger Adam Frisch continues to build momentum in the western Colorado swing district.

“Boebert (has) avoided taking any steps to moderate her image since coming within 546 votes of losing to (Frisch),” Cook analyst Dave Wasserman wrote in an assessment of the rating shift.

Frisch raised $2.6 million in the just-ended second quarter, outpacing Boebert by a more than 3-1 margin.

It was much the same story in the first three months of 2023, when the former Aspen councilman raked in $1.7 compared to Boebert’s $764,000.

Frisch, a self-styled moderate, took Boebert to a recount in their first race last year, shocking most political analysts who thought she could cruise to reelection after winning the seat in 2020 by a more comfortable 6% margin.

Republicans hold a narrow 10-vote margin in the House, meaning the two parties are likely to battle hard for closely divided districts like CO-03, which covers a vast swath of the western part of the state from liberal ski towns to staunchly conservative rural areas.

Wasserman predicted that Republican groups would pour cash into an effort to sully Frisch as a closet radical leftist despite his effort to stake out political turf to the right of President Biden.

Frisch is also benefiting from Colorado’s rapid move away from the GOP in recent years. Once a swing state, it is now solidly in the blue ledger.

Despite last year’s close call, Boebert has made no effort to moderate her image as one of the most proudly far right-wing members of Congress.

She reveled in her role as one of the rebels who forced House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to make punishing concessions to win the speaker’s gavel after an unusual weeklong drama.

Boebert fervently defends gun rights and makes no secret of her disdain for even common sense gun restrictions even after the mass shootings that have rocked the nation.

She once posed in a Christmas card with her young sons holding assault weapons and recently tossed in the trash a pamphlet presented to her by the mother of one of the victims of the Uvalde school massacre.

Boebert has even stoked controversy with fellow MAGA extremists.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) called her a “little b—h” in a shouting match on the House floor after she accused Boebert of copying her resolution to impeach President Biden.

Boebert has also been dogged by some unflattering personal headlines.

She portrays herself as a staunch proponent of family values but recently announced that her 17-year-old son is expecting a child after impregnating his 15-year-old girlfriend.

Boebert, who had her own first child at 18 when she was unmarried, recently announced that she is getting divorced from her husband of 15 years.