Democrat Adam Frisch holds narrow lead over GOP rep. Lauren Boebert, race too close to call

The race between incumbent U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert and challenger Adam Frisch for Colorado’s massive 3rd Congressional District was still too close to call Wednesday morning, as election officials continued to count ballots.

As of results posted at 5:21 a.m., Frisch, a Democrat from Aspen, had kept ahead of Boebert, a Republican from Silt, 50.59% to 49.41%, the secretary of state’s office reported. So far, 295,367 votes had been counted, more than 60% of the district’s 487,094 registered voters.

After midnight Tuesday, Frisch told The Denver Post he was both invigorated and tired, especially after an 11-day, 3,300-mile run through the district, which took him through 27 counties.

“We’re winning. I’ve not won. I’m not gonna get over my skis, so to speak,” Frisch said.

The race isn’t likely to be decided over the next few hours, Frisch added late Tuesday. He expressed faith in the county clerks and their staffs, who are all still counting votes.

As those votes continue to trickle in, the results could certainly change. Justin Gollob, a political scientist with Colorado Mesa University, said he expects the remaining, uncounted ballots to swing in Boebert’s favor.

Seth Masket, a political scientist with the University of Denver, said Boebert could indeed retake the lead but he was less sure about which candidate would benefit from the remaining ballots.

“She could still win, but this is far closer than most predicted,” Masket said. “Even if she wins she is pretty significantly underperforming her district.”

By the end of the night, Boebert had neither conceded nor claimed victory.

Frisch garnered major national attention and even surpassed the deep-pocketed Boebert’s fundraising efforts in recent weeks. His strategy lay in his measured approach, regularly calling out the congresswoman’s divisive statements and noting whenever she was traveling the country rather than meeting with constituents in Colorado.

The former Aspen City Council member regularly called Boebert a member of the “anger-tainment” industry and criticized her for not passing any legislation in her first term. One of his most-repeated lines during town halls and debates stemmed from Boebert’s fixation on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi: “I’m Adam Frisch, not Nancy Pelosi,” he would say.

One of Frisch’s top priorities, he said, is to try to join the congressional Problem Solver’s Caucus, a bipartisan group of representatives that aim to tackle some of the country’s most pressing problems.

Among the most serious issues facing Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, which covers the Western Slope and as far east as Pueblo, include an ongoing megadrought within the Colorado River Basin. Fueled by climate change, that drought means less water for the agriculture industry and the communities that support the state’s farming and ranching operations.

Wildfires threaten parched areas throughout the district, and the floods or mudslides that follow endanger infrastructure of local and national importance, such as Interstate 70. Plus the country’s push away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy sources threatens the state’s oil and gas industry.

On the campaign trail, Frisch repeatedly stressed the need to bring federal funding back to Colorado to help local stakeholders find the best way to mitigate drought and wildfire risk. He also underscored the need to shift to renewable energy sources while indicating that Colorado’s coal and natural gas could help the country achieve more energy independence during that transition.

Throughout her reelection campaign, the congresswoman repeatedly avoided saying whether she would concede the race if she lost, falling in line with her attempts to spread misinformation and falsehoods about the country’s election security.

Controversy marked Boebert’s first term far more than policy successes. Her Christian nationalist rhetoric – calling for a religious takeover of America – most worried political and religious experts who warned that the comments threatened the country’s democratic foundations.

State officials are investigating whether Boebert broke any laws by cashing in on large amounts of mileage reimbursements from her own campaign coffers. And a congressional aide testified this year that the congresswoman met with then-President Donald Trump’s White House officials before the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, while they discussed what options the vice president had faced with certifying the 2020 election.

Despite it all, however, Boebert enjoyed widespread support among Republicans for much of her first term. Those right-wing voters appreciated her curt demeanor and saw her as an equal and opposite reaction to progressive representatives such as Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and Pelosi.

But not all Republicans in the district stood behind Boebert. State Sen. Don Coram challenged her in the June primary but lost by a wide margin. Frisch’s victory on Tuesday likely relied on many of those disenchanted Republican voters casting their ballots against the congresswoman.

Although Frisch repeatedly stressed his business acumen and desire to work with Democrats and Republicans alike, he’ll join a divided Congress rife with party politics, which will almost certainly make passing substantial legislation a challenge.