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DENVER (AP) – Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, an expanse of ski resorts, national forests, ranches, coal towns and desert areas the size of Pennsylvania, has long trained quiet politicians.
His constituents have leaned slightly to the right, prized practicality, and for years rewarded officials for accomplishments that fall under the national radar, like the Hermosa Creek Watershed Act, a crowning achievement of former Republican Scott Tipton .
Until now.
New District Representative, Republican Lauren Boebert, is a staunch, social media-savvy loyalist to former President Donald Trump who, like his first-term colleague, GOP Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, is stoking the controversy with his far-right views. and provocative actions. But unlike Greene, Boebert is not from a safe and predominantly GOP neighborhood.
This makes Boebert a test case of whether even a slight partisan advantage will inevitably strengthen the more extreme elements of a party. The question for strategists in Colorado and elsewhere in this divided country is whether Boebert is a fluke – or the future.
“Are we so locked up, so partisan, that it overshadows everything, even in these nearby neighborhoods?” asked Floyd Ciruli, a veteran Colorado pollster. “Bringing out such controversial forces and eliminating an incumbent was not dangerous, even in a neighborhood like this.”
Boebert, 34, who owns a gun-themed restaurant in the town of Rifle, immediately started making waves. During her first month in office, she filmed a video in which she claimed to carry a pistol in defiance of the District of Columbia’s anti-gun laws, advocated for the right to bring guns onto the floor of the House, voted to annul President Joe Biden’s election and tweeted about the plight of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on January 6, which led to allegations – which she vehemently denies – that she was helping Trump loyalists who attacked the U.S. Capitol.
His first taste of politics came in response to the polarization across the aisle. In 2019, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who was vying for the Democratic presidential nomination, vowed to ban assault weapons. He hosted an event in the Denver suburb of Aurora, near the site of the Aurora Theater massacre in 2012.
Boebert drove four hours from her home to Rifle to confront O’Rourke over his statement that “damn it, yeah” he was taking AR-15s. “Damn, no, you’re not,” she said.
Cristy Fidura, 43, who along with her husband, a former oilfield worker, owns a trucking company in the former steel town of Pueblo, has never been in politics – until she saw this confrontation. She immediately became one of Boebert’s earliest supporters.
“I could relate to her just like President Trump. She’s not a politician and she is not a politician, and running this country is a business, ”Fidura said. “I have the feeling that so many people are convinced that the government should make decisions for them and I think it’s sad, it’s scary.
Marla Reichert, the outgoing Pueblo County GOP chairperson, said voters in the district have long been looking for someone to vote for them in Washington and tell Democrats “damn, no” to do too much.
Tipton, a five-term holder whom Boebert upset in last year’s GOP primary, “voted the right way. People just felt he was not there to fight the Democrats. He wasn’t on Fox News, pushing back, ”Reichert said.
In an interview, Boebert said voters in the district were eager to experience disruption. “My constituents are tired of the old way of getting along that we often see in politicians,” she said.
Boebert insists that she and the rest of the class of first-term lawmakers represent the future, even in districts like hers.
“It’s the America First movement that you see nationally and certainly in my district,” she said.
Josh Penry, a seasoned Republican strategist who represented the region in the Colorado Statehouse, is skeptical of Boebert’s style.
“There are very real limits to this shtick in rural Colorado, which is why she only won with 51%,” said Penry. “When the sizzle wears off, there will be big blocks of voters who are totally up for grabs and want to know their congressman is trying to be part of the solution between the successes of cable news shows.
Boebert beat his Democratic opponent 51% to 45% in November. More Republicans than Democrats are registered voters, although the larger bloc is unaffiliated and the district is gaining retirees and refugees from urban areas who lean to the left.
Democrats field potential challengers for 2022. Although the state’s Republican Party has adopted Boebert, some in the GOP are whispering about a possible main challenge.
The biggest threat may be redistribution. By 2022, a non-partisan commission will have redrawn the boundaries of the Boebert district, which could become more Democratic or more Republican with the inclusion of a few neighboring communities.
Boebert’s first bills as a member of Congress – opposing Biden’s mask-wearing mandate on federal property and withholding funds to join the Paris climate accord and the World Organization health – will not go anywhere. But his denunciation of Biden’s hiatus on oil and gas drilling on federal lands, which makes up 55% of the district, has been adopted by voters who depend on the industry.
Republicans here have both praise and warnings for the MP.
Scott McInnis, a former six-term Republican congressman from the district, has said the high-tension partisan warfare is not getting results for voters in the region. “You need to have good communication with the local communities so that you can quickly facilitate what they need from the federal government, whether it is a cattle grazing permit or a ski permit,” he said.
Janet Rowland, a Mesa County commissioner who advised Boebert on his campaign, said Boebert must continue to fight efforts by the Biden administration to suspend drilling on federal lands. She praised Boebert, but said the new congressman should work with the Biden administration when she can – and oppose it when she has to.
“Our residents are fed up with the continued attacks from both sides,” Rowland said. “Biden won. He’s our president. Let’s move on.”
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