Lauren Boebert Mocked in Home State Newspaper After Republican Debate

A major Colorado online newspaper published an op-ed on Sunday mocking several aspects of GOP Representative Lauren Boebert's performance at a recent debate.

Boebert, one of the most outspoken and pro-Trump members of the House GOP, has served as the representative for Colorado's 3rd District since 2021, but is currently running for election in the 4th District. The move was interpreted by many as Boebert fleeing a reelection rematch with Democrat Adam Frisch, who came within a few hundred votes of unseating her in 2022 and was heavily tipped to win later this year. The congresswoman has claimed to have moved away from the 3rd District due to Frisch attracting big donations from out-of-state sources for his campaign there.

The Colorado Sun, a Denver-based newspaper and one of the biggest in the state, published an op-ed from writer Mike Littwin that offered a mocking appraisal of the 4th District's GOP debate from Thursday night. Littwin highlighted the congresswoman's seeming inability or unwillingness to define "carpetbagger" after being asked to during the debate. Originating in the post-Civil War era, the phrase today broadly refers to those who move into new places they have no connection to for financial or political gain.

Littwin's op-ed piece then jokingly commended Boebert for knowing "the definition of a number of words" before making references to recent events that have damaged her public image, including the incident last September in which she was accused of vaping and groping her date at a Denver theater, as well as her support of the House GOP's widely criticized impeachment efforts against President Joe Biden.

"And, after all, she does know the definition of a number of words," Littwin wrote. "Like vaping and groping and canoodling and flipping the bird. She definitely knows the word impeachment, although she doesn't seem to understand the concept of high crimes and misdemeanors necessary for impeachment."

Newsweek reached out to Boebert's office via email for comment.

Littwin also highlighted a moment in the debate in which six of the nine present candidates, including Boebert, raised their hands when asked if they had been arrested in the past, prompting laughter from the audience. The writer suggested that arrests were becoming a fashionable trend among Republicans amid the four indictments and 91 criminal charges leveled against former President Donald Trump. Trump, the frontrunner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, has maintained his innocence in his cases.

"It was all so, well, Trumpian. I mean, in light of the 91 felony counts facing Trump, is it now necessary to have an arrest or two on your resume to be a bonafide GOP candidate?" Littwin asked in his op-ed piece.

Elsewhere, a report from The New Republic on Friday deemed Boebert's appearance at the debate to have gone "spectacularly bad," highlighting as well the carpetbagger exchange and noting that none of her opponents pledged to support her if she secured the nomination. It also reported that, in an informal straw poll from the event, Boebert came in fifth out of the candidates in attendance.