Lauren Boebert Picked Her Voters. They Picked Eileen Laubacher.

Boebert won Colorado’s 4th by double digits two years ago. Come January, the retired Navy admiral who visited all 14 of its rural hospitals will take her seat.

Let’s Let My Wife Tell It

I was the kind of dude who used to think I was the one picking my girlfriends. Took my wife to point out that I could ask her out all day long. She still had to pick me, y’all. So now I’m the one who’s got questions about my whole damn record.

When it comes to choosing a mate, the females do the picking in plenty of species. [1] Researchers studying peacock courtship even attached little eye trackers to peahens’ heads to see where they were looking. While the males were showing off their feathers, the peahens spent most of the time looking around. [2] Who’s keeping tabs on us humans while we strut around puffing out our metaphorical tail feathers? Hopefully no one’s got data to back up my wife’s assertion that I was the one being picked.

As for Lauren Boebert, she did get to pick her district the first time around. She won Colorado’s 3rd in 2022 by just 546 votes. When she switched to that Republican-leaning 4th, she won by more than 11 points in 2024. [3] Wins like that can trigger delusion. Her new home in Congress lasted one term. This time the voters picked Eileen Laubacher, a Democrat and retired Navy rear admiral. The Associated Press called the race for her Friday afternoon. [4] The last Democrat to win here before her was Betsy Markey in 2008. [5]

Lauren Boebert: “You know me.”

That’s what Boebert told voters during an October debate. Here’s how well one woman in Castle Rock knew her. The Washington Post reported that Abby Gierat told a Democratic canvasser she was unfamiliar with Eileen Laubacher. Boebert she knew. She’d voted against her last time around and planned to do it again. [6]

Boebert’s double-digit victory in 2024 masked how close things got in Douglas County, where she bested Democrat Trisha Calvarese by just 1,343 votes. More than half of all the votes cast in the 4th District that year came from that county. [7] In 2022, Republican Ken Buck won Douglas County by almost 26,500 votes. [5]

As of Friday afternoon, Laubacher was ahead of Boebert by about 22,000 votes in Douglas County, where she lives in Highlands Ranch. [5] Districtwide, her lead stood at 3,441 votes. [8] Even a tie in Douglas County would have been enough for Boebert to hold on to her House seat. [5][8] Instead, Douglas County voters sent their neighbor to Congress.

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The Other 13 Hospitals

Colorado Public Radio’s Ryan Warner asked Eileen Laubacher to name one rural hospital she was worried about. “Well, I mean, naming one would give short shrift to the other 13.” Her first visit had been to Melissa Memorial in Holyoke, where the CEO told her she’d have to go see the others to understand what each one was up against. By the time Warner asked, she’d been to all 14. [9]

In August, Colorado Public Radio reporter Caitlyn Kim went along when Laubacher visited Lincoln Health Community Hospital in Hugo. The staff told her about the orthopedic surgeries they’d started doing there a few years back. The CEO at the time, Kevin Stansbury, explained the critical bind that his hospital was in. Medicaid cuts were coming. Congress had set aside money for rural health, and under the rules as Stansbury understood them, he could use it to start a new program. He couldn’t use it to replace the Medicaid money his hospital stood to lose. [10]

Laubacher had something to say about the insurance companies, too. A small hospital can wait months for an insurer to pay up, she told CPR, and when the check finally comes it can still be short. She wants rural hospitals to be able to bargain with insurers together, the way a big hospital system can. [11]

Boebert led by nearly 47 points in Lincoln County, where Hugo is. [12] Come January, if Stansbury calls his new congresswoman about the hospital, he can pick up where they left off in August.

About That “We”

Lauren Boebert visited rural hospitals, too. In September she told Colorado Public Radio, “I’m not hearing that it’s federal cuts that are the problem.” She blamed state budget cuts and pointed to the $50 billion Congress had set aside for rural health. [13] That pot of money is the same one Kevin Stansbury told Laubacher he couldn’t use to make up what his hospital was standing to lose. [10]

When the House passed Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill in July 2025, Boebert said, “I am proud to vote YES.” The bill passed 218 to 214. [14] I keep on keep on coming back to that capital YES. Here’s Boebert outside the Capitol on Wednesday, when reporters asked what the midterms said about the party in power. “We collectively failed.” [15]

On Friday, Boebert said she’d called Laubacher to congratulate her. [16] I give her credit for making that call. Man, I’d still like to hear what she’d tell the man in Hugo about her vote.

Related Essays:

Sources

1. Virginia Morell, National Geographic. Animal Attraction.

2. Jessica L. Yorzinski et al., Journal of Experimental Biology, Aug. 15, 2013. Through their eyes: selective attention in peahens during courtship.

3. Ellis Kim and Jennifer Nehrer, CNN via ABC 17 News, Nov. 9, 2026. GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert will lose reelection to Democrat Eileen Laubacher in Colorado, CNN projects.

4. Praveena Somasundaram, The Washington Post, Nov. 13, 2026. Rep. Lauren Boebert ousted in Colorado’s conservative 4th District.

5. Robert Sanchez, Axios Douglas County, Nov. 13, 2026. Laubacher upsets in Colorado’s conservative 4th District.

6. Praveena Somasundaram, The Washington Post, Oct. 27, 2026. MAGA star Lauren Boebert switched to a safer district. It’s no cakewalk.

7. Colorado Secretary of State, Nov. 5, 2024. U.S. Congressperson District 4.

8. Greta Bjornson, People, Nov. 13, 2026. Lauren Boebert Loses Her Reelection for House Seat to Democratic Challenger in Colorado.

9. Ryan Warner and Nicole Vap, Colorado Public Radio, Nov. 9, 2026. Eileen Laubacher nears victory in Congressional District 4 race, attends orientation in Washington, D.C.

10. Caitlyn Kim, Colorado Public Radio, Sept. 3, 2026. Can a Democrat flip the state’s reddest seat? Eileen Laubacher is trying.

11. Caitlyn Kim, Colorado Public Radio, Sept. 25, 2026. 4th Congressional District: Democrat Eileen Laubacher.

12. Decision Desk HQ, accessed Nov. 13, 2026. 2026 Colorado US House 4.

13. Caitlyn Kim, Colorado Public Radio, Sept. 25, 2026. 4th Congressional District: Republican Lauren Boebert.

14. Sara Wilson, Colorado Newsline, July 3, 2025. Colorado Republicans vote for Trump’s signature policy bill, Democrats cite its ‘cruelty’.

15. Jay Sirkin, KOAA News5, Nov. 11, 2026. Lauren Boebert says she won’t run again in 2028 if she loses Colorado’s 4th Congressional District race.

16. Nicholas Riccardi, Associated Press, Nov. 13, 2026. Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado loses House seat to Democrat Eileen Laubacher.