Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert declared victory in her House reelection campaign on Thursday, despite an automatic recount being all but certain in the tightly fought race.
The outspoken Trump supporter, who represents Colorado’s third congressional district, faced a midterms challenge from Democrat Adam Frisch. On Thursday night, when the latest figures were released, Boebert had a lead of 551 votes according to the Colorado secretary of state.
The Republican had 163,758 votes, versus 163,207 for Frisch, with around 200 votes yet to be counted. Under Colorado law, a recount will automatically be triggered if the gap between candidates is 0.5 percent of the vote or less, as looks almost certain.
Losing the third congressional district would have been a major embarrassment for the GOP, who were predicted to hold onto the seat comfortably. On polling day, election analytics site FiveThirtyEight gave Boebert a 97 percent chance of retaining the traditionally Republican district.
In November 2020, when she first stood, Boebert won the seat comfortably with 51.4 percent of the vote, versus 45.2 percent for Democrat Diane Mitsch Bush.
In a video posted on her Twitter account, Boebert said: “Great news tonight as almost all the votes have finally been tallied. I’m told there are less than 200 votes outstanding which makes me so happy to announce we have won this race.
“With this victory, and with Republicans in control of the House of Representatives, we can focus on the issues that actually matter most including getting inflation under control, increasing our domestic energy supply, securing the southern border and being a strong check on the White House.”
Boebert noted the likely recount but said she is “certain” she will be returning to the House of Representatives in January.
“My campaign team and our lawyers will definitely make sure everything is conducted properly. Past recounts in Colorado have resulted in far fewer votes being adjusted than anything that could affect the current outcome we’re seeing tonight in this race,” she said.
The video was shared on Twitter by a number of other Trump-supporting Republicans, who congratulated the gun-toting congresswoman on her result. Matt Gaetz, who was re-elected to the House as a Florida representative last week, tweeted: “So proud of Rep. Boebert!”
Wendy Rogers, a member of the Arizona State Senate with nearly 300,000 followers on Twitter, also retweeted the video, adding: “Lauren Boebert is #LightningInaBottle.”
Benjamin Stout, Boebert’s deputy chief of staff and communications officer, told Newsweek the result won’t change in the recount.
“With less than 200 votes to be counted, Congresswoman Boebert holds a 543 vote lead,” he said. “There will be an automatic runoff, but in Colorado that historically changes the outcome very little. The last recount in Colorado was for a statewide election, not just congressional, and only changed the outcome by 13 votes.
“When all legal ballots are counted and the race is certified on or before December 6th, Congresswoman Boebert will win her race.”
Speaking to MSNBC on Saturday, Frisch claimed a “moral win,” and said he outperformed expectations because “people want the circus to stop.”
Referring to Boebert he added: “My view is that those who know her best, don’t care for her and they wanted another option. So, this was a referendum election. A lot of people were frustrated with her, there’s no doubt about that.”
Republicans took control of the House in the midterm elections, with Representative James Comer saying the party will investigate Hunter Biden’s business dealings, and any involvement from his father, as a “top priority.”
However, the Democrats retained their Senate majority by flipping a Pennsylvania seat, and could even increase it if successful in next month’s Georgia runoff election.
Newsweek reached out to Adam Frisch for comment.
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