Kerry Donovan to Run Against Lauren Boebert

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by: Colorado Pols

State Sen. Kerry Donovan (D-Vail)

Congresswoman Lauren “Q*Bert” Boebert has generated a significant amount of attention since winning election in Colorado’s third congressional district. Much of that attention has been, well, less than flattering, but it has nevertheless made her into a social media curiosity and a familiar name to politically-interested observers around the country.

A handful of mostly-unknown people have voiced their intent on Twitter to challenge Boebert in 2022. This sort of announcement generates significant social media interest, largely because so many people are annoyed by Boebert, but none of the floated names have thus far seem to be particularly serious challengers.

Until now.

State Senator Kerry Donovan (D-Vail) has filed paperwork to run in CO-3 and is rumored to be making an official announcement soon. Donovan is serving her second term in the State Senate after winning re-election in 2018. She is also a rancher whose family has called Eagle County home for generations.

Donovan is unquestionably one of the stronger candidates that Democrats could hope to put forward in CO-3, although the results of redistricting will go a long way in determining how much of a challenge Boebert might truly face in 2022. Boebert defeated Democrat Diane Mitsch Bush by seven points in November, and the geographically-enormous CO-3 district has been a reliably-red district for the last decade. It will be hard for any Democrat to be successful here if the voter makeup of CO-3 doesn’t significantly change as a result of reapportionment. There is also the possibility that Donovan’s residence could be drawn into a different district — CO-2, perhaps — though there is no residency requirement to run for Congress.

In the meantime, there’s not a lot of political downside for Donovan in making this decision. She’s term-limited in 2022, so she wouldn’t have to risk her current seat, and it probably won’t be all that difficult to raise money as a viable Boebert opponent. With as much interest as Boebert has drawn in Colorado and nationally, anybody looking at a serious bid for CO-3 probably needed to jump sooner rather than later.

The Colorado legislative session kicks off on Feb. 16, so Donovan is going to be putting a lot of miles on her car. Probably not drive-around-the-earth type of miles, but she’s going to be plenty busy.

13 thoughts on “Kerry Donovan to Run Against Lauren Boebert”

bullshit! says:

February 3, 2021 at 2:05 pm

I can't even begin to describe how awesome this would be. GO Kerry!

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1. MichaelBowman says:
  
  February 3, 2021 at 2:08 pm
  
  💯❗️
  
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Mike W. says:

February 3, 2021 at 2:17 pm

While its always nice to have the best candidate possible in the race, she really should've ran last year while all the district's Dems were still in place. New district next cycle will just make the 3rd redder.

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1. The realist says:
  
  February 3, 2021 at 9:08 pm
  
  Depends on how much work goes into providing a little balance to CD3 vs. calling it a lost cause for Dems and moving the scattering of rural Dems into other districts, to the extent geography allows. There's no way to make CD3 significantly bluer but it could be made a little more competitive around the edges. And yes, I understand the redistricting process will be quite different this year. Do I believe it will be politics-free? Absolutely not.
  
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  1. MartinMark says:
    
    February 4, 2021 at 8:49 am
    
    I am not necessarily endorsing absurd redistricting; however, surely there are conceivable maps that split the CD3's red citizens into blue districts.
    
    One blue gummy worm snakes out from Denver towards the western slope, one out to the SW from Pueblo…
    
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NOV GOP meltdown says:

February 3, 2021 at 2:26 pm

Love the fact that she's a rancher. That'll help a lot in CD-3. Godspeed !

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MichaelBowman says:

February 3, 2021 at 3:34 pm

Either #PewPew is feeling the heat, or she's now just another RINO in the MTG world.

Lauren Boebert goes through the metal detectors, sets them off and this time stops for the Capitol Hill police officer to wand her down

— Alex Thomas (@AlexThomas) February 3, 2021

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1. kwtree says:
  
  February 3, 2021 at 6:37 pm
  
  Pelosi knows what makes GOPers tick: $$$$.
  
  Not morality:Q: Don’t you want to contribute to a safe and welcoming work environment. A. No. Not really.
  
  Not politics/ electability: Q: You’ll alienate your constituents. A: I fear my constituents. Did you catch their act last Jan 6?
  
  Not patriotism: Q: Let’s keep our democracy strong! A: D E M O C R A….what? I dont like what you’re spelling out here.
  
  But garnishing paychecks works. Aim for the wallet.
  
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Dano says:

February 3, 2021 at 6:28 pm

Will be very interesting to see what the new District configuration will be since the popular belief is that Colorado will pick up a CD for 2022.

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kwtree says:

February 3, 2021 at 6:30 pm

Kerry Donovan! Excellent choice to run in CD3. Smart, progressive, rancher with roots in the area, known to Democratic party leaders.

I’d much rather support her than Gregg Smith, who may be a Blue Dawg who will appeal to the center right unaffiliated folks, but who will also inevitably be seen as a carpetbagger.

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1. Sunmusing says:
  
  February 4, 2021 at 7:31 am
  
  Kerry Donovan…She is the only choice for CD3…that other person, Gregg Smith, seems to be not just a blue dog…but a carpetbagger, and a republican hiding in our party…this has been done before…I do not trust the guy…
  
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vertigo700 says:

February 4, 2021 at 10:03 am

Remember CO-3 has the lowest population of any of the Colorado's congressional districts so it probably will stay fairly close to same or just have some changes at the margins. I always thought it would make sense for the remainder of Eagle and Summit county to be part of CO-3, just because they have a lot more in common with Steamboat Springs and Aspen than probably Boulder and Ft. Collins. You could also easily make some changes to Pueblo county with maybe some of the eastern side of the county put into a CO-4 to balance it out.

CO-3 is a R+6 district and it will probably lean GOP even after redistricting. But if it could go to an R+2 or +3, I think scandal-plagued Boebert would have a very competitive race with someone like Donovan.

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kwtree says:

February 5, 2021 at 8:16 am

Kerry Donovan got a shoutout in the Kos Elections blog this morning.

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