Colorado GOP told Lauren Boebert a district swap would be a mistake. She did it anyway

News of U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert's decision to leave Colorado's 3rd Congressional District came as a "shock" to Colorado Republican Party chairman Dave Williams and his fellow party members.

Williams told the Chieftain Thursday that the party had spoken to Boebert prior to her Dec. 27 announcement, telling her that leaving the 3rd Congressional District for the 4th Congressional District seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Ken Buck was a mistake.

Boebert's status as an incumbent, name recognition and fundraising abilities made her the "best candidate suited" to keep the 3rd Congressional District in Republican hands, Williams said.

"We ultimately think this weakens our prospects in Congressional District 3, and we're gonna have to expend more time, energy and resources into ensuring that whoever the nominee is keeps that seat in our hands," he said.

News of Boebert's district swap is still fresh for the Colorado GOP, but Williams expects a "flurry" of Republican candidates to jump into the 3rd Congressional District race next year.

The party has heard rumblings that State Board of Education member Stephen Varela of Pueblo and State Rep. Matthew Soper of Delta County could be potential candidates. However, Williams said those rumors have not been substantiated by the party.

Boebert is 'running scared' from 2022 rematch, Frisch says

Democratic 3rd Congressional District candidate Adam Frisch sees Boebert's planned exit as an opportunity to spend more time talking about issues that have been "lost in the shuffle."

"I have wanted to talk, not about Team Red versus Team Blue, but about CD3 — Colorado water, Colorado energy and Colorado jobs," Frisch said. "A lot of that, unfortunately, got lost in the shuffle because of the notoriety of (Boebert) on a national level."

Boebert defeated Frisch by just 554 votes in the 2022 3rd Congressional District election. After Frisch announced his 2024 campaign to unseat Boebert, a rematch of the hard-fought 2022 race seemed almost a foregone conclusion.

Frisch believes Boebert is leaving the 3rd Congressional District out of fear that she won't win reelection. In August 2023, Keating Research conducted a poll of likely voters that showed the Democrat from Aspen leading the incumbent Republican congresswoman by 2 percentage points.

The 2024 Frisch campaign also had raised over $7.7 million by Sept. 30, 2023. That's over three times as much as Boebert raised in the same amount of time, according to the Federal Election Commission.

"Boebert is running scared from CD-3 because she knows she can’t match our campaign’s ability to connect with voters and the hard work we have put in... including driving over 45,000 miles and holding hundreds of public meetings in every corner of this great district," Frisch said in a Dec. 28 news release.

Even without Boebert's opposition, Frisch said he isn't changing the tune of his campaign messaging because his values and policy positions have not changed. He still considers himself a "conservative businessman" and a "conservative Democrat" focusing on Colorado jobs, water and energy.

More about Boebert's district swap: Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert swaps congressional districts as she faces tight reelection campaign

Pueblo Chieftain reporter James Bartolo can be reached at JBartolo@gannett.com. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Colorado GOP, Democrat Adam Frisch react to Lauren Boebert move