Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., a conservative firebrand who was caught up in several headline-grabbing controversies during her six years in Congress, was defeated by Democratic challenger Eileen Laubacher, NBC News projects.
Laubacher is a retired Navy rear admiral and Afghanistan war veteran who served on the Biden administration’s National Security Council.
“Integrity matters. Character matters. The truth matters, and public service should always focus on what you can do for others, not what you do for yourself,” Laubacher told supporters on election night, according to the Colorado Sun. “These things were worth fighting for when we started.”
Boebert, who was re-elected in Colorado’s 3rd District by just 546 votes in 2022, moved to the much redder 4th Congressional District in 2024 and won re-election more easily.
But that shift fell short of the anti-Trump blue tsunami that swept across the country in these midterm elections, sweeping away her and many other incumbent Republican Party candidates.
“A lot of money was thrown at my head,” Boebert said after the election, while accusing the Senate of failing to pass many Republican bills approved by the House.
Before her political career, Boebert was a gun rights activist and owned Shooters Grill in Rifle, Colorado. She upset Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Colo., in the 2020 GOP primary and became a staunch defender of Donald Trump in Washington.
But their relationship has deteriorated more recently. In November 2025, Boebert was one of four Republicans who joined Democrats in signing a discharge petition to force a vote to release the Justice Department’s Jeffrey Epstein files, against Trump’s wishes.
When Trump vowed to unseat Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., for leading the campaign on the Epstein files, Boebert sided with Massie and campaigned with him last May. Trump lashed out at her, calling her “stupid” and “feeble-minded,” and threatened to withdraw his support for her, although he never did so.
Boebert was known more on Capitol Hill for her controversies and clashes with fellow lawmakers than for her legislative acumen.
In 2021, she apologized after a video surfaced of her suggesting that fellow member Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., had been mistaken for a terrorist in an elevator and that they were both in the Capitol. Omar said Boebert’s description of the two men in an elevator never happened.
During the 2022 State of the Union address, Boebert and then-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., stood up and heckled President Joe Biden throughout his speech, including trying to start a “build the wall” chant. The two conservative women then got into a very public argument, with Greene calling her colleague a “little bitch” in the House.
In 2023, Boebert and his date were escorted out of a performance of the musical “Beetlejuice” in Denver. They allegedly vaped, took photos and engaged in other disruptive behavior.
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