Many Republicans in Colorado's Fourth Congressional District aren't exactly rolling out the welcome mat for Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO).
Boebert is facing major skepticism from residents in her new district despite the fact that it's even more conservative politically than the district she previously served.
At issue is the nonstop controversy that swirls around Boebert, most notably the notorious incident in which she was ejected from a musical in Denver while being caught on camera vaping in the theater and groping her date.
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This led retired university employee Judy Scofield to dismiss the possibility of backing Boebert all together.
"I don’t appreciate, as a Christian, people saying they’re Christian to get your vote and then turning out to be a lowlife," she explained to the Wall Street Journal. "And now I just kind of think of her as a lowlife."
Colorado-04 resident Christopher Ware expressed a similar sentiment about the prospects of backing Boebert.
"I will not vote for her. Period," he told WSJ. "She’s not one of us."
GOP voter Tammi Flemming, meanwhile, told WSJ that Boebert has "not been well received" by Republicans due to "the shenanigans and the drama and moving districts."
These anecdotes are backed up by data showing Bobert is deeply unpopular throughout the state of Colorado.
"A recent poll by the left-leaning research group The Mountaineer found that just 17% of Colorado voters have a favorable view of her, less than half the 36% and 40% favorability ratings for Trump and Biden, respectively," the paper noted.
An extensive analysis published in January by the Independent analyzed Boebert’s chances of claiming victory in a crowded race where locals and officials from both parties accuse the MAGA firebrand of carpetbagging, abandoning her constituents and behaving very badly at Beetlejuice the musical.
“You might be shocked at how many people are not happy about it,” a local Republican official told the Independent. “This just naked power-seeking behavior to save the seat…doesn’t really sit well.”
The Independent spoke to Republicans in rural towns that favor guns over wifi, determined Democrats looking to mount a local defense, experts on state politics and a cowboy hat-wearing conservative who also hopes to claim the seat Rep. Ken Buck has left up for grabs.
Not everyone knew that the 37-year-old grandmother was kicked out of a musical in September for vaping and groping her date, or that cops were summoned to a Colorado restaurant over claims she’d punched her ex-husband in the face. A police investigation proved otherwise and her ex, Jayson Boebert, has since been arrested on assault charges.
According to Catherine Thurston, who works for a local newspaper in the rural town of Limon, Boebert has a big problem.
“If you’re not going to spend time talking face-to-face with people out here," Thurston told the Independent, "you’re probably not going to get the vote.”
But Colorado State University political science professor Kyle Saunders notes those who don’t know about Boebert’s tabloid antics soon will.
“You can imagine the campaign ads that her opponents are going to run,” he says “It’s going to be dark, grainy footage of her in the [Beetlejuice] theater.”
And those who know Boebert already dislike her record, locals told the outlet.
“I won’t vote for her because of who she is and what she has done,” independent voter Randy Wallace reportedly said.
“She’s a deserter,” competitor State Rep. Richard Holtorf told the Independent. “She’s deserting her people out of political expediency.”
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