October 10, 2023 11:53 AM UTC

Lauren Boebert is Hemhorraging Support in CO-03

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• by: Colorado Pols

“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.”

          — Ian Fleming in Goldfinger

As we noted on Friday, Congressperson Lauren Boebert (R-ifle) had a really tough week that ended with news that Mesa County Commissioner Bobbie Daniel was joining fellow Commissioner Cody Davis in publicly endorsing Republican Jeff Hurd — instead of Boebert — for the 2024 Republican congressional nomination in CO-03.

This week isn’t shaping up to be much better for Boebert.

The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reports today on a story that we all apparently missed last week from The Montrose Press/Delta County Independent:

Delta County District 2 Commissioner Don Suppes in an interview with the Delta County Independent announced he is throwing his support behind Jeff Hurd, who is among the people challenging incumbent U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert in the upcoming CD-3 Republican Primary.

In endorsing Hurd, Suppes cited the close results of the 2022 General Election, in which Boebert only narrowly defeated her Democratic opponent Adam Frisch.

“Here’s the things I’m looking at … No. 1, she won that election by just over 500 votes in a district that’s probably a Republican-plus-9(percent). That’s scary enough in its own right. Now with the latest incident, those are supporters that’s never coming back,” Suppes said. “We’ve gotta think about the future. We’ve got far too much at stake here in Western Colorado to not have a representative that will give her full attention to what we need.”

Suppes went on to say that he understands that maybe the Republican Party needs a firebrand politician, but that he wishes it wasn’t his district representative.

“We’ve got water issues to fight for, we have energy issues to fight for, public lands, there’s a whole lot at stake here to lose focus because of some personal issues that go on,” he added. [Pols emphasis]

[mantra-pullquote align=”right” textalign=”left” width=”60%”]“Suppes went on to say that he believes Boebert is such a distraction that she should drop out of the upcoming primary so the Republican party can focus on a candidate that could retain the seat.”

— Montrose Press (10/5/23)[/mantra-pullquote]

The entire Montrose Press story is worth a read because of the frankness of Suppes’ comments regarding Boebert and 2024. But one part of the story, buried near the end, really jumped out at us:

When reached by phone, Hurd said: “It’s a great honor and I am humbled by Commissioner Suppes’ endorsement. I know I have to work hard to earn these endorsements and will continue to do so.”

He hadn’t spoken with Suppes about his endorsement prior to the DCI contacting him. He stated the news of Suppes’ support was very exciting and he felt encouraged. [Pols emphasis]

If this is accurate, Hurd didn’t even need to work to court Suppes for his endorsement. That’s really bad news for Boebert, because it signifies that Republican leaders in CO-03 are coming to their own conclusion that the Boebert brand is too toxic to be associated with anymore.

Suppes is now the third Republican County Commissioner in as many weeks to publicly endorse Hurd over Boebert. Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland, an early supporter of Boebert who endorsed her in her 2020 Primary challenge against incumbent Rep. Scott Tipton, is also notably declining to take a side in 2024 (which is as far as Rowland was probably going to go).

This is exactly what we thought might happen when we discussed the broader ramifications of the #Beetlebert scandal in mid-September. The vaping and the groping and the big-timing from her own performance during the “Beetlejuice” musical seems to be a festering wound that Boebert may not be able to shake. It’s embarrassing for everyone in the third congressional district when their Congressperson is prominently mentioned on every late-night television show.

As we wrote last month, much of the enduring problems associated with #Beetlebert are because Boebert’s actions can’t be dismissed as a partisan issue or a hit job by the “liberal media.” Boebert can’t blame Joe Biden for actions that included, as Stephen Colbert eloquently explained, “yanking her date’s crank at a family-friendly show.” More importantly, as we’re seeing now, even would-be defenders of Boebert have no way to sidestep questions about her lurid tabloid-worthy behavior.

That point leads into why Boebert should be very concerned that support for Hurd might snowball into a YUGE problem in June 2024. When Republican elected officials start moving toward Hurd en masse, it creates a shift in the “permission structure” for Republican voters in the third congressional district. It gives loyal Republicans the go-ahead to abandon Boebert for someone like Hurd who most people have likely never, um, heard about before.

The next part is on Hurd; if he is able to produce an impressive fundraising haul in his first full quarter as a candidate, it will confirm his viability as an alternative to Boebert. Suppes said in his endorsement that he doesn’t think Boebert can win a General Election in 2024, based in large part on Boebert’s narrow 546-victory in 2022. If it starts to look like Hurd is strong enough to compete against the fundraising juggernaut that is Democrat Adam Frisch, then there is no longer any reason for Republican voters to stick with Boebert.

Boebert is in a really tough spot now. Publicly attacking Hurd might actually backfire by raising his name ID and shaking loose more endorsements for the Grand Junction attorney. If Hurd shows that he can raise money on his own, then Boebert will have TWO difficult opponents ahead of her in 2024.

And that’s two more capable challengers than Boebert is really prepared to deal with.