Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Politics

Lauren Boebert’s Jewish rival said he scared her out of their race. What happens to him now?

It’s not clear whether it’s now tougher or easier for Adam Frisch to win a seat in Congress

In a rematch, many thought mild-mannered Jewish businessman Adam Frisch could beat the notoriously provocative Rep. Lauren Boebert. 

But now Boebert, seemingly spooked by a wave of support from Democrat donors for Frisch, is bowing out of the race and entering another one — in a more conservative district on the other side of the state.

“Boebert is running scared,” Frish said in a statement following her announcement last week, “because she knows she can’t match our campaign’s ability to connect with voters.” 

But what becomes of Frisch, who was barely on the national radar in 2020 until he lost to Boebert by only 546 votes? Boebert, a Trump-supporting wing Republican, who has promoted a number of conspiracy theories, tried to bring a gun into Congress and last year got thrown out of a theater for disruptive behavior, had put off even many of her supporters.

With Boebert as his rival, it looked as if Frisch had a decent chance of winning the western Colorado district, which former President Donald Trump won by eight points in 2020. Frisch outraised the incumbent Republican almost 4-1 after he announced a rematch campaign in 2024. He also had a two-point lead in recent polling. The Cook Political Report considered the race a toss-up.

But now that Boebert has announced she will compete in the Republican primary for the open seat currently held by retiring Rep. Ken Buck in the eastern part of the state, Frisch will face someone else. And it will likely be a Republican who many voters in the 3rd District, which includes Aspen and Pueblo, may find more palatable than Boebert.

And Boebert is no shoe-in in her new district either.

The long road ahead

Frisch said that he won’t change his campaign strategy given the new contours of the race. His main rival now is Jeff Hurd, a lawyer who declared his candidacy in August and has won support from many establishment Republicans and the brewery scion Pete Coors.

The Cook Political Report’s new ranking for the district is “lean Republican.”

Adam Frisch, Democratic candidate for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, on Nov. 13, 2022. Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images

Frisch has proudly embraced his Jewish heritage as he campaigns in the rural district, where Jews make up only 1% of the electorate, according to a 2021 report from the Steinhardt Social Research Institute.

He said his “Jewish identity is central” to his family identity in a recent interview and in a position paper he shared with Jewish and pro-Israel groups.

Boebert is facing a crowded field in the GOP primary in the 4th District, where she said she intends to move. State Rep. Richard Holtorf, a contender in the primary, accused her of engaging in “seat shopping.”

If Boebert prevails in the June 25 primary, she is extremely likely to remain in Congress.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.