Lauren Boebert's Nemesis Has Plan to Stop Her

Adam Frisch, the Democrat who came within a whisker of unseating Representative Lauren Boebert in November 2022, told Newsweek he is "laser focused" on defeating the House Republican in 2024 and believes voters in Colorado's 3rd Congressional district have had enough of what he dubs "the angertainment industry."

Boebert secured reelection by just 546 votes in an unexpectedly close result, following a campaign in which Frisch said he drove 24,000 miles to speak with prospective voters.

After first being elected to the House in November 2020, Boebert emerged as one of the most pro-Donald Trump members of Congress, supporting his controversial claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen by fraud. The allegation has been repeatedly rejected in court, and by independent and even many Republican-leaning legal and political experts.

Frisch told Newsweek he has a chance of taking the seat because of Boebert's radicalism, which he hopes will persuade independents and even more traditional Republicans to back him while the credibility he gained in 2022 will boost fundraising efforts.

Frisch said the district "leans 7, 8, 9, 10 points Republican," with a makeup of "23 percent Democrat, 31 Republican and 45 percent unaffiliated."

"I think if there was a traditional, moderate Republican who actually took the job seriously, I would not have thought about running for a couple of reasons," he said. "One is if there was a moderate serious Republican in the seat they would probably be doing a fairly good job in my mind of representing their district, and two, it would be very, very hard for even a really conservative Democrat to defeat a moderate Republican because of how the numbers work out.

"She's running around as part of this 'angertainment' industry, one of the leaders of that, thinking that she's won by 35 points, not really realizing she's a lot more electorally vulnerable than any other of those loudmouths out there, whether it's AOC [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] or [Ilhan] Omar or Marjorie Taylor Greene or Matt Gaetz, but she just can't help herself."

Asked if he is motivated to run specifically because Boebert is the GOP candidate, Frisch replied: "I'm running specifically because I think that whole 'angertainment' center of D.C. needs to stop, it's a huge disservice to our country, and I'm laser focused on seeing her defeated at the ballot box and getting someone in there whose actually going to take the job seriously and do it with respect and look after the entire district and not just focus on trying to own the libs."

Frisch emphasized his bipartisan credentials, saying that if elected his goal is to be "one of the top five most bipartisan members of the House of Representatives." He added: "Anyone who's serious about passing legislation, whether they're a Democrat or Republican or independent, I'll work with them. Anyone who's there to do protest votes, I don't have a lot of time for them."

To win in 2024, Frisch was clear he will need the support of non-Democrats, likely including voters who back the Republican candidate in the presidential election, and believes his cross-party focus will achieve this.

Referring to Boebert, he said: "There are three times as many people out there in our district who do not want to vote for her, they just want to make sure I am a safe enough alternative to her. If we get into a Democrat vs. Republican conversation, it's not good for me, and it's not good for the country.

"At the end of the day, there's a pretty good chance Trump or DeSantis...are going to win our district at the presidential year, so by definition, for me to win there's going to be some Trump switch voters or DeSantis switch voters, and I'm fine with that."

In the first quarter of 2023, Frisch raised $1.7 million for his campaign, about $1 million more than Boebert, who picked up $764,000. The Democrat said the money came from "45,000 different donations" and expressed confidence he will raise more money than Boebert if they have a rematch in November 2024, though, "I don't say this with pride because I don't like the money in politics."

Frisch added that his near victory in November will be a significant help in 2024, as "the ability to win is a huge driver in elections when it comes to media, when it comes to generating the resources, when it comes to believability."

In a statement sent to Newsweek, in response to Frisch's criticisms, Boebert said: "Adam Frisch's entire campaign is built on deceit. He claims on the campaign trail that he was never registered as a Democrat until just before he joined the race, yet records show he registered as a New York Democrat years before. He then claims to be 'conservative Democrat,' but his record on Aspen City Council shows he is a tax and spend liberal who supports a carbon tax designed to wipe out all fossil fuels and destroy our economy in the process.

"Rather than be honest about his background and the fact that he's a full-time stay at home dad, he claims to be a successful businessman. Records show his businesses have failed or were defunct. Adam Frisch even admitted to Bloomberg that he was trying to position himself as a conservative since his own poll showed he couldn't win running as the Aspen liberal Democrat that he is."

Boebert came under fire after failing to vote on the debt ceiling deal agreed by President Biden and Speaker McCarthy on May 31, despite having spoken out against it publicly.

She later claimed she didn't vote as a protest, though a CNN reporter posted on Twitter a video of her "running up the stairs as though she was trying to make the vote" that was viewed more than 13 million times.

Update 6/16/23, 3:05 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with comment from Representative Boebert.

Correction 6/20/23, 5:54 p.m. ET: This story has been edited to note Boebert beat Frisch by 546 votes, not 554 as originally stated.