Boebert Ousted in Colorado as Democrat Laubacher Flips Conservative House Seat

On Friday, four days after her Democratic opponent had already declared victory, Representative Lauren Boebert picked up the phone and called Eileen Laubacher to concede. The Associated Press had by then called the race: Boebert, one of the most recognizable hard-line Republicans in the House, had narrowly lost her bid for re-election in a conservative Colorado district. Laubacher was ahead by more than 3,000 votes when the call was made.

The result stood out for where it happened. Boebert, a favorite of the MAGA movement who was first elected in 2020, had switched congressional districts a few years ago after her former seat grew more competitive. The move was meant to put her on safer ground. It was not enough, and the loss showed how far Democrats had pushed into Republican territory this year.

Laubacher is a retired Navy rear admiral. Early in her career she was a Navy intelligence officer and served in the Navy Reserves, and she was promoted to rear admiral in 2018. She later spent two years on the National Security Council during the Biden administration. She ran on a centrist platform, promised to protect rural hospitals after Medicaid cuts, and attacked Boebert for voting against resolutions that would have directed President Trump to end the war in Iran or seek congressional approval for it.

Money was lopsided. According to the media tracking firm AdImpact, Democrats put more than $7 million worth of ads on the air in the district, outspending Republicans by better than 23 to 1. Many spots dwelled on Boebert's polarizing reputation and past scandals, and one called her "uniquely unfit." Another set Laubacher's record as a Navy veteran and mother of five against headlines about Boebert. One clip carried a chyron about the 2023 incident in which Boebert was ejected from a Denver theater during a showing of "Beetlejuice," and another showed her cursing at the person filming. Laubacher's own campaign ran an ad saying she, like many voters, was done with extremists in both parties, and suggesting that "a little less talking and more listening" might cut through the noise.

Democrats had seen Boebert as vulnerable down the stretch. Her once-close alliance with Trump had become a liability among voters who blamed his administration for high gas prices and other affordability worries. She had also broken with him at times over the past year, notably by calling for the release of files related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and she drew his anger by campaigning for Representative Thomas Massie, the Kentucky Republican who has been a thorn in the president's side.

After the election, Boebert declined to blame Trump for the Republicans' heavy losses, though she said she was "very frustrated with the war." This week she told reporters that the administration should have gone further in deporting immigrants in the country illegally, and that Republican lawmakers "could have done a lot more."

In a video posted on X on Friday, she framed her exit as a return to first principles. Public service, she said, was never meant to be a lifetime career, and the founders expected representatives to serve and go back home. She said she went to Congress to change how Washington works, believed she had done so, and hoped the changes would outlast any one member. "So I'm home, I am happy, I have peace," she said, "and this is not the last you'll be hearing from me."

Laubacher, in her Monday statement declaring victory, said she answers not to a party but to the people of the 4th district, and pledged to work with anyone, including Trump, Republicans and Democrats, on Colorado's behalf. What Boebert does next is open, but she has said plainly that she does not intend to disappear.