Colorado Democrats seek to beat Boebert by bolstering voter turnout in 2024
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Congresswoman Lauren Boebert’s victory over Democratic challenger Adam Frisch last November was one of the tightest Congressional races in the country.
The Colorado Democratic Party is launching an initiative to engage voters in the 3rd Congressional District 17 months ahead of November 2024, when Boebert faces reelection for a third term.
The chair of Colorado Democrats, Shad Murib, was joined by current and former elected officials from western and southern Colorado Monday to announce the initiative, the 546 Project, at a virtual press conference.
“(Boebert) continually uses her platform to spew hatred and division, not unity,” Murib said. “Those of us out in western and southern Colorado know that's just not how we act out here.”
The 546 Project is named for the margin of votes by which Boebert won in November 2022. Murib said the effort will focus on reengaging voters that didn’t vote in the midterms.
The announcement from Colorado Democrats follows a new ad campaign launched last week by the liberal organization Rocky Mountain Values. Their campaign attacking Boebert’s policies was launched in Pueblo and the group plans to make other local ads throughout the 3rd District.
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Murib said that when the Democratic Party “writes off rural seats as unwinnable, naturally, we lose.”
“But when we fight, we win,” Murib said.
In the days and weeks following Election Day last November, Frisch publicly called out the media as well as Republicans and Democrats in Colorado and the rest of the country for not taking him seriously.
Frisch launched his 2024 campaign in Pueblo in February and has raised more than twice as much as Boebert this year so far, according to the latest campaign finance data.
He told the Chieftain that he’s “very aware” of the national attention on this race, but said that his campaign is going to continue focusing on key issues: “water, water, water,” jobs and energy.
Boebert remains involved in the “angertainment industry,” Frisch said, citing Boebert’s involvement in the holdup for the House Speaker and missing the recent debt ceiling vote.
Frisch said that while his campaign was not as well-funded as Boebert’s in 2022, he drove 24,000 miles around the district and met people in person.
“How hard people work and how well they connect can overcome a lot of financial shortcoming, but we think we're going to have both this time: we think we'll have the money that we need, unlike last time, and we have a lot of credibility that we can do this,” Frisch said.
Voters in the district have over a year to go before they will decide who will be the Democrat on the ballot — two additional Democrats have filed to run for the seat since Frisch declared.
Boebert has also garnered at least one primary challenger in Russ Andrews, a financial advisor from Carbondale.
Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District has not been represented by a Democrat in over a decade, since John Salazar was ousted by Scott Tipton in 2010. Boebert challenged Tipton in the 2020 Republican primary.
“Folks, this is an unprecedented investment in western and southern Colorado by the Democratic Party that we have never attempted before,” Murib said.
Former state Rep. Bri Buentello, the chair of the Pueblo County Democratic Party, was one of the officials who spoke at the virtual press conference.
“Pueblo is going to show up and Pueblo is going to make the difference. Pueblo is going to fire Lauren Boebert,” Buentello said.
Buentello is married to state Sen. Nick Hinrichsen, who was elected to his first full term in November 2022. She said that outside groups spent over $3 million to attempt to defeat Hinrichsen in 2022.
“It didn't work because Steel City recognizes our own, we believe in hard work, we believe in honesty, and we believe in the value of showing up. The story of Pueblo is Pueblo being underestimated,” Buentello said.
What the 546 Project will look like
Reaching out to selected voters will entail phone calls, digital marketing and in-person efforts, Murib said.
“We know that most of them are young, many of them are women, and nearly half are Latino voters, and had these voters turned out like they usually do, Lauren Boebert would be a footnote in Colorado political history,” Murib said.
Approximately 10,000 Democrats who are usually active voters will be contacted at least four times, Murib said.
Murib said that the multiple phases of the project involve reaching out to support local municipal and school board candidates this fall, sometime next spring and next summer after the Democratic nominee for the 3rd District is selected.
The party is mostly seeking out volunteers from within the district and 25 people have already signed up to help, Murib said.
More: Boebert lauds grant for Pueblo Community Health Center after voting no on bill to fund it
Boebert, Colorado GOP chair respond
Boebert told the Chieftain in an emailed statement through her campaign's press office “there is no doubt Democrats will give their all to steal this seat."
"History will prove once again our District does not want a tax-hiking, Green New Deal, far-left, extreme, Aspen Democrat to represent them,” Boebert wrote. Frisch has run as a moderate candidate and said he would join a bipartisan caucus of legislators if elected.
Boebert said she is “proving to be an extremely effective legislator in the new Congress” and added that she has sponsored two bipartisan bills and 10 successful amendments in the House so far.
Boebert did not address if she is aware of any similar efforts from the GOP or other conservative groups.
In a request for comment, Colorado GOP Chair Dave Williams also did not address whether the party was working on a similar effort in the 3rd District but said Republicans welcome the “delusionary efforts” of “radical Democrats.”
“When the dust settles after Democrats are done tilting at windmills, voters on the front range will deliver them losses in 2024 alongside the same rural voters who won't forget how Democrats have been at war with them for years,” Williams wrote in an email.
Colorado Republicans selected Williams to run the state party earlier this year. GOP candidates in Colorado suffered historic losses in the November 2022 midterms — Democrats continued to be in control of the executive offices and strengthened majorities in the state House and Senate.
Anna Lynn Winfrey covers politics for the Chieftain. She can be reached at awinfrey@gannett.com or on Twitter, @annalynnfrey.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Colorado Democrats announce plans to beat Boebert, boost turnout
