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Lauren Boebert is trailing Democratic challenger Adam Frisch for the House seat representing Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District — in a tight race that has caught many off guard. With 93 percent of the vote now counted in the district, Mr. Fries leads with 50.9 percent of the vote to the incumbent’s 49.1 percent. The race remains too close to call – although the New York Times estimates Ms. Bobert will return to victory, based on places in the district still to report votes. The tight race comes as a surprise to both Republicans and Democrats – as well as pollsters – since the controversial, flamboyant congresswoman was expected to enjoy a comfortable re-election. Ms. Bobert’s 2022 campaign was one of the most expensive House races in the US, with the far-right incumbent raising more than $6.6 million in campaign contributions ahead of the midterm elections, according to Open Secrets data. None of the major polling groups had even surveyed voters in the race for the House seat, pointing to the shock factor now shaping up to be a tight race. Ms. Bobert had easily cruised to victory in the Republican primary, winning two out of every three votes. However, he only won the seat in 2020 with 51 percent of the vote. A loss for Ms. Bobert would be a surprise to Republicans, whose so-called “red wave” has failed to materialize. It could also raise questions about Donald Trump’s future in the GOP if one of MAGA’s most notorious Republicans fails to retain her seat. Ms. Bobert was elected to Congress in 2020 and, since then, has established herself as a far-right figure in the GOP, a staunch Trump supporter and a 2020 election naysayer. A loss for Lauren Boebert would be a surprise for Republicans (Getty Images) He has repeatedly pushed false claims about the presidential election, criticized President Joe Biden during his State of the Union address, and voted against health care and benefits for sick veterans. Mr. Frisch, a currency trader who served on the Aspen, Colo., city council for eight years, took on Ms. Boebert for opposing the GOP’s executive politics. In an earlier interview with The Independent, he said he decided to challenge her after finding some of her outlandish comments “disgusting and unethical for America”. “I was thinking, you know, if a moderate, realist, pro-business Democrat could get through the Democratic primary, which wouldn’t be easy — and it wasn’t — I thought I could build a coalition,” he said. The close race in Colorado comes as Republicans have failed to create the red wave they were hoping for in the US. Democrats have so far won one Senate seat, with John Fetterman defeating Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania. Some GOP members admitted the night didn’t go as planned, with Sen. Lindsey Graham telling NBC, “It’s definitely not a Republican wave, that’s for sure.”
