Rep. Lauren Boebert faces tough road to reelection

Rep. Lauren Boebert won by the slimmest margin of any congressional race in the 2022 midterm elections, winning by just over 500 votes. And since the beginning of the year, Boebert has been at the center of a string of unflattering news stories, which could make her race even more competitive next year.

Boebert faced backlash for acting inappropriately during a local theater showing of “Beetlejuice” a month ago. Now, the latest reports suggest that she also spent hundreds of dollars of campaign funds at her date’s bar.

Politico reported that the Colorado representative’s campaign paid for a $317.48 bill at the Hooch Craft Cocktail Bar in Aspen, Colorado, in July. Boebert’s date from the “Beetlejuice” performance, Quinn Gallagher, is a co-owner of the bar, and was reportedly Boebert’s boyfriend.

Boebert’s campaign told Politico that the representative was meeting with donors and the bill covered the food and beverage cost.

The report noted that the bar is an LGBTQ-friendly establishment that hosts drag shows, which Boebert has been critical of in the past.

She has since broken up with Gallagher after finding out that he’s a registered Democrat.

“I learned to check party affiliations before you go on a date,” Boebert, a Republican, told a tabloid news site.

Rep. Lauren Boebert trailing behind Democratic challenger in fundraising

Still, Gallagher isn’t the only Democrat Boebert should be worried about. She is facing a possible rematch against Democratic challenger Adam Frisch, a former Aspen city councilman who has a much bigger war chest.

Frisch lost against Boebert in the general election in 2022 by only 546 votes, the closest congressional race that year, triggering an automatic recount. He has ramped up fundraising efforts this time around, amassing $4.3 million cash on hand by the last quarter, compared to Boebert’s $1.4 million, according to Business Insider.

Colorado’s 3rd District, currently represented by Boebert, encompasses the rural Western Slope and is politically considered a purple region, owing to cities such as Aspen and Pueblo, which overwhelmingly favor the Democratic Party.

The Cook Political Report categorized the 2024 race as a toss-up.

Boebert said she was grateful for the support her “grassroots-led campaign” has received.

“Our fundraising has always been powered by the working-class families of rural Colorado, which is why I’ve worked tirelessly to deliver substantive results for them on the local issues they care about most,” her campaign told Business Insider.

“While I know progressive dark-money groups will continue to pour millions into our district to smear me and mislead Coloradans, I’m as confident as ever that we will have the resources we need to share our message and win in 2024.”

Unfortunately for Boebert, Frisch isn’t her only challenger. Republican Jeff Hurd, a Grand Junction lawyer, who had $356,000 cash on hand at the start of October, has attracted notable donors like former University of Colorado President Bruce Benson, former Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers and former University of Denver Chancellor Daniel Ritchie, according to the Colorado Sun.

Rep. Lauren Boebert’s controversial year

Regardless of the numerous threats to her incumbency, Boebert continues to make it into national headlines. In this year alone, Boebert has feuded with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., several times — once over Greene’s choice to support California Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s bid for House speaker in January and again in June over who copied whose articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden. This year she has also endured a public divorce.

Boebert, a conservative firebrand loyal to former President Donald Trump, has tried to force a vote to impeach Biden several times, all before the congressional investigation concluded.

“A lot of Republicans have been bewildered by her,” Dick Wadhams, the former chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, told NBC News in July. “She has not changed her operating style, either substantively or just generally.”

After the House removed McCarthy from the speakership, Boebert said she is supporting Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, for speaker.

Since her district is competitive, Boebert is reportedly toning down the “Freedom Caucus rabble-rouser” part of her personality when she is home, perhaps to not alienate voters in Colorado, as Politico reported.

She has admitted the existence of this duality. Frisch, her opponent, thinks it’s her campaign's way of trying to reset after “the worst performing race in probably 20 years.”

“But it wasn’t that long ago that she was getting in a fight with Marjorie Taylor Greene on the floor about who was the first person to have a chance to impeach President Biden,” he said.

With recent unflattering headlines and a smaller war chest, 2024 is shaping up to be another tough year for Boebert.