Elections
In September 2019, Boebert made national headlines when she confronted Beto O'Rourke, a candidate in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, at an Aurora town hall meeting over his proposal for a buy-back program and a ban on assault-style rifles like AR-15s. Later that month, she opposed a measure banning guns in city-owned buildings at a meeting of the Aspen City Council. The ordinance passed unanimously a month later.
Boebert was an organizer of the December 2019 "We Will Not Comply!" rally opposing Colorado's red flag law, which allows guns to be taken from people deemed a threat. The American Patriots Three Percent militia, affiliated with the Three Percenters, provided security, and members of the Proud Boys attended the rally. On Twitter, Boebert has used rhetoric friendly to the Three Percenters and posed with members of the group. She deleted the tweet with the photos after being asked about it. During her congressional campaign, she said she was "with the militia".
In December 2019, Boebert launched her campaign to represent Colorado's 3rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives, beginning with a challenge to five-term incumbent Scott Tipton in the Republican primary. During her campaign, she criticized Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other members of "The Squad", positioning herself as a conservative alternative to the progressive representative. Seth Masket, a political science professor at the University of Denver, suggested that Boebert wanted to motivate Republican voters to participate in the primary during a slow election cycle by stirring up their anger at Ocasio-Cortez and others.
Boebert criticized Tipton's voting record, which she said did not reflect his district. Before the primary, Trump endorsed Tipton, but Boebert characterized him as unsupportive of Trump. She accused him of supporting amnesty for undocumented immigrants by voting for H.R. 5038, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2019, saying that the act had a provision that led to citizenship and provided funding for housing for undocumented farm workers. Boebert decried what she said were Tipton's insufficient efforts to continue funding for the Paycheck Protection Program, whose money had run out within two weeks, arguing that more was needed. Boebert raised just over $150,000 through the June 30 primary.
In a May 2020 interview on SteelTruth, a QAnon-supporting web show, Boebert said she was "very familiar with" the conspiracy theory: "Everything I've heard of Q, I hope that this is real because it only means America is getting stronger and better." The Colorado Times Recorder reported that she followed multiple YouTube channels connected with QAnon before deleting her YouTube account when it came under scrutiny. Boebert later said she was not a follower of QAnon, in a statement where she endorsed investigations into "deep state activities that undermine the President".
In September 2019, Boebert aide and future campaign manager Sherronna Bishop published a video on her Facebook page in which she interviewed a self-proclaimed member of the far-right group Proud Boys, which Bishop called "pro-everything that makes America great", adding, "thank God for you guys and the Proud Boys". Bishop left the Boebert campaign shortly after Boebert won the Republican nomination. In October 2020, Boebert's campaign denied any connection to the Proud Boys and said Boebert did not share Bishop's views.
On June 30 2020, Boebert won the Republican nomination with 54.6% of the vote to Tipton's 45.4%. The result gained national attention and surprised political commentators. CNN and Politico called it a "stunning upset"; The Hill made a similar statement. Tipton conceded defeat on election night and Trump congratulated Boebert in a tweet. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Cheri Bustos said in a statement that national Republicans should disavow Boebert for supporting QAnon.
Boebert was the first primary challenger to defeat a sitting U.S. representative in Colorado in 48 years, since Democratic Representative Wayne Aspinall lost to Alan Merson. She pledged to join the Freedom Caucus upon taking office.
Boebert faced Democratic former state representative Diane Mitsch Bush, a retired sociology professor from Steamboat Springs, Colorado, in the November general election. Boebert said that Mitsch Bush's platform was "more government control" and that Mitsch Bush had a "socialist agenda". Boebert emphasized her devotion to Trump and his policies and reiterated her points about deregulation of industries and decreasing healthcare funding, while rallying for the expansion of gun rights.
In late July 2020, Boebert was considered the front-runner. A September survey paid for by Michael Bloomberg's Democratic-leaning House Majority PAC had Mitsch Bush ahead by one percentage point. Mitsch Bush outraised Boebert, with $4.2 million for her and nearly $4 million spent by Democratic operatives, as opposed to Boebert's $2.4 million raised and more than $5 million spent by the Republicans, but Boebert won the election, 51.27% to 45.41%. According to the Atlas of the 2020 Elections, Boebert was able to command strong support in the traditionally conservative areas of the Western Slope of Colorado and the San Luis Valley while retaining enough Republican votes in liberal-leaning Pueblo and other Democratic areas. It also stated that Boebert did not suffer from the Trump effect, as compared to the support of Trump at the polls, with the 3rd district witnessing few split-ticket votes. Her campaign succeeded by appealing to independence and rebellion.
In 2020, Boebert reimbursed herself $22,259 for mileage costs from her campaign's finances, which legally would require her to have driven 38,712 mi (62,301 km). The Denver Post reported in early February 2021 that three ethics experts said the high figure was suspicious. Boebert's campaign attributed the figure to her "aggressive travel schedule", but members of her campaign did not provide evidence for the amount of travel. CPR News calculated that it was plausible that Boebert had driven 30,000 miles based on her visits to 129 events.
Boebert said in a mid-February interview that she "drove tens of thousands of miles ... I had to make those connections, and really, I underreported a lot of stuff." In late February 2021, Boebert's campaign updated its campaign finance filing, reclassifying $3,053 claimed for mileage to "hotels", and $867 claimed for mileage to Uber rides, thus claiming a mileage of around 30,000 miles.
Despite campaign finance laws and ethics laws requiring Congressional candidates to reveal their immediate family's income sources to show potential conflicts of interest, Boebert did not report her husband's income in her 2020 filing, instead belatedly revealing it in August 2021, the same day the Federal Election Commission (FEC) sent her a letter investigating her campaign expenses. The filing, while misnaming the company involved, stated that her husband, Jayson, was paid $460,000 in 2019 and $478,000 in 2020 as a consultant for Terra Energy, one of Colorado's largest natural gas producers and fourth nationwide in methane emissions. The company told The Daily Beast that Jayson was a contracted shift worker for the company who was not paid directly but through another company, Boebert Consulting. As of 2021, Colorado classified Boebert Consulting as a delinquent company due to the lack of filings or registered agent with the state. Boebert oversees the energy industry via her position on the House Committee on Natural Resources.
In August 2021, the FEC investigated the apparent use of more than $6,000 from Boebert's 2022 reelection campaign funds for her personal expenses. The funds were used between May and June 2021 via four Venmo payments. Boebert's communications director said that these were indeed personal expenses, "billed to the campaign account in error", and that the "reimbursement has already happened". In September 2021, Boebert submitted documents to the FEC declaring that the campaign money had been used to settle rental and utility bills, and had since been reimbursed.
Boebert sought a second term representing Colorado's 3rd congressional district in the 2022 election. During the primary, her main challenger was Don Coram, a state senator who positioned himself as more moderate. Boebert aimed to portray him as corrupt, in particular by alleging that he used his powers as a state legislator to pass laws legalizing hemp, which Coram grows (state voters approved the amendment legalizing marijuana in 2012), and as not Republican enough. A Democratic-aligned Super PAC made false claims and unproven allegations about Boebert. Boebert's attorney said in June that she would file a defamation lawsuit against the group, but she has not done so. The temporary restraining order she obtained on June 23 against David Wheeler, one of its co-founders, was vacated in July and the case dismissed.
Boebert's campaign had a significant advantage, with $5 million in campaign funds to Coram's $225,000; Coram also started campaigning late in the primary, and Trump endorsed Boebert. During the pre-primary debate on May 26, Boebert emphasized the bills she had introduced in Congress while questioning Coram's legislative votes. She also repeated claims of massive election fraud and invoked her opposition to the restrictions introduced as a result of the spread of what she called the "Fauci-funded China virus" (SARS-CoV-2).
Boebert supporters failed to throw Coram off the ballot for allegedly not having collected enough signatures. Several thousand Democrats tried to influence the election by renouncing their membership in the party and voting as independents for more moderate Republicans, which is allowed in the state. Boebert won the primary with almost 66% of the vote.
In a debate with Democratic nominee Adam Frisch on September 11, 2022, Boebert took credit for bills she had voted against, did not cross-examine Frisch, proposed more oil and gas development to respond to climate change, and continuously attacked House speaker Nancy Pelosi. Boebert defeated Frisch by a small margin in a closer than expected race. The margin was so close it triggered an automatic recount. The recount was completed on December 12 and affirmed that Boebert won by 546 votes out of 327,000.
Boebert filed her statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on January 13, 2023. After narrowly winning reelection in 2022, she attempted to rebrand her image with the voters in her district from a MAGA firebrand to a hard-working congresswoman. In 2023, she blamed her narrow 2022 victory on "'ballot harvesting' — a GOP term for third-party collection of absentee ballots — rather than what Democrats have called her 'MAGA extremism' and political charades" while her press releases focused on local issues, including a "$5 million grant for a rural health center in a spending package she voted against".
Boebert announced on December 27, 2023, that she would switch to running in Colorado's 4th congressional district in the eastern part of the state, which is considered to be Colorado's safest district for Republicans. Within a week, Boebert stated that the reason for the change in district was "Hollywood elites" such as Barbra Streisand and "Ryan Reynolds coming in and donating to the Democrat" in the 3rd congressional district. Boebert has been criticized as a "carpetbagger" for switching to a more Republican leaning district. Boebert won 54% to 42%.
