By Nolan D. McCaskill
WASHINGTON, Nov 13 (Reuters) – US Representative Lauren Boebert, an outspoken Republican whose colorful behavior on and off Capitol Hill made her a household name far beyond her Colorado district, lost her reelection bid, US media outlets projected on Friday.
Boebert was narrowly defeated by Democrat Eileen Laubacher, a retired US Navy rear admiral, in a district that President Donald Trump had carried by 18 points in 2024.
Her campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Her race was one of a handful of House of Representatives races that remained undecided more than a week after the November 3 election, in which Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress.
Democrats will control at least 256 House seats and at least 55 Senate seats for the final two years of Trump’s presidency.
Boebert owned a gun-themed restaurant called Shooter’s Grill before she was elected in 2020. In one of her first acts in Congress, she joined 146 other Republicans on January 6, 2021, in an unsuccessful effort to overturn Trump’s loss to Democrat Joe Biden. The vote came shortly after a mob of Trump supporters attacked the Capitol.
Boebert was removed from a performance of the musical “Beetlejuice” in Denver in 2023 after complaints that she and a guest were vaping and causing a disturbance.
Boebert had also been accused in an ethics complaint of having a sexual relationship with three staffers, including two women. She denied the allegations.
She launched her campaign last year with an email to donors that vowed to seek the truth about unidentified flying objects.
Trump called Boebert “dumb” earlier this year for campaigning with outgoing Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a Republican who led the effort to force the Trump administration to release files related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Boebert moved to a less competitive Colorado district for the 2024 election and ran uncontested in this year’s Republican primary.
She was far outraised by Laubacher in the November election, $13.7 million to $1.2 million.
(Reporting by Nolan D. McCaskill; editing by Andy Sullivan and David Gaffen)
