GOP’s Lauren Boebert faces third Democratic challenger in Colorado district

Colorado State Senator Kerry Donovan announced this week that she will seek to unseat Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert in the 2022 midterm congressional elections.

Donovan is the third Democrat so far to publicly declare their intention to challenge Boebert, who represents Colorado’s 3rd congressional district and has been in office less than a month.

Boebert has made a series of controversial statements during her brief time in Congress and caused outrage by mocking Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg.

Donovan is a second-term state senator who is term limited and cannot run again. She will leave office in 2023.

She filed a statement of candidacy with the FEC on Wednesday and made the announcement in a video shared on Twitter.

“At this extraordinary moment in our history, we need to work together to fix what’s been broken. The last thing we need are people in Congress who talk tough, and stoke division and fear,” Donovan said.

“I’m Kerry Donovan, and I’m running for Congress. Because you deserve a congresswoman who cares more about getting results than getting headlines,” she said.

In her tweets, Donovan appeared to take a swipe at Boebert’s attitude toward firearms. The Republican is the owner of a gun-themed restaurant in Rifle, Colorado. She had also said she intended to carry a gun to Congress.

“We need a Congresswoman who understands that real toughness isn’t what you wear on your hip. Real toughness is what you get done for other people,” Donovan said.

“As a rancher, legislator and former educator, I know how to get things done. Together we can defeat Lauren Boebert and give our part of CO the honest, competent and effective representation we deserve.”

Two other Colorado Democrats have also entered the race. They are Gregg Smith, a rancher and former marine, and Colin Wilhelm, an attorney. Donovan is the most prominent candidate so far but she could be joined by Rep. Dylan Roberts, according to the Colorado Sun.

“I’m still considering,” Roberts told the newspaper in a text message.

Colorado’s 3rd district is expected to be redrawn before the 2022 election, however. It’s not yet clear what effect this might have on the state of the race next year.

Boebert unseated five-term incumbent Congressman Scott Tipton in the 2020 Republican primary. Tipton’s long service and repeated electoral success may have discouraged prominent local Democrats from running against him but Boebert has quickly caused controversies at a national level during her short time in office.