Far-right Rep. Lauren Boebert narrowly secured re-election after her Democratic opponent acknowledged Friday that a recount would not help him overcome his 551-vote deficit.
“The voters have spoken, and while we showed great progress, I remain down by a few hundred votes,” Adam Frisch told supporters in a statement posted to Facebook. “This small margin triggers an automatic recount in Colorado’s election system.”
“The likelihood of this recount changing more than a handful of votes is very small, very, very small,” Frisch added. “It’d be disingenuous and unethical for us or any other group … to continue to raise false hope and encourage fundraising for a recount.”
With nearly 327,000 votes counted in the Centennial State’s 3rd Congressional District as of Friday, Boebert led Frisch by 0.16 percentage points.
Under Colorado law, recounts are mandatory when the margin between the top two candidates is 0.5% or fewer.
The race drew national attention due to Boebert’s history of controversial comments, as well as the brief possibility earlier this week that the race would decide control of the House of Representatives.
Rep. Lauren Boebert is likely headed to an automatic recount in a too-close-to-call race in Colorado’s conservative 3rd Congressional District. Rod Lamkey – CNP
Democratic challenger Adam Frisch was trailing Boebert by just 551 votes, or 0.16 percentage points. APBoebert’s victory gave the GOP 219 House seats, one more than the bare minimum needed for a majority.
Democrats currently have 212 seats, with four races uncalled as of Friday afternoon.
Boebert and Frisch’s campaigns spent days confirming voters’ choices in a process called “curing,” which is reserved for ballots that had been initially rejected. AFP via Getty ImagesBoebert confirmed on Twitter that Frisch had called her to concede defeat.
“I look forward to getting past election season and focusing on conservative governance in the House majority,” she wrote. “Time to get to work!”
As the 3rd District’s counties finalized their results Thursday, Boebert’s already slim lead of around 1,100 votes was cut in half. All but one of the 27 counties in the district had reported final results by Thursday evening, with Otero County planning to finalize its numbers on Friday.
The updated results follow a hectic few days for both campaigns as they scrambled to “cure” ballots — the process of confirming voters’ choices if their ballots had been rejected in the initial count.
Boebert is seen praying with her husband during an election night party. Denver Post via Getty ImagesUntil election night, Boebert, the former owner of a gun-themed restaurant best known for picking public fights with high-profile Democrats like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Ilhan Omar, had been heavily favored to win re-election after redistricting made the 3rd District more Republican.
Her razor-thin lead over Frisch, a businessman from the ski resort town of Aspen, surprised the political establishment.
“We have shown the country that extremist politicians can be defeated,” Frisch said. “Loud voices are not invincible, and shouting will not solve problems.”
With Post wires
