Lauren Boebert

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Democrat Eileen Laubacher will replace the Republican whose congressional career made LGBTQ+ people targets and confrontation a calling card.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert checks incoming election results on a laptop during an election night watch party at The Grainhouse on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in Windsor, Colorado.

Christopher Wiggins is the politics and news editor at equalpride, where he leads and shapes coverage across The Advocate, Out, and Them. Based in Washington, D.C., he oversees national reporting on the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court, federal agencies, state governments, and the political forces shaping LGBTQ+ life in the United States.

A GLAAD Media Award-winning journalist, Wiggins has reported extensively on federal policy, civil rights, elections, the courts, and the consequences of government action for LGBTQ+ people, with a particular focus on transgender communities. His work includes cover profiles for The Advocate’s print magazine featuring U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware, CNN anchor-turned-independent journalist Don Lemon, former senior Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official Dr. Demetri Daskalakis, and former Vice President Kamala Harris.

In addition to directing editorial strategy, Wiggins continues to report from Washington on the institutions, officials, and movements defining the national political landscape, including the second Trump administration.

He can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Instagram and Bluesky. Whistleblowers and confidential sources may contact him securely on Signal at cwdc.98.

Colorado voters have defeated Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, removing from Congress one of its most relentless antagonists of LGBTQ+ people. Boebert had turned opposition to equality into a national political brand.

Democrat Eileen Laubacher, a retired Navy rear admiral, will defeat Boebert in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, according to CNN’s projection Monday afternoon. Laubacher led 48.77 percent to 47.92 percent.

The defeat followed days of uncertainty. By Friday morning, three days after the election, Laubacher led by 3,069 votes, or 0.81 percentage points. More than 97 percent of the estimated vote had been tallied, and The Associated Press had not called the race. Boebert’s campaign attorney, Scott Gessler, alleged “unusual voting patterns” and anticipated a recount, but did not explain the allegation when Colorado Politics asked.

Related: Lauren Boebert involved in physical fight with ex-husband in Colorado restaurant

Boebert had already moved districts once to improve her prospects. After surviving her 2022 reelection by 546 votes in western Colorado’s 3rd District, she switched to the more heavily Republican 4th District for 2024 and won. This time, that refuge did not hold.

Her record included attacking the Equality Act, which would expand federal LGBTQ+ nondiscrimination protections, as “supremacy of gays and lesbians and transvestites.”

Her own public conduct drew scrutiny in September 2023, when she was removed from a Denver performance of “Beetlejuice”. Surveillance footage showed Boebert and her date groping each other, along with her vaping and taking flash photographs. She subsequently apologized.

Related: Homophobe Lauren Boebert to Run in Different District After Groping Scandal and Lackluster Fundraising

Her targeting of transgender people continued inside Congress. In January 2025, Boebert mistakenly identified a cisgender woman as Democratic Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware, the first out transgender member of Congress. Reporting documented Boebert complaining to security and returning to the restroom with Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who is also leaving Congress.

“I made an error regarding a mistaken identity. I apologized, learned a lesson, and it won’t happen again,” Boebert said afterward. McBride was not there.

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