{"id":49207,"date":"2021-01-19T18:10:35","date_gmt":"2021-01-20T01:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/two-big-name-democrats-exploring-2022-bids-to-unseat-lauren-boebert\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:46:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:46:27","slug":"two-big-name-democrats-exploring-2022-bids-to-unseat-lauren-boebert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/two-big-name-democrats-exploring-2022-bids-to-unseat-lauren-boebert\/","title":{"rendered":"Two big-name Democrats exploring 2022 bids to unseat Lauren Boebert"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"State
State Rep. Dylan Roberts, D-Avon, and state Sen. Kerry Donovan, D-Vail.<\/span>Colorado Sun file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Two well-known Democratic state lawmakers say they are already exploring whether to launch a bid to unseat U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert next year, just weeks into the fiery Republican\u2019s term.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the latest evidence that Democrats are eager to capitalize on the controversies, which have grabbed international attention, Boebert has been at the center of since being sworn into office. But the party will still be fighting an uphill battle in Boebert\u2019s Republican-leaning district, which is set to be redrawn before the 2022 election.<\/p>\n

State Sen. Kerry Donovan of Vail and state Rep. Dylan Roberts of Avon told The Colorado Sun they are talking with people in Colorado\u2019s 3rd Congressional District about seeking Boebert\u2019s job. Both took a pass on running for the seat in 2020 when it appeared they would be facing longtime Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, whom Boebert shockingly knocked out in last year\u2019s primary.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s done a terrible job,\u201d Donovan said about why she is interested in running for Boebert\u2019s seat.<\/p>\n

Donovan, a former Vail town councilwoman who now serves as the state Senate president pro tempore, said she is thinking about the race so early on in the election cycle because she is worried about how Boebert reflects the 3rd District nationally. Donovan said she is working to build coalitions that would help her defeat Boebert.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf she is the only one out there talking about CD3, she is presenting an image of CD3 that I don\u2019t think is accurate and is doing a real disservice to, I think, the soul of the West,\u201d Donovan said.<\/p>\n

Roberts said Boebert\u2019s controversies \u201ccertainly merit somebody making a good challenge to her.\u201d Since being sworn into office Jan. 3, Boebert has been attacked by Democrats for voting to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, vowing to carry a gun in the U.S. Capitol and for live-tweeting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi\u2019s movement during the deadly Jan. 6 riot in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer actions over the last couple of weeks have certainly made me start considering running,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Lauren
Lauren Boebert, shown here at a July 27 campaign stop in Pueblo, is the Republican nominee for Colorado&#x2019;s 3rd Congressional District seat. Boebert upset five-term incumbent Scott Tipton in June&#x2019;s primary.<\/span>Mike Sweeney\/Special to The Colorado Sun<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Roberts said on a one-to-10 scale, his interest in running for the seat is \u201cdefinitely higher than a five.\u201d But he wants to avoid a Democratic primary in the 3rd District that could hurt the party\u2019s chances of ousting Boebert, and he also acknowledges that it will be difficult for Democrats to win in the district because of its conservative lean.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had some divisive primaries in CD3 over the last couple of cycles, which have not helped the winner heading into the general election,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Donovan\u2019t current four-year state Senate term ends in 2022. She is term limited.<\/p>\n

Roberts, a young, rising star in Colorado Democratic politics, is entering his fourth year as a state representative after being elected to a second two-year term in November. He was appointed to his seat in 2017.<\/p>\n

Donovan and Roberts are close friends who have worked together in recent years on legislation that would create a public health insurance option in Colorado.<\/p>\n

State Senate President Leroy Garcia, a Pueblo Democrat, has also been mentioned as a possible 3rd District contender. He said Monday that he\u2019s \u201cnot actively in the process of working on it or pursuing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI would never completely rule it out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Boebert\u2019s chief of staff did not respond to a request for comment Monday.<\/p>\n

Local Democratic elected officials in the 3rd District have called on Boebert to resign. National Democrats are taking notice, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter barely two weeks in Washington D.C., Congresswoman Lauren Boebert has already put a violent QAnon mob ahead of the health and safety of the American people, helping to incite violence that killed five people, including a police officer,\u201d Brooke Goren, a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokeswoman, said in a written statement.<\/p>\n

Boebert has been firing back and brushing off the barbs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese attacks aren\u2019t unique to me. They are straight out of the Democrat playbook,\u201d Boebert tweeted on Monday. \u201cThey don\u2019t want anyone to know ordinary, God-fearing Americans can come to D.C. and be effective.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boebert beat former state Rep. Diane Mitsch Bush, a Democrat, by 6 percentage points in the November election. The 3rd Congressional District, which sprawls across the Western Slope into Pueblo, has been represented by a Republican since 2011 and as of Jan. 1 had about 30,000 more registered, active Republican voters than Democratic ones. Unaffiliated voters are the largest registered, active bloc in the district.<\/p>\n

\"Democratic
Democratic candidate for U.S. House of Representatives Colorado 3rd Congressional District Diane Mitsch Bush speaks to supporters during a rally Oct. 27, 2018, in Montrose.<\/span>William Woody\/Special to The Colorado Sun file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Mitsch Bush said it will be difficult for any Democrat to win in 2022 in the 3rd District.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the key is that any candidate who is going to win has to first and foremost understand the needs of the people in this district and listen to them and be honest,\u201d Mitsch Bush said when asked if Boebert can be beaten next year.<\/p>\n

Mitsch Bush, who also ran against Tipton in 2018 and lost, isn\u2019t ruling out a 2022 bid against Boebert. \u201cI doubt very much I would run in 2022,\u201d she said Monday. \u201cI\u2019m not totally ruling it out, no.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats, however, have been steadily chipping away at the Republican advantage in the 3rd District over the past four election cycles.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear, however, what the 3rd District will look like in terms of geography and voter registration once it is redrawn next year based on 2020 Census data.<\/p>\n

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

senator and representative may launch campaigns to oust Republican<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[233,28,1722],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-49207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-headlines","tag-regional-elections"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49207","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=49207"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87538,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49207\/revisions\/87538"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49207"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=49207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}