Lauren Boebert is refusing to concede her Colorado congressional race even after CNN projected Monday that Democrat Eileen Laubacher won the seat. As of Monday evening, Laubacher, a retired Navy rear admiral, led with 48.8% of the vote to Boebert’s 47.9%, a gap of 3,352 votes in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District.
Lauren Boebert responded with a video posted to social media after she landed in Washington. “Hey everyone, so I got off my Frontier flight from Colorado to DC and I saw that CNN and the Democrats want to call my race and prematurely declare victory,” she said.
She argued the count is not finished. “So just a quick reminder that counties still have until November 13th under Colorado law to finish counting and curing every eligible ballot. There are thousands that still need curing plus military and overseas votes. Declaring victory now is like icing a cake before it comes out of the oven.”
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Curing is the process where election officials reach out to voters whose mail ballots have a problem, like a missing signature or a signature that does not match the one on file, so the voter can fix it and get the ballot counted.
Boebert closed the video by thanking voters, her staff and volunteers, then added a line that left the door open to defeat. “Regardless of the final outcome, we will move forward to future victories together,” she said. “We’ll make sure that every eligible vote is counted and every single voice is heard before we take any next steps.”
Laubacher is not waiting. She declared victory Monday and was already at the Capitol for new member orientation, the training sessions incoming lawmakers attend before they are sworn in in January. “I’m honored by the trust the people of Colorado’s 4th District have placed in me,” Laubacher said in a statement. She also said Boebert had not called her to concede.
Lauren Boebert’s campaign released a statement saying it is waiting on final results from every county before deciding where to go next, and called it irresponsible to declare a winner while so many votes are outstanding. Scott Gessler, an attorney for the campaign and a former Colorado secretary of state, said last week the campaign was investigating “some very unusual voting patterns” and expects the race to head to a recount “one way or another.” He did not point to any specific evidence.
Colorado orders an automatic recount only when the margin is less than half of 1% of the winning candidate’s vote total. Boebert trails by just under 1 percentage point, which is outside that range. She can still request a recount, but the trailing candidate has to pay for it. The head of the Colorado County Clerks Association said the state’s election system is secure and that recounts almost never change outcomes. Kelly Maher, a veteran Republican strategist, told The Colorado Sun that Boebert’s path to victory is very narrow.
Laubacher’s campaign is already fundraising off the standoff, texting supporters that it needs money to fight what it called an “election-denying scheme” and to make sure Lauren Boebert “doesn’t steal this election.”
Boebert has been in a close race before. In 2022, she held onto her old 3rd District seat by 546 votes over Democrat Adam Frisch, a margin small enough to trigger an automatic recount. Frisch called her to concede before that recount even happened. Two years later, she switched to the 4th District, the most Republican congressional seat in Colorado, in a move widely seen as a search for safer ground.
Her relationship with Trump has been rocky this year. In May, Trump posted on Truth Social asking for someone to run against her, calling her “weak-minded” and a “carpetbagger” for switching districts. Three days before the election, he reversed course and endorsed her as “a MAGA Warrior.” Laubacher significantly outraised Boebert during the campaign, and the loss comes as Democrats won control of the House in last week’s midterms.
Lauren Boebert has a history of refusing to accept election results. After the 2020 election, she pushed Trump’s false claim that the election was stolen and objected to certifying the Electoral College results on January 6, 2021.
Counties have until November 13 to finish counting and curing ballots. Boebert’s campaign says it will decide its next move after that.
