Colorado’s Lauren Boebert locked in tough reelection bid

Republican Lauren Boebert was locked in a tight race Wednesday in her bid for reelection to a U.S. House seat in Colorado against Democratic challenger Adam Frisch, a businessman and former city councilman from the posh, mostly liberal ski town of Aspen.Boebert’s contest in Colorado’s sprawling 3rd Congressional District was being watched nationally as Republicans try to flip control of the U.S. House in the midterm elections. The Donald Trump loyalist established herself as a partisan flashpoint in Washington, D.C. in her first term, and had been favored to win reelection after redistricting made the conservative and mostly rural conservative district more Republican. Frisch contends Boebert sacrificed her constituents’ interests for frequent ‘angertainment’ in accusing President Joe Biden and Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of seeking to destroy the soul of the nation. He vowed to join the bipartisan ‘Problem Solvers Caucus’ in Congress, a sharp turn from Boebert’s repudiation of across-the-aisle census building.Frisch said in an interview early Wednesday that the close contest wasn’t a surprise.’I spent 10 months trying to convince donors and journalists and political strategists everywhere that there was a path forward,’ Frisch said. ‘I have this calm belief that that 40% of the Republican party wants their party back.’ ‘We will have this victory,’ Boebert declared at a campaign event late Tuesday in Grand Junction.Republican state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer and Democratic state Rep. Yadira Caraveo were in another tight race in Colorado’s new 8th Congressional District, which stretches north from Denver’s suburbs to Greeley. That race, too, was being watched nationally.Kirkmeyer, a former Weld County commissioner, pledges to get tough on crime and unleash the oil and gas industry, which has a significant presence in the district. She once supported a blanket ban on abortion but now says she would respect exceptions if the mother’s life is in danger.Caraveo is a pediatrician and defender of abortion rights who voted for police accountability after the George Floyd protests. Caraveo hopes her cultural lineage as the child of Mexican immigrants will attract support in a swing district where Latinos comprise nearly 40% of voters. In suburban Denver’s 7th District, Democratic state Sen. Brittany Pettersen defeated Republican Erik Aadland, a first-time candidate, to succeed eight-term Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutter.Democratic Reps. Diana Degette, Jason Crow and Joe Neguse won reelection, as did Republicans Ken Buck and Doug Lamborn.Both President Biden and former President Trump were high on voters’ minds in the midterm elections, according to AP VoteCast, an expansive survey of more than 2,700 voters in the state. More than 6 in 10 say Biden was a factor in their vote, and a similar proportion say so of Trump.About 7 in 10 voters in Colorado say things in the country are heading in the wrong direction. The poll also shows voters overwhelmingly disapprove of economic conditions in the U.S. About three-quarters say the state of the economy is either not so good or poor, compared with about a quarter who call it excellent or good. About a third say their family is falling behind financially.The Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision on abortion, also played a role in most voters’ decisions, with about 8 in 10 calling it a factor in how they cast their ballot. About a quarter call it the single most important factor in their vote.___Associated Press writer Colleen Slevin contributed to this report.___Jesse Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.___Follow AP’s coverage of the elections at: https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-electionsCheck out https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections to learn more about the issues and factors at play in the 2022 midterm elections.