Democrat Eileen Laubacher, a retired Navy rear admiral, defeated Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, CBS News and NBC News projected on Friday, Nov. 13.[1][2] About 1% of the vote separated the two candidates when CBS News made its projection, 10 days after Election Day.[1]
Related: Democrats Win Control of Congress, AP Projects, Flipping 7 GOP Senate Seats Including Maine
A close count in eastern Colorado
Laubacher claimed victory earlier in the week while thousands of votes still separated the candidates.[1] Boebert told reporters at the U.S. Capitol on Monday that not all ballots had been counted.[1] “We still have military and overseas ballots that are coming in, and we’ll see what that number is,” Boebert said, CBS News reported.[1]
The district covers the eastern third of Colorado.[1] It also includes part of Douglas County, south of Denver, and Loveland in Northern Colorado.[1]
“There was a lot of money dumped on my head,” Boebert said after the election, NBC News reported.[2] She also blamed the Senate for not passing many bills the House had approved.[2]
Who is Eileen Laubacher
Laubacher is a retired two-star rear admiral who worked on the National Security Council under President Joe Biden.[1] She is also an Afghanistan war veteran.[2] The Highlands Ranch resident was once a Republican before changing her party affiliation.[1] Her stated priorities are keeping costs down, fighting corruption and improving rural health care access.[1]
“Integrity matters. Character matters. Truth matters,” Laubacher told supporters on election night, as quoted by The Colorado Sun and cited by NBC News.[2] She attended the first day of new-member orientation at the Capitol on Monday with other members of the incoming 120th Congress.[1]
Boebert’s six years in Congress
Boebert, a gun-rights activist, owned Shooters Grill in Rifle, Colo., before entering politics.[2] She beat Rep. Scott Tipton in the 2020 Republican primary for the 3rd District.[2] She won re-election there in 2022 by 546 votes.[2] In 2024 she moved to the more Republican 4th District and won it with 53.6% of the vote.[1]
Boebert was a vocal defender of President Donald Trump, but their relationship later soured.[2] In November 2025, she was one of four Republicans who signed a discharge petition to force a House vote on releasing the Justice Department’s Jeffrey Epstein files.[2] She did not face a primary challenger this year.[1]
Part of a 45-seat Democratic gain
Democrats won control of the House on Nov. 3.[3] In the CBS News count, 45 districts have shifted to Democrats and three to Republicans.[3] CBS News had not yet projected winners in about a dozen House races.[3]
Other Republicans who lost include Rep. Jeff Van Drew in New Jersey’s 2nd District, who won by 16.9 points in 2024.[3] Rep. Mike Turner lost Ohio’s 10th District, ending nearly 25 years in Congress.[3] Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mike Lawler of New York also lost.[3] Republicans picked up Maine’s 2nd District, where former Gov. Paul LePage won the seat of retiring Democratic Rep. Jared Golden.[3]
Race-by-race calls are on The Boston Report’s National Election Tracker, and more coverage is on the politics and government hub. Alaska’s governor’s race was also decided this week; see Kreiss-Tomkins wins Alaska governor’s race. The Boston Report does not call races; results are unofficial until certified.
Sources
- CBS News: Democrat Eileen Laubacher defeats incumbent Lauren Boebert in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District
- NBC News: Rep. Lauren Boebert, conservative firebrand from Colorado, loses her race for re-election
- CBS News: Democrats have now flipped over 40 House seats. Here are all the districts that changed control in the midterms.
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