Democrat Laubacher defeats Boebert in Colorado's 4th, capping a blue-wave midterm

More than a week after polls closed, the Associated Press called Colorado's 4th Congressional District for Democrat Eileen Laubacher, ending Lauren Boebert's six-year run in Congress. With 99% of ballots counted, Laubacher held 48.8% to Boebert's 47.9% — a margin of roughly 3,400 votes out of more than 380,000 cast, well outside the threshold for an automatic recount.

The result was one of the most striking of a midterm cycle that handed Democrats control of both chambers. Laubacher's win marks only the second time since 1973 that a Democrat has carried Colorado's 4th District, according to the Colorado Sun. The district, which spans the Eastern Plains into Douglas County and Loveland, went for President Trump by 18 points in 2024 and had been rated 'likely Republican' heading into Election Day.

Integrity matters. Character matters. Truth matters, and public service should always be about what you can do for other people, not what you do for yourself. Those things were worth fighting for when we started.— Eileen Laubacher, congresswoman-elect

Laubacher, a 34-year Navy veteran who retired as a two-star rear admiral, is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy who served in Afghanistan and later as senior director for South Asia on the National Security Council during the Biden administration. She had never run for office before. She was a longtime Republican — and briefly unaffiliated — before registering as a Democrat in 2025, telling a debate audience that the Republican Party had become 'nearly unrecognizable.' She confirmed to the Deseret News that she changed affiliation specifically to run against Boebert, acknowledging that running as an independent would have narrowed her path.

I'm honored by the trust the people of Colorado's fourth district have placed in me. This campaign was never about party labels. It was about putting people first. To those who voted for me, thank you, I will strive to make you proud. To those who didn't, I'll fight just as hard for you and hope to earn your support.— Eileen Laubacher, congresswoman-elect

Laubacher vastly out-raised Boebert, according to the Deseret News, and campaigned in every county in the district. She said her top priorities were keeping costs down, fighting corruption, and improving rural healthcare access. Her campaign leaned on her military record and targeted Boebert's string of personal and political controversies, arguing voters needed to stop being distracted by 'loud, divisive voices on the fringes.'

Boebert, 39, first won election in 2020 in Colorado's 3rd District as a gun-rights activist who had challenged then-candidate Beto O'Rourke over gun control. She won re-election in 2022 by fewer than 600 votes, then moved to the more conservative 4th District in 2024, winning that race by 11 percentage points. The shift, intended to secure her political future, ultimately did not insulate her from the national Democratic tide.

There was a lot of money dumped on my head.— Lauren Boebert, outgoing congresswoman

Her tenure was defined as much by controversy as by legislation. She tweeted 'Today is 1776' the morning of January 6, 2021, though she later condemned the Capitol attack. She heckled President Biden during the 2022 State of the Union alongside then-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. In 2023, she and a date were escorted from a Denver performance of the 'Beetlejuice' musical after allegations of vaping, photography, and disruptive behavior. Weeks before this election, a Weld County judge granted her a temporary protection order against a man who alleged she had sexual relationships with three staffers and arranged a $200,000 payment to one former aide to stay quiet — allegations Boebert denied and called politically motivated.

Her relationship with Trump also frayed in her final year. In November 2025, Boebert was one of four House Republicans — alongside Thomas Massie, Nancy Mace, and Marjorie Taylor Greene — who signed a bipartisan discharge petition to force a vote releasing Justice Department files on Jeffrey Epstein. She then campaigned for Massie after Trump targeted him. Trump responded by calling Boebert a 'carpetbagger' and 'dumb' on Truth Social, and his first veto of his second term was of a Boebert-sponsored bill that would have funded a drinking water project for 50,000 people in southeastern Colorado — a bill that had passed both chambers unanimously.

Nothing says 'America First' like denying clean drinking water to 50,000 people in south-east Colorado many of whom enthusiastically voted for him all three elections.— Lauren Boebert, outgoing congresswoman

All four members of what Rep. Nancy Mace called the 'Fearless Four' are now leaving Congress. Massie lost his GOP primary to a Trump-backed challenger. Mace did not seek re-election to the House, running instead for governor of South Carolina and losing. Greene resigned from the House in January after Trump withdrew his support.

We are the Fearless Four. And none of us are coming back. We stood with the Epstein survivors when it was politically toxic. We put the truth and victims first. We paid the price. And I'd do it all over again. No regrets.— Rep. Nancy Mace, outgoing congresswoman

Boebert conceded on Friday in a video message, saying she had called Laubacher to congratulate her and told her 'the people of our district are more important than party politics.' Earlier in the week, she had told reporters outside the Capitol that military and overseas ballots were still outstanding and that every vote needed to be counted. Her campaign attorney, Scott Gessler — also Colorado's former secretary of state — had flagged 'unusual voting patterns' and said the team expected a recount, but the final margin fell outside the automatic recount threshold.

This job doesn't define me. Elections matter, but this doesn't change who I am and what I do. I'm still going to be aggressive.— Lauren Boebert, outgoing congresswoman

Laubacher's win is part of a broader Democratic sweep. According to Fox News, Democrats now hold 256 House seats to Republicans' 169. Boebert is one of more than 30 incumbent Republican House members voted out in the midterms, according to the New York Post. In Colorado, her loss means just one Republican — Rep. Jeff Hurd of Grand Junction — survived the blue wave in the state's congressional delegation, according to the Colorado Sun.

Lauren Boebert's sideshow is over.— Suzan DelBene, chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee

Laubacher attended freshman orientation at the Capitol on Monday alongside other newly elected members of the 120th Congress. Her immediate challenge, as the Deseret News noted, will be holding a district that tilts heavily Republican in a future cycle when Democrats may not have the same national tailwind.

Why it matters — Laubacher's win in one of Colorado's most Republican districts — carried by Trump by 18 points just two years ago — is a concrete measure of how far the 2026 blue wave reached into territory once considered safely GOP, and sets up a competitive 2028 race in a district that has now swung sharply in a single cycle.

Sources differ on Reason for Boebert's move from the 3rd to the 4th District: Boebert said she moved because 'dark money' from Hollywood was trying to 'steal' the 3rd District seat (theguardian.com) vs Critics and Trump himself called her a 'carpetbagger' who moved because she couldn't win in her original district (nypost.com)

Reported by theguardian.com, thehill.com, nbcnews.com, pbs.org, cbsnews.com, abcnews.com, foxnews.com, deseret.com, washingtonpost.com, coloradosun.com, cpr.org, nypost.com