Democrat Eileen Laubacher has officially unseated Rep. Lauren Boebert in Colorado's 4th Congressional District after final vote-counting ended Friday, 10 days after the polls closed, BBC News and The Mercury News reported, citing the Associated Press.
The AP called the race for Laubacher, a retired Navy rear admiral, on Friday afternoon in what the Mercury News called Colorado's most right-leaning House district. The paper said Laubacher had 48.8% of the vote to Boebert's 47.9%. The Denver Metro Herald reported that the Colorado secretary of state's office confirmed a margin of 3,523 votes on Nov. 13. BBC News said Boebert will not serve a fourth term.
Laubacher had declared victory earlier in the week. "It's up to me to now deliver for people and make the changes that are going to improve their lives," she told The Denver Post, according to the Mercury News. Boebert did not concede then and said overseas and military ballots still needed to be counted or "cured" by Friday's deadline. After the AP call, the Denver Metro Herald reported, Boebert thanked voters, said she had already spoken with Laubacher, and argued that the people of the district matter more than party politics.
The margin is roughly double Colorado's 0.5% threshold for an automatic recount, the Denver Metro Herald reported. Boebert can still request a recount in a later window; Robert Preuhs of Metropolitan State University of Denver estimated a campaign-funded recount could cost around $100,000 and said a changed outcome is extremely unlikely.
Laubacher will be the district's first Democratic member of Congress since Betsy Markey left office after the 2008 cycle, the Denver Metro Herald reported. Boebert first won a House seat in 2020 in the 3rd District and later moved to the 4th. BBC News recounted her rise as a national MAGA figure who first drew attention by encouraging staff at her Rifle, Colorado, restaurant to openly carry firearms, and who later heckled President Joe Biden during the 2022 State of the Union address. In 2022 she won reelection by only 546 votes.
The later campaign was complicated by a public break with President Trump, the Denver Metro Herald reported, including criticism from Trump on social media. In her post-call video, Boebert highlighted gun rights, women's sports, and her push to release Jeffrey Epstein-related files, the paper said.
For Democrats, flipping a conservative Colorado seat was one of the sharper House results in a midterm that had already delivered them congressional majorities, as the Mercury News noted. For Boebert, Friday's certified count ended a six-year run in the House that began with a sudden rise and finished in one of the closest races of her career.