Conventional political wisdom advises that any given candidate should run to their respective political base in caucus and primary elections, then, pivot to the center so as to broaden their appeal to a diverse electorate for the general election in November. After conducting a second interview with Lauren Boebert on April 20, just after she clinched the top spot on the June 30 GOP Third Congressional District primary contest against Scott Tipton, you realize that conventional options don’t interest her. Tipton’s backers mounted an aggressive write in campaign at the CD3 Assembly for Delegates, despite his decision to petition onto the Primary ballot. Whatever the outcome of that election, voters, who often say there is little difference between choices, will not have that excuse this time.
Q. Congratulations on placing first on the Primary ballot. What was the final vote count?
A. I don’t know the actual vote yet. I received 56 percent of those who voted. Scott, with the help of some County Chairs and others orchestrated a write in candidacy despite having already petitioned onto the ballot. The CD Chair refused to stop it.
Q. How are you adapting to the challenge of campaigning for election against an incumbent who has plenty of money to blitz the media with ads and having campaign events frozen by executive stay at home decrees?
A. I said at the beginning we would be outspent. We have a better message and I am a better messenger. I also have passionate volunteers who aren’t paid. My team and I are creating strategies on how to reach voters through a variety of methods.
Q. Are you seeing an uptick in donations?
A. Yes. Immediately after winning the CD3 Assembly vote,donations started coming in.
Q. Are you intimidated by the sheer scope of a ballooning federal debt level that some say is approaching $24 trillion when factoring in all the debt Government has assumed from private equity groups and the printing of money that the Fed has been authorized to incur? Are you sure you want this watch?
A. We need to get the House in order. It is Congress that has the power of the purse. We need to send better legislation to the President. I think there should have been a fight to record votes so as to have accountability. I will fight to send the President better bills.
Q. As a restaurant owner, do you plan to obtain SBA funds? I have friends who have restaurants who have seen a 60 percent or more drop in sales. They seem split about whether to participate or not.
A .We too were split, but no, I am not participating. We lost 90 percent of our sales. Our curbside and takeout primarily is main entrees. We have seen a total collapse of drinks, appetizers, and dessert sales. We will make it.
Q. Will there be debates between you and Scott taking place?
A. We will see. His record is one of not debating primary opponents.
Q. Anything else, you care to add? I know you have other interviews to do.
A. I am rolling out a response to Scott Tipton’s green new deal legislation. For nearly 10 years he has cuddled up to alternative energy subsidies, which is really a Jared Polis plan. He said he wanted an all of the above approach to energy needs with a free market approach. That is not what he has done. His plan, like Jared Polis, chooses between winners and losers, through subsidies. Using federal land for a 10,000 acre solar field does not save the environment.
Thank you for giving me the first interview. I know you have a bunch of them waiting.
Like everyone else, I am concerned with the abysmal state of current affairs that exists. The late John McCain regularly pointed out the low regard the American people had in regards to their elected leaders in Washington D.C. And that Congress spent like drunken sailors on shore leave. Everybody talks about it, but it seems that nothing ever changes. The problems are right before our eyes. We elect people who’s campaign rhetoric is just that—rhetoric. Whatever happen to holding political parties and their candidates accountable? Republicans campaign on fiscal conservatism on a regular basis. Boebert is correct, that it is Congress that holds the purse strings and sends the legislation to the President, and Congress has been irresponsible in its duties. The debt that is being dumped on our children and their children is unconscionable.
The truth is out there. You just have to let it in.
Valerie Maez writes from Lewis, Colo.
