{"id":52949,"date":"2020-07-02T13:42:14","date_gmt":"2020-07-02T19:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/how-gop-newcomer-lauren-boebert-won-the-primary-election\/"},"modified":"2020-07-02T19:42:14","modified_gmt":"2020-07-02T19:42:14","slug":"how-gop-newcomer-lauren-boebert-won-the-primary-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/how-gop-newcomer-lauren-boebert-won-the-primary-election\/","title":{"rendered":"How GOP newcomer Lauren Boebert won the primary election"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Lauren
Lauren Boebert, the Republican candidate for Colorado\u2019s 3rd Congressional District, speaks to about 40 people during a campaign stop Feb. 27 at the Four Leaves Winery in Durango. She has said previously that she\u2019s never considered her gender a \u201climit or a benefit.\u201d<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In a decisive Democratic primary election, former state legislator Diane Mitsch Bush prevailed over business owner James Iacino to earn a spot on the ballot for the 3rd Congressional District\u2019s general election for the U.S. House of Representatives.<\/p>\n

Bush has been on the general election ballot before, when she lost to Republican Rep. Scott Tipton of Cortez by 8%. But this time, there is another GOP challenger: Lauren Boebert.<\/p>\n

Boebert kicked the five-term incumbent congressman off the ballot in an upset victory Tuesday night with 54.6% of the Republican primary votes. From her initial foray into the public eye when she confronted former U.S. Rep. Beto O\u2019Rourke, D-El Paso, over gun rights at a rally he held in Texas, Boebert has been \u201cvery media savvy,\u201d said Dick Wadhams, a Republican political consultant in Colorado.<\/p>\n

Tipton is a solid conservative Republican, but Republicans are \u201cgenerally upset with what they are seeing in the nation right now, and they wanted someone more visible and confrontational,\u201d Wadhams said.<\/p>\n

The current congressman won more counties than Boebert, but she won the big ones, including the Mesa and Pueblo counties.<\/p>\n

But ideological newcomers toppling incumbents is happening in both parties \u2013 in the Democratic party, it was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Wadhams said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat (Boebert) accomplished is pretty remarkable,\u201d Wadhams said. \u201cBut it is quite another thing to win a general election.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout her campaign, Boebert has drawn on broad issues of liberty and constitutional rights, but in the next four months, she will need to learn about and demonstrate an understanding of specific policy issues that pertain to the 3rd Congressional District, such as water, natural resources and public lands.<\/p>\n

A new era of politics<\/div>\n

Paul DeBell, assistant professor of political science at Fort Lewis College, moderated a forum with the 3rd Congressional District candidates in June.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe distills her message down effectively, and is savvy in Twitter and sound bites,\u201d DeBell said. In this polarized age of politics, Boebert has had a campaign focused against current members of Congress by encouraging people to vote for her instead.<\/p>\n

\"Boebert
Boebert speaks about her conservative values in Cortez.<\/span>Erika Alvero\/The Journal file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Her messaging suggests that by voting for Boebert, Coloradans are voting against lawmakers like Ocasio-Cortez. For these reasons, DeBell said he sees Boebert as a serious candidate who should not be quickly dismissed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in a time where there is a lot of change possible at the state and local levels,\u201d DeBell said. COVID-19 and the widespread protests have triggered a time of great economic and social anxiety, which makes people reconsider things, DeBell said.<\/p>\n

Boebert was an \u201cenergetic and engaging campaigner,\u201d which was \u201cable to translate digitally,\u201d DeBell said.<\/p>\n

For Montrose County resident Michelle Huffnagle, Boebert came across as a \u201cbeautiful, poised, strong, intelligent woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Boebert\u2019s pro-gun, pro-President Donald Trump agenda was appealing for Huffnagle, who said she believes in a \u201cdivine animal instinct to protect ourselves and our children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Huffnagle and her husband own small businesses, and she said Boebert will put small businesses first.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe doesn\u2019t censor herself \u2013 she\u2019s very love me or leave me, and I love that,\u201d Huffnagle said. But she said she also wants to see a \u201cstrong, intelligent female speaking for me as an American woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boebert was unavailable for comment Wednesday as she was traveling to South Dakota to lead Trump\u2019s motorcade ahead of Independence Day.<\/p>\n

Collaboration or hard stances?<\/div>\n

Bev DeVore, a teacher in Alamosa, has had roots on the Western Slope for generations. Her grandfather owned the Trappers Lake Lodge in Meeker.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t remember having a female representative in Congress,\u201d and Mitsch Bush \u201coffers a breath of fresh air,\u201d DeVore said.<\/p>\n

As an educator, she said she supports Mitsch Bush because the former state legislator has worked to make schools debt-free in Colorado.<\/p>\n

\"Mitsch
Mitsch Bush<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cDiane has a depth, as well as a breadth, of knowledge on the issues, whereas Boebert is more of a single- or double-issue candidate,\u201d DeVore said. As far as working in a bipartisan manner, DeVore said Mitsch Bush is more likely to do so than Boebert.<\/p>\n

The GOP candidate is more \u201cmy way or the highway,\u201d DeVore said.<\/p>\n

Lisa Katze-Fanger, a Wolcott resident, said she supports Mitsch Bush because the Democratic candidate \u201cknows how to work across the aisle,\u201d and knows how to read and write policy.<\/p>\n

Mitsch Bush \u201cshuts up and listens\u201d when talking with constituents on the street, Katze-Fanger said.<\/p>\n

And the gun strapped to Boebert\u2019s thigh is \u201coffensive in today\u2019s environment,\u201d given the message of white supremacy it brings, Katze-Fanger said. Furthermore, there is nothing on Boebert\u2019s website about policy, she said.<\/p>\n

As a climate change denier and someone who doesn\u2019t wear a face mask in the era of COVID-19, Katze-Fanger said Boebert is not the kind of person she wants representing her in Congress.<\/p>\n

But for Evan Todd, Boebert\u2019s hard stances on the issues are why he supports her.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is fresh and new, and not a part of the establishment who think they run this country,\u201d Todd said. Boebert is a business owner and a mother \u2013 an everyday American who \u201csees the issues and the struggles of the Western Slope,\u201d Todd said.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t dislike Tipton, but the congressman had a \u201clevel of complacency\u201d when it came to restraining the government\u2019s involvement in people\u2019s lives, Todd said.<\/p>\n

In this time of uncertainty, \u201cwe need to broaden our horizons on what is possible politically,\u201d DeBell said. \u201cTipton just kind of hoped that he had it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

expect next in general election with Diane Mitsch Bush<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[981,28,29,1509,23],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-52949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado-3rd-congressional-district","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-state-elections","tag-u-s-rep-scott-tipton"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52949","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=52949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52949"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=52949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}