Who is Lauren Boebert, the winner of the Republican primary for Colorado’s Fourth District?

Two-term US Representative Lauren Boebert came out on top of a packed GOP primary field in Colorado’s Fourth District on Tuesday garnering over 43% of the vote. That’s despite being a newcomer to that part of the state and accusation of carpetbagging. She is currently representing Colorado’s Third District, however, she jumped into the new district after it looked like she could have been facing a difficult reelection bid.

While she easily won election in 2020, Boebert crawled across the finish line in 2022 with just 546 more votes than her Democratic opponent. She is a star of the hard-right portion of the Republican party who has had to weather a series of scandals. Colorado’s Fourth District, which covers the eastern part of the state and conservative parts of the Denver metro area, is considered a safely ‘red’ district. It overwhelmingly voted for Trump in 2020.

Who is Lauren Boebert?

Prior to being elected to Colorado’s Third District for the first time, the mother of four had never held any political office. She was “the proud owner of Shooter’s Grill, a Second Amendment and Western-themed restaurant in Rifle, Colorado where staff open-carried,” according to her congressional bio.

In 2020, the right-wing firebrand unexpectedly beat the five-term incumbent Scott Tipton in the Republican primary despite Trump’s endorsement of Tipton. She went on to win the vote in the 2020 general election by a wide margin against her Democratic opponent.

Since she has been in Congress, she has been part of the far-right wing of the GOP and a vocal supporter of Trump. She became the spokesperson for the Freedom Caucus in January 2022.

While she has said she is not a supporter of the Qanon conspiracy theory, she has express support for it and her campaign page on ‘election integrity’ serves up much of the election fraud espoused that all of which have been debunked.

Boebert has been plagued by scandals since coming to Washington

Boebert’s time in Washington has been rife with scandals. She caused a ruckus not even a month into office when she was initially denied entry to House chambers for refusing to hand over her bag after setting off the newly installed metal detectors. A vocal Second Amendment advocate, she later said that she was legally permitted to carry her firearm in DC.

The metal detectors had been installed after the assault on the US Capitol on January 6 by Trump supporters to stop the Electoral College vote. Boebert herself was one of the 147 Republicans who voted to overturn the legitimate 2020 presidential election results.

Over the past four years she has been accused of unbecoming conduct including heckling President Biden during the State of the Union address and making Islamophobic comments about Muslim colleagues in Congress.

Last year, she was escorted out of a live performance of the musical ‘Beetlejuice’ at the Buell Theatre in Denver. She was asked to leave after vaping and causing a disturbance during the show as well as engaging in lewd acts of groping with her date during the family-friendly performance.