{"id":35154,"date":"2023-03-20T17:41:55","date_gmt":"2023-03-20T23:41:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/adam-frisch-nearly-unseated-lauren-boebert-last-year-in-one-big-way-2024-could-be-harder\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:23:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:23:07","slug":"adam-frisch-nearly-unseated-lauren-boebert-last-year-in-one-big-way-2024-could-be-harder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/adam-frisch-nearly-unseated-lauren-boebert-last-year-in-one-big-way-2024-could-be-harder\/","title":{"rendered":"Adam Frisch nearly unseated Lauren Boebert last year. In one big way, 2024 could be harder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Adam
Adam Frisch, the Democratic candidate for the 3rd Congressional District, speaks to the election night party at Belly Up downtown Aspen on Election Day. (Kelsey Brunner\/Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

ASPEN \u2013 Adam Frisch defied political consensus when he nearly unseated Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert last year in her GOP-stronghold district. In some ways, however, the Democrat\u2019s 2024 rematch with the controversial Western Slope congresswoman may be tougher.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because Frisch\u2019s near-win highlighted Boebert\u2019s vulnerabilities, both to the congresswoman and to national Republicans, who are desperate to hold onto their majority in the U.S. House.<\/p>\n

More attention on the race is a double-edged sword for Frisch: It means more money and focus from Democratic and Republican groups alike that mostly ignored the 2022 race in the 3rd Congressional District because they assumed Boebert would cruise to victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe surprise factor is gone,\u201d Frisch said in an interview with The Colorado Sun last week in Aspen. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be a lot more money, a lot more focus on the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

The irony is Frisch worked hard to convince people that Boebert was vulnerable and that he could beat her in 2022, even though the 3rd District hadn\u2019t sent a Democrat to the U.S. House since 2010 and voter registration and election trends in the district were wildly in Republicans\u2019 favor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to make it a surprise,\u201d he said. \u201cI tried really hard not to be the surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colorado\u2019s 3rd District, which spans the Western Slope into Pueblo and the southeastern corner of the state, will be one of the top attention-getting U.S. House races in the nation next year after Frisch came within 550 votes of unseating Boebert last year, making her one of the most endangered Republican incumbents despite the district\u2019s GOP lean. The Boebert-Frisch rematch will happen during a presidential election year, which traditionally means higher voter engagement and turnout.<\/p>\n

\u201cRepublicans will not be caught by surprise. Boebert will not be caught by surprise,\u201d said Eric Sondermann, a Denver-based political analyst. \u201cThe time to defeat an incumbent congressperson is in their first reelection, before they get too entrenched. As a general rule incumbents don\u2019t get more vulnerable as time goes on. They get less vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boebert is an exception to that rule. She unseated five-term U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, in the 2020 GOP primary in the 3rd District.<\/p>\n

Ryan Lynch, a Republican campaign operative in Colorado, said most national GOP groups viewed Boebert\u2019s 2022 reelection bid through a telescope.<\/p>\n

\u201c(They were) just making sure it didn\u2019t get close enough to cause any damage,\u201d he said, \u201cwhereas this cycle, it will be viewed from a microscope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lynch said it will be \u201cmuch harder\u201d for Frisch to win in 2024. Republicans will dig deep into his past and \u201canything that can be used against him will be used against him,\u201d whereas Boebert is well known by voters, for better or worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure there is anything at this point that Lauren Boebert could say or do that would shock anyone,\u201d Lynch said. \u201cShe\u2019s pretty well defined within the eyes of the voting public and the district. She could do herself favors by really hunkering down and focusing on important policy instead of just 15-second sound bites that rile up her base. Those aren\u2019t going to win her new votes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boebert\u2019s congressional office didn\u2019t respond to an interview request. The congresswoman told The Associated Press earlier this year that her slim victory \u201copened my eyes to another chance to do everything that I\u2019ve been promising to do\u201d by being \u201cmore focused on delivering the policies I ran on than owning the left.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, she told the AP, \u201cI\u2019m still going to be me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rep.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., speaks during a House Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Carolyn Kaster)<\/span>Carolyn Kaster<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Frisch, meanwhile, said there are a few things working in his favor this time around, including that he\u2019s getting started early (he didn\u2019t announce his 2022 campaign until February of that year). He also has better name recognition in the district and a head start on fundraising. Since announcing his 2024 bid in February, Frisch said he\u2019s already raised nearly $1 million.<\/p>\n

Boebert had nearly $800,000 in her campaign\u2019s bank account to end 2022. The next Federal Elections Commission campaign finance reports are due in mid April.<\/p>\n

Frisch feels confident he can win in 2024 because the fundamental message of his campaign hasn\u2019t changed: \u201cPeople want the crazy to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alvina Vasquez, a Democratic political consultant who helped Frisch with his 2022 campaign, said Frisch will have nearly two years to get his message out to voters. She remembers struggling to persuade people to pay attention to his first attempt to unseat Boebert.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was difficult,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was a long shot is what everybody was anticipating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frisch is not the only Democrat seeking to unseat Boebert in 2024. Debby Burnett, a Gunnison veterinarian, has already tossed her hat into the ring after failing to make the Democratic primary ballot in 2022.<\/p>\n

Frisch believes that anyone who wants to run should, but said he\u2019s confident he will be the Democratic nominee in the 3rd District next year. There are signs Democrats are coalescing around him, including super PAC commitments and other former primary challengers, like Pueblo activist Sol Sandoval, deciding not to run again.<\/p>\n

Frisch traveled to Washington, D.C., when it was unclear who would win the 2022 race in the 3rd District, making inroads with national Democrats as he attended new-lawmaker orientation events so that he would be prepared if he pulled off a victory.<\/p>\n

\"Adam
Adam Frisch of Aspen, Colo., center, the Democrat who opposed Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., in Colorado's 3rd Congressional District, walks with his son Felix Frisch, left, and wife Katy Frisch, right, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Nov. 18, 2022. (AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite)<\/span>J. Scott Applewhite<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Some more-liberal Democrats in Colorado would like to see a candidate who is more aligned with their values run against Boebert, whereas Frisch is more moderate on issues like oil and gas (he believes fossil fuels will be part of the nation\u2019s energy portfolio for years to come) and student loan debt relief (he opposed President Joe Biden\u2019s loan forgiveness plan).<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople need to realize the district is 23% Democratic,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t see how running a super progressive person would work. I just think this district is mainstream moderate, regardless if it\u2019s a Democrat or Republican.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of March 1, 30% of active, registered voters in the 3rd District were Republicans while 44% were unaffiliated.<\/p>\n

After his loss, Frisch said many voters reached out to him and said they left the 3rd District race blank on their ballot, including Republicans who didn\u2019t like Boebert but didn\u2019t think a Democrat could win, as well as liberal Democrats, who didn\u2019t want to support a moderate candidate and who also didn\u2019t think Frisch could win.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe choice is not Adam, AOC and Boebert,\u201d he said, referring to New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. \u201cIt\u2019s Boebert and myself. And that\u2019s the choices that I wish more people would have realized.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Democratic primary in the 3rd District will be in spring 2024.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aspen city councilman will have more name recognition, but he won\u2019t have the element of surprise<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[981,233,28,826,774,1126,367],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-35154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado-3rd-congressional-district","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-headlines","tag-political-campaigns","tag-political-candidates","tag-politics-general","tag-u-s-rep-lauren-boebert"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35154"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82881,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35154\/revisions\/82881"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35154"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=35154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}