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Lauren Boebert’s run for Congress in 2024 is unlike any race she’s run before.
The two-term congresswoman is now being derided by her critics as a carpetbagger, having left the purpleish 3rd district of Colorado for the relatively safer-Republican seat in the 4th district. It’s a clearly political move aimed at protecting her career — though one she and her allies, who include Donald Trump and Mike Johnson, are spinning as being done for the good of the Republican Party.
Her departure from the 3rd district means that the staunchly conservative Boebert will face GOP primary voters on Tuesday in a district where she will be much more popular, or at least tolerated, by the general voting base which has far fewer Democrats than her old district, which included larger urban centers such as Aspen. Even so, she’s facing criticism from opponents in her new primary over votes on issues such as water saving as well as support for Israel.
So where does Boebert stand on the issues as she seeks her first term representing the eastern plains?
Gun control
Boebert is a Second Amendment absolutist. Where other Republicans in her party have sought to work with Democrats to pass laws banning domestic abusers from owning guns or allowing authorities to restrict the possession of firearms for those flagged to police as a danger to themselves or others, the congresswoman has fought every step of the way against any restriction to gun ownership in the US.
She has opposed red flag laws, background check law expansions, and attacked members of Congress for hiring their own security while supporting such measures.
Border security/immigration
Another position where Boebert has found herself aligned with many conservatives is immigration — she voted for the impeachment of Joe Biden’s Homeland Security director earlier this year, and has also argued in favor of impeaching Biden himself over the same issue, a supposed failure to enforce US immigration laws.
She, like Donald Trump, also favors a sharp increase in deportations. One piece of legislation she sponsored in March (which, like most of her bills, did not become law) was called the “Build the Wall and Deport Them All Act.”
Boebert also was one of many Republicans who came out against a compromise framework hammered out by Democrats and her own GOP colleagues in the Senate this year.
Abortion/reproductive rights
The congresswoman says on her website that she believes life begins at conception, an unsurprising take for a conservative. But Boebert does not specify whether she would support an abortion ban at the national level; she describes herself as a supporter of the Tenth Amendment, which remands powers to the states not explicitly granted to Congress, and says that she supports states making their own decisions on abortion rights. Her campaign has not specified whether she would back restrictions on contraception or in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Water usage
An issue of real importance to many in the western US, where freshwater access is a growing concern in the face of a changing climate and more unpredictable weather patterns, Boebert has found herself the target of repeated criticism from one of her rivals — as well as the White House — on this issue.
The Colorado congresswoman voted against infrastructure funding that included more than $20m for water retention projects around her state, yet still found the time to take credit for them after the bill passed without her support.
“I didn’t agree to the swampy way it came to the floor but I fought to get the stuff in the bills and it’s there,” she told The Independent in March. “And Colorado is going to benefit from it.”
Climate change
Boebert, like every single GOP candidate in the 4th congressional district, rejects the scientific consensus on man-made emissions as the primary driver of rising global temperatures.
The candidates were asked about the issue at a debate in late May.
“Climate change occurs four times every year. It’s absolutely real,” Boebert said, referring to the concept of seasons. She then hedged slightly: “There’s many things we can do to manage our environment.”
LGBTQ rights
Boebert is a staunch opponent of transgender rights and frequently attacks the greater LGBTQ community. In at least one instance, she has accused them of seeking “supremacy” in the United States.
Her comments on drag bars after the deadly shooting at Club Q in her home state in 2022 were immediately blamed by LGBTQ groups for inciting such violence, which she denied. In some cases, she has spread false accusations about drag queens supposedly grooming children with sexual intentions.
