Lauren Boebert has made a name for herself among conservatives in a number of ways since she became a US representative out of Colorado. Not all of them have apparently sat very well with the people who elected her, though. The pro-gun, coronavirus skeptic has made a number of notable comments about Joe Biden and the world at large, becoming a conservative star along the likes of QAnon-believing Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Boebert recently took a trip to the US/Mexico border to put on a show with a cardboard Kamala Harris. It’s the latest publicity stunt that’s made headlines but according to a report the people who elected her are tired of the shenanigans she’s spending so much time on. In a piece about the politician by Politico, a number of people in Pueblo, Colorado seem frustrated by Boebert spending so much time supporting former president Donald Trump and not advocating for the place she represents.
The piece describes an event put on by one of several people already campaigning for her seat, Sol Sandoval. Even people who had voted for Boebert just months ago seem turned off by the insurrection-supporting Boebert and her gun activism.
At least one person at Sandoval’s listening session who voted for Boebert said he had been disappointed by her, and plans to help Sandoval’s campaign. “I thought Lauren would be a great representative for small-business owners because she owns a small business, and she came from a humble lifestyle,” said Gus Garcia, a political independent who also voted for Biden.
“But she has been so terribly disappointing,” continued Garcia, who owns a textile recycling firm. “I am humiliated and embarrassed when she speaks on the House floor. She screams all the time, and she seems to have affiliated herself with white supremacists.”
In many ways it’s an example of how national rhetoric can only take you so far when it comes to local politics. One man quoted, for example, noted that in Boebert’s district sits one of the few American factories where rails are made, which would benefit greatly from a proposed infrastructure bill from the Biden administration that is touting an Amtrak expansion among its many proposals. The point of the piece is that local issues with poverty and a number of culture war touchstones for Republicans may not align with those electing her as much as she hopes.
Other voters here decried a fundraising appeal of Boebert’s exclaiming that Pelosi and Biden “want to take our guns,” which was emailed to supporters hours after a shooting at a Boulder grocery store left 10 people dead.
“People here feel Boebert doesn’t represent their values,” says Colorado state Senate President Leroy Garcia, a Pueblo Democrat who is popular with voters in both parties. “There is a lot of passion around seeing her removed.”
Boebert was just elected in November, and her term isn’t up until 2023. But the early returns on her work for the people who elected her don’t seem to be very positive, and considering the narrow margin she won with last year it may be tough sledding for her to actually stay in congress if that narrative doesn’t change.
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