Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert has lost her bid for re-election in Colorado, in one of the most striking results of the midterm elections. The Associated Press called the race on Friday afternoon for her Democratic challenger, Eileen Laubacher, a retired Navy rear admiral, with 48.8 per cent of the vote to Boebert’s 47.9 per cent and an estimated 99 per cent of ballots counted.
The result flips Colorado’s Fourth Congressional District, which stretches from Denver’s eastern suburbs to the Kansas border and is regarded as the state’s reddest seat. Donald Trump carried the district by 18 points in the 2024 presidential election, and Boebert moved there in 2024 after narrowly surviving her previous race in western Colorado by just 546 votes. The move was meant to shield her from another close contest. It did not work.
Laubacher, who served 34 years in the US Navy and rose to rear admiral before retiring, campaigned on affordability and ending corruption. A former Republican, she had served in the Biden administration. She declared victory on Monday and attended orientation for incoming members of Congress in Washington this week, while Boebert insisted the race was not over.
Boebert’s campaign spent the past week raising unfounded allegations of voting irregularities, offering no evidence to support them. Her lawyer, Scott Gessler, a former Colorado secretary of state, said the campaign was investigating the vote and expected the race to head to a recount. Trump had endorsed Boebert for re-election on 30 October, writing that she would “never let you down”.
The defeat makes Boebert the third Republican member of Congress from Colorado to lose re-election in this cycle, and it caps a Democratic wave that has already flipped the governorships of Texas and Georgia. She told Scripps News she does not plan to seek the seat again in 2028.
The Associated Press call is a projection based on counted ballots, not a formal certification: Colorado counties have until 25 November to review and certify their results.
Sources: Colorado Public Radio (https://www.cpr.org/2026/11/13/colorado-election-results-cd-4-laubacher-wins-boebert-out/); Democracy Docket (https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/election-denier-lauren-boebert-loses-reelection-bid-after-her-campaign-questioned-colorado-vote-count/); Washington Examiner (https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/congressional/4803266/boebert-lose-reelection-despite-move-district/).
