U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert is getting squeezed from both sides of the political aisle in the money race as she faces a growing field of challengers hoping to thwart her reelection next year.
Third-quarter fundraising totals reported in recent days in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District show the Republican incumbent was outraised by her most prominent Democratic foe, Adam Frisch, by a factor of 4-to-1. And Jeff Hurd, a Boebert challenger in next year’s GOP primary, posted sizeable totals indicating he also might pose trouble for the two-term congresswoman.
Boebert’s haul for the period from July 1 to Sept. 30 was just shy of $854,000, according to the recent campaign finance reports. Earlier this month, ahead of filing his full quarterly report, former Aspen city councilman Frisch, who narrowly lost to Boebert in 2022, touted a nearly $3.4 million haul during the same time frame.
Hurd, a Grand Junction attorney, collected just over $412,000 despite launching his campaign only in mid-August.
“As someone who is not a politician and who entered the race halfway through the quarter, I am proud to have raised $412,000,” Hurd said in a statement to The Denver Post on Tuesday.
Hurd has managed to gain the backing of several prominent Colorado Republicans, including Bruce Benson, a former University of Colorado president; John Suthers, the former Colorado Springs mayor and state attorney general; Daniel Ritchie, a former University of Denver chancellor; and former U.S. Sen. Hank Brown.
In recent weeks, several Republican county commissioners on the Western Slope have broken with their party’s incumbent to throw in with Hurd, according to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. The parties’ primaries are set for June 25, with the general election in November 2024.
Paul DeBell, an associate professor of political science at Fort Lewis College in Durango, said that while Boebert’s third-quarter contributions, standing alone, were solid, her significant lag behind her top Democratic opponent was a warning sign for her campaign.
“The 3rd District is the Republicans’ to lose,” DeBell said.
Boebert on Tuesday thanked her supporters in the district, which encompasses much of the western and southern parts of the state. She said her 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.”
DeBell said Frisch has been able to focus “singularly” on the potential rematch while Boebert has been mixed up in controversies, some of her own making. Voters in her district may be feeling “exhaustion” with the headlines and drama that seem to follow the congresswoman wherever she goes, he said.
“It’s pretty clear he has this seat in his sights and is working really hard to turn it,” DeBell said of Frisch. “It doesn’t bode well for Boebert.”
The conservative firebrand, who was first elected in 2020 and then barely kept her seat in last November’s election — edging out Frisch by 546 votes — has attracted attention for her outspokenness and bare-knuckle political style. That style was on full display at the beginning of the year when she became a major thorn in the side of Kevin McCarthy’s efforts to become House speaker.
McCarthy succeeded, but he was ousted from the speakership on Oct. 3 — though Boebert was not among the representatives who voted to give him the boot.
She was roundly criticized and mocked for her behavior last month at a performance of the Broadway touring musical “Beetlejuice” at Denver’s Buell Theatre, during which she was escorted from the venue for inappropriate and ribald conduct. She apologized several days later.
Frisch has raised more than $7.7 million since the beginning of the year, versus just over $2.4 million for Boebert. The congresswoman had $1.4 million in cash on hand at the start of the month, while Frisch’s war chest had more than $4.3 million.
Russ Andrews, a Republican engineer and financial adviser running to take on Boebert in next year’s primary, raised nearly $34,000 in donations during the third quarter, in addition to about $255,000 he loaned or gave his campaign, according to his finance report.
On the Democratic side, Grand Junction Mayor Anna Stout garnered just over $100,000 after announcing her run in late July. Several other candidates from both sides of the aisle reported less significant or nominal sums.
The Cook Political Report rates the race, which is likely to be one of the country’s most closely watched next year, as a “toss up.”
A Democrat hasn’t won the district since John Salazar won reelection 15 years ago. Salazar lost his seat in 2010 to former Rep. Scott Tipton, a Republican who served five terms before his surprise loss in the 2020 GOP primary to Boebert.
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