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October 12, 2022 09:46 AM UTC

Why Don Coram's Endorsement of Adam Frisch Matters

  • 10 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
State Sen. Don Coram (R).

A press release from Democratic CD-3 candidate Adam Frisch, running hard and closing the gap in the polls down the home stretch against freshman GOP kaleidoscope of crazy Rep. Lauren Boebert, announces the endorsement of Frisch by Boebert’s rival in the 2022 GOP primary, state Sen. Don Coram of Montrose:

In a letter endorsing Frisch, Coram criticized Boebert for failing to pass a single piece of legislation during her tenure and said she has “consistently voted against legislation that would benefit the 3rd Congressional District.”

“What’s more disconcerting is that she continues to lie to voters and claims credit for things she had absolutely nothing to do with,” Coram continues. “Bottom line, instead of working to represent the people in the 3rd CD, Lauren spends her time jet-setting around the country promoting herself and extreme rhetoric that only divides this country further. It’s disgraceful and we should expect more from our United States Representative.”

“I believe Adam Frisch is a good man,” Coram says. “He has demonstrated that he is more interested in representing the district than being a celebrity. That’s important. Naturally, Adam and I differ on various policies and issues. However, I know that he is the type of person who will come to the table and have a conversation. That is what we should expect from our representative.”

“Let’s elect someone who cares about representing the majority of people in the middle that are fed up with extreme partisanship and juvenile antics. Join me in voting for Adam Frisch for Congress,” Coram concluded.

Although Coram lost to Boebert in the Republican primary by a substantial margin, Coram nonetheless represents a large disaffected segment of Republican voters in CD-3 who are tired of Boebert’s high-bombast low-results leadership. But even that doesn’t capture the whole story of Boebert’s soft support: although the ardent Republican base adores Boebert, which obligates fellow Republican elected officials to defend or at least uncomfortably ignore Boebert’s embarrassing antics, Boebert operates very much separately from the rest of the GOP campaigns in the state. Boebert has made no significant endorsements in Colorado races, even those in which she might help more than hurt–and Boebert doesn’t appear on the campaign trail with other Republican candidates who have been touring as a bloc.

Like Sen. Kevin Priola’s recent defection to the Democratic Party citing the GOP’s slide rightward into national destruction, Don Coram’s endorsement of Adam Frisch is a reminder that while the Trump-addled “MAGA” wing of the Republican Party is in control, there is resistance within. With Coram retiring from the state Senate, there’s no avenue to exact retribution like Republicans are attempting to do to Priola.

The closest comparison we have in recent Colorado political history to what Frisch is trying to accomplish against Boebert is the victory by Rep. Betsy Markey in 2008 over hard-right Rep. Marilyn Musgrave in conservative CD-4. That underdog (and as it turned out, short-lived) Democratic victory occurred under very different circumstances, much more favorable to Democrats than the 2022 midterms have been presumed from the beginning to be. But like Boebert, Musgrave made herself a national symbol of out-of-touch Republican wedge-issue crusading at the expense of representing her constituents. And Musgrave paid for it with her career.

While the marquee fights in Colorado’s U.S. Senate and CD-8 races rage, a similar housecleaning could be setting up to occur in CD-3. While Don Coram would have rather it had been himself liberating the district from Boebert’s reign of whackadoodlery, Frisch is giving the voters of CD-3 one last shot at redemption.

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10 thoughts on “Why Don Coram’s Endorsement of Adam Frisch Matters”

  2. Coram pulled 44,486 votes in the primary.  A few of those are re-registered Democrats, but probably not many. Some Unaffiliated choosing to vote in the primary, but again, probably not huge numbers.

    It would be great if the Republicans voting for Coram were anti-Boebert voters willing to continue to vote against her in the general election. I expect more of them to refuse to vote FOR Boebert … but I don't know that many will decide that there vote ought to be FOR Frisch .

    1. It takes just a few thousand to make a difference, John.

      I have no way to prove this. But I believe that Biden's narrow margins of victory in AZ, GA, WI, in 2020, came in large part from Never-Trump Republicans either voting for Biden; or withholding votes for Trump and voting in down ballot races. Trump referred to Never-Trump Republicans as "worthless scum." Paybacks are hell, Cheeto. Maybe the same happens to Boebert.

      1. "I have no way to prove this. But I believe that Biden's narrow margins of victory in AZ, GA, WI, in 2020"

        I suspect that, too. GA this year may provide some circumstantial evidence to support theory.

        Herschel Walker’s Polling Dip – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

        I suspect we will see Brian Kemp and Raphael Warnock both re-elected based on ticket-splitting by Never-Trump Republicans in GA.

        Of course, AZ is going to go in the opposite direction because it's looking like Ricki Kari Lake is going to be elected governor while Kelley is going to beat Masters. There may be ticket-splitting, but people will be voting for a nut job and the astronaut.

        1. Big mistake by Hobbs in the AZ gubernatorial race. She should have debated Lake as Hobbs would have ripped the nut case to shreds.

          Hobbs reminds me of McAuliffe in VA’s gubernatorial race where he said that parents had no right to be involved in their kids’ curriculum, or something like that. Hello Governor Youngkin.

  3. If this were 2018 instead of 2022, Frisch would probably be another Betsy Markey. She won because all the stars lined up that year:

    1.   Credible Democratic candidate

    2. With enough money to run a decent campaign

    3. An incredibly disliked and dislikable opponent

    4. A popular candidate at the top of the ticket during a Democratic wave election.

  5. POLL: Lauren Boebert Tied With Adam Frisch in Colorado-03 Among Registered Voters, But Frisch Struggles to Raise Awareness

    • OCTOBER 13, 2022

     

    Center Street PAC released a new poll of the Colorado-03 congressional race, showing Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert in a statistical tie with Democratic challenger Adam Frisch. The survey revealed 45% of Colorado registered voters prefer Frisch while 40% prefer Boebert. However, a victory will be challenging for Frisch, as he continues to struggle in voter awareness, with only 64% of voters saying they know who he is, compared to Boebert’s 89%. Due to a small sample, likely voters were not reported in this survey.

    “This race presents a rare opportunity to get this deeply unserious candidate out of office. This district is only R+7, and Boebert only won by 6 points in 2020,” said Center Street Co-Founder Matt O’Brien. “But it will be a challenge at this point. This is an all-hands-on-deck moment for anyone who has watched in disbelief over the last two years, as this supremely unqualified and disgraceful person found new depths to plumb.”

    One challenge for Frisch is a lack of enthusiastic support, largely because voters are unaware of him. Data shows 49% of respondents have neither a favorable nor unfavorable view. Only 20% of voters say they are neutral toward Boebert. His preference results seem to be more of a referendum on Boebert’s popularity, rather than strong support for Frisch. However, respondents who are aware of the former Aspen city councilman generally hold favorable views of him, while Boebert elicits largely unfavorable views. 

    “At this late stage of the campaign, lagging in awareness is hard to overcome. But the good news for Frisch is that the voters who know him are generally positive, and he still has nearly a month to improve on his awareness and favorability,” said Center Street Chief Analytics Officer Dr. Kurt Jetta. 

    As with the other so-called “ultra MAGA” candidates Center Street has polled, Boebert unsurprisingly scores low in favorability among Democrats and independents. Overall, 54% of voters view Boebert unfavorably, compared to Frisch’s 23%. However, unlike those candidates – J.D. Vance, Blake Masters, Dr. Mehmet Oz and Herschel Walker – Boebert’s favorability and preference results among Republicans is strong. 

    “This race is winnable, but only if Frisch moves very quickly to get his name ID up to least 80%

    from its current 64%,” said Center Street Co-Founder Jacob Perry. “It is almost impossible for a congressional candidate with low name recognition to beat an incumbent with such a solid base of supporters.”

    Center Street has developed an unparalleled data set, led by Dr. Jetta. A 30-year innovator in consumer analytics and former CEO of TABS Analytics, Dr. Jetta applies his consumer analysis developments to political analysis, allowing Center Street to determine and choose a select number of winnable races.

    Center Street is a nonpartisan super PAC designed to combat the destructive tribalism threatening democracy by supporting credible candidates, regardless of political party, against extremist challengers and incumbents. Founded by former Republican strategist Jacob Perry and private businessman Matt O’Brien, Center Street advocates for the election of candidates who demonstrate stable and effective governing policies. 

    Methodology: The CO-03 survey was conducted among 945 Colorado adults, ages 18+, including 144 CO-03 registered voters. Due to small sample size, preference results were not reported for likely voters. Of the respondents, 173 lived in CO-03 counties and accounted for 18.3% of the sample. Responses were weighted to Colorado age/gender profile and then weighted to 2020 voting preference for both CO-03 (53% Trump/44% Biden) and non-CO-03 (40%/57%). All Colorado respondents were asked to state a preference for CO-03 candidates, whether they lived in the district or not. To enhance statistical validity, results for CO-03 were compared to non-CO-03. This method was used to measure meaningful differences in candidate awareness, favorability and preferences within a party. The margin of error at the 80% confidence level for preference among registered voters is 5.2%. Source: Source: Center Street PAC via Momentiv AI. 

    About Center Street PAC

    Center Street (http://www.centerstreetpac.com) is a nonpartisan political action committee designed to combat the destructive tribalism that threatens our democracy. Center Street is focused on beating the extremist incumbents and challengers who divide us by supporting rational political candidates who promote stable and effective governing policies. Center Street’s candidates are Democrats & Republicans who have shown political courage and a willingness to put the country above a party’s interests.

  6. PS no one but the wind has ripped my Frisch yard sign down placed strategically on our county road. I waited until the ignorant MAGA Texans departed for the winter to ensure it would not be shot or destroyed like my BETO signs in 2018 in my old Big Bend haunt. 

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