{"id":51594,"date":"2020-09-14T10:49:50","date_gmt":"2020-09-14T16:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/how-lauren-boebert-rose-from-an-unknown-to-a-candidate-in-trumps-orbit\/"},"modified":"2020-09-14T16:49:50","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T16:49:50","slug":"how-lauren-boebert-rose-from-an-unknown-to-a-candidate-in-trumps-orbit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/how-lauren-boebert-rose-from-an-unknown-to-a-candidate-in-trumps-orbit\/","title":{"rendered":"How Lauren Boebert rose from an unknown to a candidate in Trump’s orbit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Lauren
Lauren Boebert, the Republican candidate for the 3rd Congressional District, addresses a crowd of about 100 people on Aug. 1, 2020, at the Orvis Ranch. Boebert spoke for about 15 minutes at the meet-and-greet, saying she will work to protect citizens' freedoms.<\/span>Erin McIntyre\/ Ouray County Plaindealer<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Lauren Boebert blasted into Colorado politics at an Aurora rally with an in-your-face microphone moment and a gun.<\/p>\n

She emerged from the crowd at a rally for then presidential hopeful Beto O\u2019Rourke of Texas and grabbed the mic to shout, \u201cHell no, you\u2019re not!\u201d in response to O\u2019Rourke\u2019s pledge to take away assault-style weapons.<\/p>\n

That shout from an armed, brash, 5-foot-tall woman in sparkly high heels, tight jeans and a holstered Glock would catch the attention of conservative Republicans and electrify the far-right. It would help launch a newbie political candidate with enough momentum to take down a five-term congressman \u2013 something that hadn\u2019t happened in a Colorado primary in 48 years.<\/p>\n

But behind Boebert\u2019s meteoric rise \u2014 before she became known for owning Shooters Grill, before she went viral, before she entered President Donald Trump\u2019s orbit \u2014 is a past neither she nor her campaign is willing to discuss. It\u2019s a history that includes run-ins with the law<\/a>, an eviction and a failed restaurant venture.<\/p>\n

Boebert came on like a western Colorado version of Sarah Palin with her folksy talk about being a mom and her fealty to God and guns. The 33-year-old already knew how to handle a spotlight after opening Shooters Grill, a much-hyped restaurant in Rifle where the staff pack heat.<\/p>\n

To move on from gun schtick to politics, Boebert had ditched her dyed-blonde and flannel-shirt persona and adopted Palin-style glasses and long, dark hair. Like Palin, she honed a steady stream of crowd-pleasing, quick-draw insults aimed at anyone who didn\u2019t share her ultraconservative views. Those who did ate it up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve never seen a candidate like Lauren \u2013 ever,\u201d enthused Edward Wilks, a Rifle gun shop owner, former cop and member of the far-right, anti-government Oath Keepers group. Wilks is so high on Boebert that he is predicting she has what it takes for a shooting-star rise in politics \u2013 one that could propel her to the vice-presidency in four years and the presidency in eight.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe would have the backing of all of America if she chose to do it,\u201d Wilks said.<\/p>\n

Shaping herself as a disruptor<\/div>\n

Boebert climbed to that level of right-wing adulation with a carefully curated story of being a welfare child, an ardent Christian and a successful businesswoman; a petite woman who wears a gun for protection, not as a prop; and a fierce patriot who views herself, like her presidential idol, as a disruptor first and foremost.<\/p>\n

\"Third
Third Congressional District Candidate Lauren Boebert, center, poses with two other armed women in 2019. <br><br>Shooters Grill Facebook page<\/span>Shooters Grill Facebook page<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Colorado Sun writers Sandra Fish and Sue McMillin contributed reporting, as did staff writer Jesse Paul.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read the complete story at The Colorado Sun<\/a><\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, journalist-owned news outlet exploring issues of statewide interest. Sign up for a newsletter and read more at coloradosun.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boebert and staff decline to answer questions about holes and discrepancies in her biography<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[981,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-51594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado-3rd-congressional-district","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51594","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=51594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51594"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=51594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}