November 06, 2023 11:55 AM UTC

Permission To Flee: Has Boebert Lost Phil Anschutz?

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• by: Colorado Pols

As we took note of last week, America’s most vulnerable Republican incumbent Rep. Lauren Boebert has been the subject of a wave of political journalist “think pieces” analyzing in detail how her already-flagging campaign for a third term after winning her second by a mere 546 votes has been further damaged by “the Beetlejuice incident.” The New York Times, Colorado Sun, Colorado Public Radio, and most recently the Denver Post’s John Aguilar have all written long-form stories articulating the consensus narrative that “Lauren Boebert is in trouble.”

On Saturday, the drumbeat of doom and gloom for Boebert was joined by another outlet more notable for its ownership than its reach: the unapologetically conservative-slanted Washington Examiner, owned by Colorado billionaire and Republican kingpin Phil Anschutz along with the Colorado Springs Gazette and the political blog formerly known as the Colorado Statesman:

Some Republicans are starting to question whether it’s time to consider an alternative to Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) as she reels from a high-profile scandal and a narrow reelection bid win last year.

In mid-September, Boebert was caught on a security camera causing a disturbance during a performance of the musical Beetlejuice at a Denver theater. The newly divorced congresswoman and her date were escorted out of the theater, accused by venue officials of vaping, singing, recording, and demanding special treatment. Boebert initially denied some of her actions after surveillance video emerged, contradicting her claims. The Republican lawmaker issued an apology days later, saying her behavior was unacceptable…

Mixed with her razor-thin victory in 2022, the possibility of an upset in 2024 has caused Republican candidates like Jeff Hurd to launch a bid against Borbert, and he’s already gathering endorsements from local GOP leaders.

In addition to the Gazette’s singularly wacky editorial board under the control of January 6th apologist Wayne Laugesen, the newsrooms at Anschutz’s local media outlets have faced some very serious questions about their journalistic independence that have been previously noted in the record. Despite this, the company’s local outlets have individual reporters who still produce quality local political journalism. The Washington Examiner, by comparison, is an overtly conservative-slanted national “news” site over which the Anschutz family either wields much tighter editorial control or expressly permits the Examiner’s more overtly partisan political agenda.

What does this mean for Lauren Boebert? It’s another sign that a “permission structure” is being erected at high levels to allow Republicans in the Third District to walk away from Boebert. It’s important to understand that Republican donors were already very much fatigued by Boebert’s high maintenance costs in a district that on paper should not be a top Democratic pickup opportunity. What “Beetlebert” provided to Boebert’s heretofore timid Republican critics was an apolitical moral pretext to write Boebert off.

Will it be enough to propel Barbora Hurd’s husband from placeholder to bonafide primary contender? Even as the endorsements roll in, we have our doubts that Boebert’s spell over CD-3 Republican primary voters has truly been broken. Boebert’s victory over somnolent former Rep. Scott Tipton in 2020 was not obtained with establishment Republican permission either, and Boebert’s high name recognition and vast social media reach give her an advantage even more powerful than incumbency itself. That makes the most likely primary outcome a Boebert victory, though perhaps by a somewhat smaller margin than Boebert blew out Don Coram by in 2022.

If Laugesen admits Boebert is in trouble after his excessively flattering endorsements, we’ll update for the record.