Maga firebrand Lauren Boebert has blamed musical legend Barbra Streisand and X-Men actor Ryan Reynolds for her decision to switch congressional districts.
The Colorado Republican was facing a tough re-election battle for the state’s 3rd congressional district after a series of high-profile scandals.
Opponents were sharpening their knives after she was thrown out of a performance of Beetlejuice in Denver, heckled the State of the Union Address and made Islamophobic jokes about her fellow Representatives.
But she has also been outraised three-to-one by Democrat rival Adam Frisch whose $7.7million war chest has been swollen by $1,500 from Streisand and $1,500 from Reynolds.
‘When you have Barbra Streisand coming in and donating to the Democrat, when you have Ryan Reynolds coming in and donating to the Democrat, it shows you that Hollywood is trying to buy their way into Congress,’ she told Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast.
Lauren Boebert announced last month that she will not contest Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District – which she narrowly won in 2022 but instead switch to Colorado’s 4th
Boebert lashed out at Barbra Streisand and Ryan Reynolds for donating $3,000 between them to her opponent’s $7.7million campaign fund
The Colorado Congresswoman has been one of Donald Trump’s fiercest defenders
‘We have to shut down the Hollywood elites who are trying to buy my current district,’ she continued.
‘There has been close to $10 million poured into this district to buy this seat.
‘Colorado’s 3rd District is not for sale.’
The 37-year-old grandmother beat Frisch to the seat by a razor-thin 546 votes in 2022 but said she ‘did not arrive at this decision easily’, as she announced her move.
‘A lot of prayer, a lot of tough conversations and a lot of perspective convinced me that this is the best way I can continue to fight for Colorado, for the conservative movement and for my children’s future,’ she explained.
She is now seeking her party’s nomination in the distant fourth district which is rated by analysts as the state’s most conservative and where current representative Ken Buck is retiring.
But that has not gone down well with Republicans already in the race.
‘Seat shopping isn’t something the voters look kindly upon,’ said state Rep Richard Holtorf.
‘If you can’t win in your home, you can’t win here.’
Boebert and her date, Quinn Gallagher, sparked outrage in September after they were caught on camera fondling each other at a Denver performance of Beetlejuice, and were kicked out of the theater
Boebert was seen baring her teeth in the theater lobby after being ejected and also gave staff the finger
Boebert’s divorce from Jason, 36, her husband of 18 years and father to her four children, was finalized in October after the couple’s shock split in May
The mother-of-four made headlines over the summer after she was caught on camera groping a date, vaping and taking selfies at a performance of the musical Beetlejuice in Denver, and then giving ushers the finger when she was asked to leave and declaring: ‘Do you know who I am?’
She also sparked controversy by heckling Joe Biden in his 2022 State of the Union address, and caused anger by making an Islamophobic joke about Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.
Streisand and Reynolds are not the only A-listers to back Frisch for Boebert’s current seat with Eagles founder Don Henley, actor and director Rob Reiner, and Johnny Cash’s daughter Rosanne Cash donating to his 2023 campaign.
Henley has donated $6,600, Reiner has donated $3,300 and Cash has donated $550.
Boebert’s decision is good news for the Republican party, which feared she would lose.
It does not mean the 3rd District will vote Democrat – the district hasn’t sent a Democrat to Congress since 2008 – but it does mean that a more moderate Republican can take the seat.
Grand Junction attorney Jeff Hurd, who is supported by a number of big-name Republicans and the conservative editorial board of The Colorado Springs Gazette, was challenging Boebert for her seat.
Carbondale investor Russ Andrews and Delta County business owner Curtis McCrackin are also in the race.
Boebert said last week she would move her family to the 4th District – even though she does not have to do so to qualify.
At present, she lives in Garfield County, near the town of Silt – hundreds of miles from the 4th District’s boundaries.
The 4th District spans the entire eastern border of Colorado, and all the land east of Denver stretching from Oklahoma in the south to Nebraska in the north, and east to Kansas.
The 3rd District, by contrast, stretched over the western border of the state, encompassing the wealthy mountain towns of Aspen and Telluride.
Boebert, seen in October in Congress, faced losing her re-election campaign in 2024
Buck, 64, said he considers himself a conservative aligned with Ronald Reagan, and adheres to individual liberty and economic freedom.
He said he was stepping down partly in dismay at his colleagues’ refusal to accept the 2020 election result, and partly because Congress was no longer able to get anything done.
Boebert is far from the only Republican seeking to replace Buck, but her $1.4 million war chest will certainly help her campaign.
She faces competition from conservative talk radio host Deborah Flora; former state senators Jerry Sonnenberg and Ted Harvey; as well as Holtorf.