GRAND JUNCTION — Far-right conservative firebrand Lauren Boebert announced Friday morning from the basement of a bank in Grand Junction that she is seeking a second term representing Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District.
In an appearance that was toned down relative to a recent performance at a Turning Point USA conference where she strutted across a stage and shouted about “child-sniffing” and “Parmesan-smoking” liberals, Boebert made her announcement standing behind a table and reading from a binder of notes in front of a dozen members of the media.
There was no gun strapped to her thigh as there had been at all appearances in the early days of her initial campaign for the congressional seat that represents a huge swath of Colorado that takes in the Western Slope and sweeps east to Pueblo.
“I will continue to be a fearless conservative who fights for freedom,” she vowed at the end of her 16-minute announcement that began with a reminder to pray for victims of Thursday’s fires near Boulder and pivoted quickly into a blast at the “far-left taking a wrecking ball to our nation.”
Boebert repeatedly disparaged what she called “woke” Democrats and liberals and “woke” policies. She referred to “wokeism” in the military and in “unconstitutional vaccine mandates.”
Boebert touted her credentials with the far-right House Freedom Caucus and, without mentioning former President Donald Trump, vowed to continue fighting for some of his signature policies, including building a wall on the southern border to stop a purported flow of drugs and sex traffickers and stopping amnesty programs for “illegal aliens,” including people from Afghanistan who are being repatriated in communities across the country after seeking asylum.
Boebert also did not mention a potential challenger who is expected to announce his candidacy early in January – state Sen. Don Coram, a Montrose Republican who is known for working across the aisle in his 11 years serving in the Colorado legislature.
“I’m certainly not a good old boy who goes along to get along,” she said in a thinly veiled reference to Coram’s style of politics.
Boebert repeatedly leafed through her binder as she answered fielded questions from the media.
She laughed when asked about her position on rioters attacking the capitol on Jan. 6. She explained she was laughing about the characterization of the event as an insurrection and called the House investigation of the event a “sham witch hunt.”
Her answer veered away from the Jan. 6 attack and into the Democrats’ investigation of a purported Russian connection to Trump’s campaign and to her vote to not certify President Biden’s election.
“They illegally mailed out hundreds of thousands of ballots right in our faces,” she said before the brief press conference was cut off by an aide.
A single protestor stood outside the Home Loan State Bank in falling snow, holding a sign that read “traitor.” Sign-holder Ricki Howie said she was disappointed that Boebert left by a back entrance and didn’t see her.
“Why can’t she face the public?” Howie asked.
