Our local representative who was supposed to represent our best interests in Washington DC has officially jumped ship. Lauren Boebert announced that she would be running her next election campaign in Colorado’s fourth district, fleeing from her narrow loss in our home third district. Not only is this an act of selfishness, it raises the question of which politicians are actually here to help their constituents.
Boebert, who was raised in Florida before moving to Rifle, Colorado in High School, has continually presented herself as a woman who is for the people. When she ran for office in 2019 she presented facts about herself to win over the Western Slope, things like how she grew up in a Democratic household on welfare, volunteered at the Glenwood Springs jail for nine years where her view on social reform changed, and how she is a successful small business owner. Only one problem though; Boebert’s family voted Republican her entire childhood, she volunteered at the jail seven times from 2014-2016, and her small business caused 80 people to get severe food poisoning, resulting in Garfield County suspending her food license. We have seen time and time again how Boebert will do just about anything to make sure she benefits at the end of the day. It’s the very thing we are seeing right now.
Boebert won Colorado’s third district by just 546 votes in 2022, barely beating Democrat Adam Frisch. It seems after realizing she might not get as lucky this time, she has carpetbagged over to Ken Buck’s district, leaving us in the dust, and constituents of the fourth district are upset that she thinks she has the right to boot their current representative. Boebert was quoted as saying her reason for leaving was “there is need for my voice in Congress right now.” But at the end of the day, it certainly isn’t her decision, it’s ours. And if she was so sure she belonged in Congress, why did she run away the second she thought her constituents wouldn’t vote her in again?
With all this, we are looking at a very different race on the West Slope. For plenty of us, we are going to be of age to vote in November, and I truly believe we all must look into and research the candidates we are voting for. Remember that we are the ones with the power to control who our representatives are, and we must take that job seriously.
