The Colorado Democrat who nearly unseated Lauren Boebert in the most surprising race of 2022 believes he could have defeated her with just one more week — and is confident that he can win with his second campaign, helped by more time, fundraising and outbursts from the congresswoman.
“You would think, having been the worst performing Republican of the 435 in the country, you would have a little time of pause, self-reflection,” Adam Frisch, of Aspen, told The Independent the day after he formally announced his 2024 run. “That is certainly not apparent to a lot of people, including a lot of Republicans I’ve spent time talking with, over the past couple of months.”
Instead of what Ms Boebert and Republicans clearly expected to be a landslide win for the congresswoman, the race was so close in November that it triggered a recount and an uncharacteristic silence from the prolific Twitter user.
She ultimately won by just 546 votes, though Mr Frisch conceded before that. The former city council member had campaigned on a platform focusing on local issues and promoting cross-aisle cooperation — a markedly different approach from his MAGA-supporting opponent.
“That ‘angertainment’ industry, that performance art, that circus is exactly why she almost had the most embarrassing loss in 30 years,” Mr Frisch said.
But he added he was “not surprised” that Ms Boebert has remained a fixture on the national stage rather than publicly addressing issues at home following her near-loss to Mr Frisch. He had made a point of being highly visible in the constituency during the campaign, hitting the road to cover tens of thousands of miles throughout the sprawling 3rd congressional district.
“There’s a dereliction of duty,” he said of the representative’s congressional performance. citing what he considered examples.
“In the midst of the continued water crisis and health care, inflation, I think the most popular thing that she’s come out with, I guess a week ago, she was on the Oversight Committee literally yelling and screaming at a Twitter executive about why she didn’t have more followers.”
Mr Frisch continued: ”Ranchers and farmers in western and southern Colorado are pragmatic, and they don’t see a representative that’s doing the job that they want to see happen ... we’re gonna be laser-focused on the district’s needs, because that’s how we did so well.”
He said the campaign chose to announce early on 14 February because “the momentum that we had from the last campaign was still there” and because he believes any possible Boebert “course correction ... it’s pretty solidified that it’s not happening.”
He outlined “three hurdles that we had last time: We had a short period of time, we had very low name recognition, and even though we raised more money than she did — during July through the end of the campaign — she had more money saved up than we did.
“And and I think if we had another quarter million dollars or another two weeks of the race, we probably would have won,” Mr Frisch told The Independent. “And I think if the race would have been run a week later, we would have won.
“There were a lot of liberals that came up to me and said, ‘Hey, I didn’t vote for you because you were not liberal enough for me’ ... And I have a tremendous amount of moderate Republicans that they just couldn’t stomach voting for her, but they never voted for a non-Republican before, and they left that ballot blank, because they didn’t think the vote mattered. A lot of people even called me or texted me [to say] ‘I’m so sorry, I didn’t believe that you could do it.’”
Those voters, Mr Frisch believes, are key to his success, and he believes a few obstacles have also already been removed since his run last year.
“The name recognition [hurdle] is mostly gone,” he said, adding that it’s “weird” and “awkward” to be so well known now. “We think we’ll generate the resources we need. I don’t say it with pride, but I expect it to be one of the more expensive and one of the most high-profile races in the country.”
The Independent has reached out to Ms Boebert’s office for comment.
