My brother sent in this story about Lauren Boebert, who has a good opponent in her R+9 district in Eastern Colorado:
Despite the show of bravado, Boebert is fighting for her political life in a closer-than-expected reelection campaign under a cloud of controversies related to her personal life. First, her 21-year-old son was arrested in August on charges of sexual exploitation of a child. Then last month, a recurring critic, David Wheeler, accused Boebert in a House Ethics Committee complaint of having sexual relationships with male and female staffers. The allegation of multiple same-sex affairs only amplified the scandal. Boebert opposes gay marriage and even released a video responding to the complaint where she said she is “not a lesbian or bisexual.”
Boebert denied the claims, which also include allegations of hush-money payments, and in our interview, she swiped at the coverage. “Screw the media,” Boebert said. “I don’t know if this was lazy or intentional, but this was announced by a man who has attacked me and my family for six years, who has been fact-checked by CNN, who has labeled photos of me that weren’t photos of me, who has said just horrendous things about me. And there was a period when nobody would touch anything he said, rightfully so. And with this one, just because he claimed he submitted a sworn complaint under oath with penalty of perjury, they took that and ran with it.” (Wheeler said in response that if any of his complaint is false, “she can say so under oath” or “sue me for defamation.”)
Caught between the wariness of Trumpworld and the gleeful animosity of Democrats, Boebert finds herself in a tough spot. It doesn’t help that she has a party-girl persona, bolstered by such incidents as her being kicked out of a regional-theater performance of Beetlejuice in 2023 after aggressively fondling her date. (She is also, at 39, a grandmother.) A former Boebert staffer, who acknowledged she’s “kind of an adventure sometimes,” pointed to the congresswoman’s past behavior as a reason why Wheeler’s filing got outsize attention. “I think it’s complete bullshit,” the former staffer said. “But also, she hasn’t really put herself in a place to get the benefit of the doubt on stuff like this.”
Boebert’s opponent, retired Rear Admiral Eileen Laubacher, has out-raised her $13.7 million to $1.2 million. A recent poll showed her 5 points ahead, and Cook Political has downgraded her district to “leans Republican” from “solid Republican”. So the “safe” district (CO-4) that she moved to after almost being beat in CO-3 might not be as safe as she thought. If she loses this district, that will be an indicator of a blue tsunami, not a blue wave.
(FWIW, I think Wheeler’s accusations are false and he’s a grifter, but I’m not shedding a tear for Boebert.)
Moving on to Louisiana, the race to replace Bill Cassidy in the Senate is tied, according to one poll commissioned by Democrat Jamie Davis, who’s running against Rep. Julia Letlow, who’s been endorsed by Trump. Scott sent this in, noting that Davis, who’s farmer and small business owner, has run on being opposed to data centers. This, like Boebert’s seat, is another high-water district — if a Democrat wins this, then we’re looking at a historical beatdown rather than a really good midterm for Democrats.
Candidate polls are generally skewed on behalf of the candidate, of course, and a 45/45 tie in a red state means that Republicans will probably “come home” and elect the Republican in the race. Still, the fact we’re even talking about Louisiana might mean that the combination of high diesel prices and Republicans pushing data centers might be even more toxic that we’ve all imagined.
