{"id":52115,"date":"2020-08-15T21:15:38","date_gmt":"2020-08-16T03:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/boebert-rally-in-cortez-draws-dozens-concerned-about-individual-liberty\/"},"modified":"2020-08-16T03:15:38","modified_gmt":"2020-08-16T03:15:38","slug":"boebert-rally-in-cortez-draws-dozens-concerned-about-individual-liberty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/boebert-rally-in-cortez-draws-dozens-concerned-about-individual-liberty\/","title":{"rendered":"Boebert rally in Cortez draws dozens concerned about individual liberty"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Republican
Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives addresses a packed parking lot for a rally Saturday evening.<\/span>Emily Hayes\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Less than two months after Republican candidate Lauren Boebert knocked incumbent Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, out of his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in the primary election, Boebert sought to bolster support across Southwest Colorado.<\/p>\n

Her trek through Silverton and Durango culminated with a rally in Cortez, in the parking lot next to City Market on Saturday evening. The Montezuma County Patriots embarked on their second ride of the day for Boebert, with American flags, Trump flags and police-support flags waving wildly as they honked their horns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the welcome of a lifetime,\u201d Boebert said to the packed parking lot, before playing a rendition of \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner,\u201d the national anthem of the United States, over the loudspeaker. When the speaker blew out, the crowd sang the rest of the song.<\/p>\n

Two veterans from the crowd led the Pledge of Allegiance, and a member of Boebert\u2019s campaign said a prayer before Boebert got up to speak.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s keeping God in the country, and that\u2019s something we need to come back to,\u201d said Cortez resident and Boebert supporter Eva Martinez.<\/p>\n

It is a Constitutional right to go to church and worship God, and \u201cthe opposition is not letting us\u201d because of COVID-19, Martinez said.<\/p>\n

Clay Herrmann, 15, said he supports Boebert because he is a Christian, and Boebert is open about her faith.<\/p>\n

Another central theme that emerged from voters who attended the rally was Borbert\u2019s alignment with their values, and that she will stand up for them in U.S. Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot a lot of people are willing to stand up today,\u201d said Cortez resident Ken Carlson.<\/p>\n

Many supporters listed her fight to protect the Second Amendment and the American people from government overreach as reasons for their endorsement of the political newcomer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time the government remembers where its power is derived from \u2013 us, the people,\u201d Boebert said.<\/p>\n

She condemned politicians who enforce mask-wearing, and said she is tired of rural voices being \u201cdrowned out by Denver and Boulder liberals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jim Harper, vice chair of the La Plata County Republican Central Committee, followed Boebert to each of her events in Southwest Colorado. He said that many of her messages \u201cresonate with people in Western Colorado,\u201d and there was \u201ca lot of energy\u201d at each of her events.<\/p>\n

Cheers resounded through the crowd when Boebert said her \u201cboys will not be sent into a socialist nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The use of natural resources in Colorado would be lost if her opponent Diane Mitsch Bush won the election in November, Boebert said. And the single-payer health care system that Bush supports would put businesses like her restaurant, Shooter\u2019s Grill in Rifle, out of business because of the cost, she said.<\/p>\n

Emiko South of Cortez said she is advocating for Boebert because she is \u201cpro-life, pro-business and pro-energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other voters who attended the rally said Boebert is more vocal and strong in her beliefs.<\/p>\n

\u201cTipton didn\u2019t do anything,\u201d Carlson of Cortez said.<\/p>\n

Tipton outspent Boebert 10 to 1 in the primary, but Boebert worked hard to connect with people on rural issues, which are often overlooked both in U.S. Congress and the Colorado legislature, said local Tricia Hale.<\/p>\n

Boebert ended her rally speech by saying people who don\u2019t typically vote will not receive outreach from campaigners. But there was someone in 2016 who did reach out to those Americans \u2013 current President Donald Trump. Boebert said her goal is to make those people heard, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a politician, I\u2019m one of you,\u201d Boebert said. \u201cI\u2019m not a politician, I got fed up.\u201d<\/p>\n

ehayes@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Republican candidate makes appearance in Cortez<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[981,21,13,28,265,23],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-52115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado-3rd-congressional-district","tag-cortez","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines","tag-politics","tag-u-s-rep-scott-tipton"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52115","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=52115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52115"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=52115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}