Lauren Boebert switched districts in a bid to stay in Congress. Winning over voters won’t be easy

LAST CHANCE, Colo. (AP) — Fleeing a tough reelection bid in the district where she lives, Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert is moving from the mountains to the plains, in the hopes of finding conservative pastures green enough to salvage her place in Congress.

To win, she’ll have to convince a new swath of voters that her brand of white-hot, far-right political activism — built on divisive one-liners and partisan ferocity in the U.S. House — is more needed in Washington than the home-grown Republicans she now faces in the primary.

While Boebert’s new district voted for President Donald Trump by a nearly 20 percentage point margin in 2020, more than double the margin in her old district, and some Republican voters are already admirers, others are greeting her with hands-on-hips skepticism.

“She feels she is a better candidate than the ones that we have,” said Robin Varhelman, seated behind a desk at the cattle auction she owns in Brush. “She’s gonna have to explain to people why.”

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«Other news» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Other news </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Police investigation finds Colorado US Rep. Lauren Boebert didn’t punch ex-husband as he claimed </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Officers in Colorado are investigating an apparent altercation between Rep. Boebert and ex-husband </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Boebert switches congressional districts, avoiding a Democratic opponent who has far outraised her </bsp-custom-headline>