Lauren Boebert Win Rebuked in Colorado Newspaper: 'Carpetbagging Canoodler'

Congresswoman Lauren Boebert's primary election win was rebuked in The Colorado Sun on Wednesday, which called the Colorado Republican a "carpetbagging canoodler."

Boebert, who currently serves Colorado's 3rd Congressional District, decided to leave her post and run for now-retired Congressman Ken Buck's seat in the 4th District. Boebert lead in the polls ahead of Tuesday's primary and less than 30 minutes after the polls closed, The Associated Press named Boebert the winner. She beat out her GOP competitors with 44 percent of the vote and an almost 30-point lead against her closest opponent, former state Senator Jerry Sonnenberg.

Colorado Sun opinion columnist Mike Littwin said that with Boebert's win on Tuesday, she "definitely confirmed fears that whatever she does, whatever outrages she commits, whatever theater decorum she violates, whatever norm she offends, the MAGA base remains all in."

Boebert is a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, who is the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, and his Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement. Trump endorsed Boebert in her race, calling her "a Proven Conservative and Effective Leader who delivers for Colorado, and our America First agenda."

Littwin said Boebert switched districts to "save her swampy job" after she won her original district in 2022 by a slim margin of just over 500 votes, despite it generally being viewed as having a Republican-lean.

"You know her story—how she nearly lost her race in the deep-red 3rd Congressional District in 2022, how that was in the pre-'Beetlejuice' stage of her career and how, in desperation, and with the urging of national Republicans, she switched to the even-deeper-red 4th CD in an effort to save her swampy job," Littwin wrote.

Littwin was referring to an incident in September 2023 that made national headlines. Boebert was ejected from the Buell Theater in Denver during a performance of Beetlejuice The Musical. The congresswoman was caught on surveillance video vaping and showing public displays of affection with her date for the show.

Following the incident, Boebert called it "unacceptable" and said that she "fell short" of her values during the show. She apologized for the "unwanted attention" her actions brought to the community and said, "While none of my actions or words as a private citizen that night were intended to be malicious or meant to cause harm, the reality is they did and I regret that."

"The tone in most of the national stories is one of incredulity that she could be returned to Congress post-'Beetlejuice,'" Littwin said.

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

Boebert will now face off against her Democratic opponent, Trisha Calvarese, a former civil servant, in November for Buck's now-vacant seat.

In a pre-election poll conducted by Keating Research poll and commissioned by Calvarese's campaign, Boebert led Calvarese by 10 percentage points (46 to 36 percent). Calvarese gained a 9 percentage point lead when respondents heard "concerns about Boebert and positives for Calvarese" (43 to 34 percent).

The poll was conducted from April 18 to 24 and surveyed 500 likely general election voters in the 4th District. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.