- Rep. Lauren Boebert won the Republican primary in the district she moved to earlier this year.
- She does so despite facing charges of “carpetbagging” and the embarrassing “Beetlejuice” scandal.
- She used her name recognition to win against a number of local candidates.
Rep. Lauren Boebert has done just that.
The controversial congresswoman won a hotly contested Republican primary in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District on Tuesday, according to Decision Desk HQ and The Associated Press.
Given that the district is much safer than the one she left, even though she only started living there earlier this year, Boebert is well on her way to reelection in November.
In winning, Boebert overcame significant headwinds, including the lingering embarrassment of the “Beetlejuice” scandal, fatigue about her political persona and accusations of being a “carpetbagger.”
A recent poll gives a big clue as to how she’s managed it: name recognition.
Love her or hate her, chances are you know who Lauren Boebert is, especially if you live in Colorado.
A May Kaplan Strategies poll found that she had by far the highest name recognition among Republican primary voters in the district, with only 3% saying they didn’t know her, compared with around 50% for her fellow opponents.
The poll also found that her image among Republican voters has improved significantly over time: In February, the same pollsters were looking at her net unapproval rating, but by May, that rating had flipped to a favorable one.
Of course, the congresswoman had some lucky breaks along the way.
She was able to win by a landslide over a field of lesser known candidates rather than facing a single candidate head-to-head, and she also had the good fortune of winning when the local Republican Party nominated a replacement for retiring Rep. Ken Buck to serve out the remainder of his term, eliminating the possibility that one of her primary opponents had an advantage.
On top of that, Boebert won her old district by fewer than 600 votes in 2022, and moderate Democrats backed by heavily funded resources seemed poised to oust her from Congress this year.
But overall, Boebert’s primary victory sends a clear signal to other Republican candidates that attention-grabbing tactics can pay off.
After all, how would voters in Ms. Boebert’s new district have known her name if she hadn’t made frequent appearances on cable news networks or had a huge following on social media?
In an era when both television and social media are nationalizing politics — dismantling local issues and concerns into a patchwork of national narratives — a candidate like Boebert can be successful regardless of where she actually lives.
