Lauren Boebert, a devotee of the Make America Great Again movement and a strong supporter of Donald Trump, shared a campaign stage with Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. in Loveland Thursday as the GOP primary election for the 4th Congressional District draws near.
Lauren Boebert speaks during a campaign event in Loveland at Rez.Church on Thursday. (Will Costello / Loveland Reporter-Herald)
Boebert is currently serving as a member of Congress, but not in District 4, a territory comprising the solidly conservative eastern plains region of the state, with a small peninsula snaking between Fort Collins and Greeley to include Loveland.
Instead, Boebert was first elected in 2021 to the seat representing District 3, covering the vast swath of the western and southern portions of the state, including both Grand Junction and Pueblo.
Shortly after a razor-thin victory over challenger Adam Frisch, a former member of the Aspen City Council and a Democrat, Boebert announced that she would not run for reelection in her district, but instead in District 4 on the other side of the state.
Prior to this election, the district was represented by Ken Buck, who announced last year that he would not seek reelection, and officially resigned from his position in March, citing the party’s support for the idea that the 2020 election was stolen by Democrats and the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Boebert, often described as a conservative provocateur who frequently made national headlines for both her right wing stances on issues like gun rights, religion, abortion and gender and for her personal life, decried “RINOs,” or “Republicans in Name Only,” during her remarks Thursday on stage at Rez.Church in east Loveland, arguing that a large share of the elected Republicans in Congress were insufficiently committed to conservative values.
“I found out quick that I’m actually a professional RINO hunter,” she said to cheers from the gathered crowd. “I took out a five-term incumbent in my first election because he wasn’t doing what he was telling voters he would accomplish for them. And just recently, right here in CD4, well I just hung me a Buck. I think it’s RINO hunting season.”
Buck’s announcement that he would not seek reelection came before Boebert’s announcement that she was switching districts.
Donald Trump Jr. spoke mostly about the legal cases against his father during a campaign appearance in Loveland on Thursday. (Will Costello/Reporter-Herald)
For his part, Donald Trump Jr. focused his comments on the proceeding legal action against his father, which he said was unfair and politically motivated, as well as his connection to Colorado—he lived in Aspen around the turn of the century, a place that he said is turning to the right.
“I hadn’t seen that in so long,” Trump Jr. said. “Which gives me some hope actually, that it’s not over. People understand what’s going on, people are waking up to the insanity that’s out there right now.”