There may be 19 months to go before the next congressional election, but early fundraising numbers indicate that Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District race could be a costly one.
GOP freshman Rep. Lauren Boebert raked in more than $700,000 during the first quarter of fundraising, while one potential challenger, State Sen. Kerry Donovan, raised more than $630,000 in less than 55 days in her quest to become the Democratic nominee and run against Boebert to represent the district
Donovan said she was “humbled” by the grassroots support, which surpassed her fundraising goal for the first quarter that ended March 31.
“It means the world to me to have earned the support and generous contributions from Coloradans and Americans from all walks of life,” said Donovan, who announced her candidacy in early February. “Each person who chipped in is fed up with Lauren Boebert’s conspiracy theories, division, and selfish, ideological agenda and are ready for real leadership that will deliver results to get the doors of main street businesses open, reduce the cost of health care, and keep public lands in public hands.”
Boebert also expressed appreciation for “the tremendous outpouring of support across rural Colorado and our great country.”
The interest in the race is driven in large part by Boebert. The Rifle restaurant owner ran and won as a no compromise conservative and Second Amendment supporter, with a Donald Trump-like use of social media (before he was banned from Twitter and Facebook). Her support for the election certification object, comments on trans youth and some of her tweets the day of the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection has earned her ire from the left, something she has used to fundraise off of to her more than 590,000 twitter followers.
In a statement, Boebert blamed Democrats for “shoving a whole new level of insanity down our throats,” in reference to COVID restrictions and the latest surge at the border.
And Boebert has a bigger prize in mind when it comes to 2022 — helping Republicans gain control of the House.
“Nancy Pelosi and her liberal lapdogs are proving every day how critical it is for freedom-loving Republicans to take back the House in 2022,” she said. “It’s time to stop Pelosi's liberal train wreck from shutting down our businesses, shutting down our schools and wrapping and stacking thousands of foreign kids in foil like baked potatoes.”
The early fundraising hauls are large for the district.
By comparison, during the first quarter of the off year, former GOP incumbent Rep. Scott Tipton raised just over $100,000. Democrat Diane Mitsch Bush raised just under $130,000 in the first filing after her May 2019 candidacy announcement.
While no Republicans have announced a primary challenge to Boebert, several Democrats have thrown their hats in the primary ring already. In addition to Donovan, State Rep. Donald Valdez, Activist Sol Sandoval of Pueblo and Attorney Colin Wilhelm of Glenwood Springs all hope to take on Boebert in November 2022.
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