The retirement of Republican Congressman Ken Buck leaves the state’s most conservative congressional seat open for the first time in a decade.
On the Republican side of the race to fill it is Rep. Lauren Boebert, who for the past four years has represented the other half of the state in Congress. While her district hopping raised many eyebrows in the political world, it didn’t appear to hurt her with primary voters. She came out on top of a crowded primary field with 43-percent support.
She faces Democrat Trisha Calvarese, who won her own, three-way primary with 45 percent of the vote. Calvarese, a first-time candidate, is a former speechwriter for the AFL-CIO and the National Space Foundation.
The race also includes three candidates from minor parties: Libertarian Hannah Goldman, Frank Atwood with the Approval Voting Party and the Unity Party’s Paul Noel Fiorino.
The 4th District encompasses most of the Eastern Plains, but its population centers are along the Front Range, including the suburban cities of Highlands Ranch, Parker, and Castle Rock to the south and Loveland and Wellington to the north. It’s the state’s most Republican seat, with a +26-point lean as of 2020, according to the state’s Congressional Redistricting Committee.
