Meidas Touch: Colorado Ballot Initiatives Spell Doom for Lauren Boebert [View all]

[Tom of Temecula]

Although her district leans red in voter registration, CO Rep. Lauren Boebert won both of her elections by just a handful of votes. Since winning her 2022 race by only 606 votes over Democratic challenger Adam Frisch, things have gotten much bleaker for her chances of holding the seat in 2024, and she knows it.

First, Boebert has been in the middle of more drama during the tumultuous Speaker elections, where she backed McCarthy in January, then backed Jim Jordan, and continued to incoherently flip-flop her positions on the Speaker repeatedly. Then, the "family values" candidate went through a divorce and was caught vaping and fondling her date in a crowded theater where children were present before being asked to leave.

Now, the next bomb to drop on Boebert's campaign is Colorado's looming ballot initiatives for 2024, which are likely to turn Democratic-leaning voters out in droves. There is a ballot initiative to enshrine abortion rights in the CO Constitution - favored by a large majority of voters and Frisch but opposed by Boebert. These initiatives have also turned out young voters in huge numbers already in the most conservative states like Kansas and Ohio.

Colorado may also have an initiative to take the state to rank-choice voting in 2026. If that makes it on the ballot (signatures are still being gathered), that could also increase turnout and spell doom for her in 2026 even if she survives this time. Rank-choice voting has crushed polarizing candidates in other places since voters can put multiple candidates ahead of one they strongly dislike. Alaska's rank-choice system resulted in Sarah Palin's defeat, even though she received the most 1st place votes in that Republican state, because so many voters ranked her last among several choices.

https://www.meidastouch.com/news/co-ballot-initiatives-spell-doom-for-boebert