Republican primary candidate Mike Lynch didn’t sugarcoat the question to his opponent on the crammed debate stage, Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert, who hopped into the race last month partly over fear of a loss in the district she currently represents.
“Could you give the definition of ‘carpetbagger?’” Lynch asked to low murmurs from the crowd at the first Republican primary debate in Fort Lupton, a community in Colorado’s 4th District.
It was expected. The candidate before Lynch had asked the same question, if more delicately put. The accusation had already been lobbed at Boebert after she joined the packed primary race, escaping a rematch against Democrat Adam Frisch, who nearly beat her in the last election.
With Republicans hanging onto control of the U.S. House by their fingertips, Republicans and Democrats are wrestling fiercely over every close race. That includes the seat Boebert holds in Colorado’s 3rd District, which was considered solidly leaning to the GOP but changed to a toss-up for this year after Boebert won by only 546 votes in 2022.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
“Could you give the definition of ‘carpetbagger?’” Lynch asked to low murmurs from the crowd at the first Republican primary debate in Fort Lupton, a community in Colorado’s 4th District.
Boebert built herself into a household name with a style of pugilistic politics that has turned otherwise tame moments in Congress into slugfests, along with hard-liner conservative stances and unwavering loyalty to former President Donald Trump.
The corner of the Great Plains is a sweep of prairie grass and farms broken only by ranching towns where auctioneers chant the weight and price of cattle near every week.
Jerry Sonnenberg, a popular former state senator with a tactically deployed baritone, was among the six of nine candidates on stage who raised their hands when asked if they had been arrested, to raucous applause.
Lynch was Colorado’s House minority leader until he stepped down Wednesday after a 2022 arrest for drunken driving came to light, an issue that was largely met with forgiveness by fellow contestants.
The debate also largely centered on national political issues including border security, abortion and fentanyl, on which Boebert could laud her stubbornly conservative voting record.
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