Election denier Lauren Boebert loses reelection bid after her campaign questioned Colorado vote count

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) lost her bid for reelection Friday — a stunning defeat for one of President Donald Trump’s most prominent allies in Congress, whose campaign raised unfounded allegations of voting irregularities as she trailed her Democratic challenger.

Democrat Eileen Laubacher, a retired Navy rear admiral, defeated Boebert in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, flipping the state’s most conservative congressional seat and ending the Republican’s three-term tenure in Congress.

The Associated Press called the race Friday afternoon, with Laubacher leading Boebert 48.8% to 47.9% and an estimated 99% of votes counted.

Boebert’s loss comes just over a week after her campaign began casting doubt on the integrity of the election, offering no evidence to substantiate its claims.

Last week, Boebert campaign attorney Scott Gessler, Colorado’s former Republican secretary of state and an election denier who has echoed Trump’s debunked claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, said the campaign was investigating the vote.

“We are investigating some very unusual voting patterns and expect this election to head to a recount, one way or another,” Gessler said in a statement.

But Gessler didn’t explain what those patterns were or offer any evidence of wrongdoing. The campaign did not respond to Democracy Docket’s request for additional information.

Colorado election officials subsequently defended the state’s election system, affirming that ballots were being processed in accordance with state and federal law.

“Colorado’s elections are safe, secure and accurate – and every voter’s voice will be heard,” Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D) said Monday. “We’ve seen an incredibly engaged electorate, and voters should feel confident in the results in each contest.”

Griswold’s office also told Democracy Docket at the time that Boebert’s campaign hadn’t contacted it about the alleged irregularities.

Boebert is no stranger to election denial. 

Just days after being sworn into Congress in January 2021, she was among the 147 congressional Republicans who voted against certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory, even after a mob of Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol in an effort to stop the certification.

Now, nearly six years later, voters have rejected Boebert herself.

Her defeat is particularly striking given the lengths she went to secure another term in Congress. After narrowly winning reelection in 2022, Boebert switched congressional districts in 2024, abandoning her seat in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District for the more reliably Republican 4th Congressional District.

Trump carried the district by more than 18 percentage points in 2024. But even that Republican stronghold couldn’t shield Boebert from the Democratic wave that swept the country last week.

Laubacher declared victory Monday and attended orientation for incoming members of Congress in Washington, D.C., while Boebert maintained that the race wasn’t over.

“We’ll see what happens Friday and we’ll accept whatever outcome is presented,” Boebert told Colorado Public Radio on Monday evening.

Under Colorado law, an automatic recount is required when the difference between the two leading candidates is no more than 0.5% of the winner’s vote total. The current margin falls outside that threshold, though the campaign could still request and pay for a recount.

Friday marks the deadline for Colorado counties to complete their initial vote counts. Counties have until Nov. 25 to review and certify their results.