DENVER (AP) — Conceding his tight U.S. House race to Republican Lauren Bobert, Democrat Adam Frisch said Friday that his surprisingly strong campaign shows how tired many GOP voters are of Bobert’s brash style.
The Associated Press has declared the election too close to call in Colorado’s sprawling 3rd Congressional District. The AP will await the results of a possible recount To call the race. With nearly all votes counted, incumbent Bobert leads Frisch by 0.17 percentage points, or 554 of the 327,000 votes counted.
The unexpectedly close margin for Boebert, one of former President Donald Trump’s staunchest supporters in Congress, is the latest sign that Trump’s influence with Republican voters may be waning amid a nationwide battle over the direction of the Republican Party. It’s a question that some Republican leaders blame Trump in part for their poor midterm results Even if the former president goes ahead with launching his 2024 presidential bid.
“America is tired of the circus, tired of the lack of respect for our institutions and democracy, and tired of the lack of civility in our discourse,” Frisch said. The Democrat added that he has not ruled out another bid for the seat in 2024. Forecasters, pundits and the political establishment largely thought Frisch’s campaign was ineffective, but the slim margin was a small victory of its own for the Democratic Party.
“We’ve been written off by the political class, we’ve been written off by the donor class, we’ve been written off by the political media,” Frisch told the AP. “I wish it didn’t take nine months for more people to call me back.”
Frisch said he supports a mandatory recount, but it’s unrealistic to think it would flip enough votes for him to win. Called Bobert to concede the bet.
In Colorado, a mandatory recount is triggered when the margin of vote between the top two candidates is 0.5% or less of the leading candidate’s total vote. That margin was 0.34% on Friday.
Frisch’s comments came after Bobert claimed victory in a tweet video of him standing in front of the US Capitol late Thursday.
“Come January, you can be sure of two things,” Bobert said before thanking his supporters, adding, “I will be serving my second term because your Congress and Republicans can finally make Pelosi’s house the People’s House again.”
In Trump’s mold, Bobert’s provocative style has stoked anti-establishment anger and won him a loyal following on the right. With frequent TV appearances and a name close to home, the campaign money has flowed in — he’s raised $6.6 million over the past two years, an astronomical sum for a new member of the House.
Frisch campaigned on a largely conservative platform and what he called Bobert’s “angers” and “angers”.
The former city councilman in the posh city of Aspen hoped to woo disaffected Republicans and form a bipartisan political coalition. He has rarely indicated he is a Democrat on the campaign trail and has supported removing Democrat Nancy Pelosi as speaker of the House, saying he wants to lower the partisan temperature in Washington. It was an indirect dig at Bobert, which resonated with voters in the highly rural district, which, while conservative, largely supported pragmatists.
“We have shown the country that radical politicians can be defeated, that loud voices are invincible and that shouting does not solve problems,” Frisch said.
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