Lauren Boebert, the conservative Republican representative from Colorado whose six years in Congress were marked by repeated controversies, has been defeated in her re-election bid by Democrat Eileen Laubacher. The Associated Press called the race by less than one percentage point, and NBC News also projected the outcome. Laubacher is a retired Navy rear admiral and Afghanistan war veteran who served on the National Security Council under the Biden administration, and she only became a registered Democrat in 2025.

The loss came in Colorado's 4th Congressional District, a deeply conservative seat on the eastern plains that has long been a Republican stronghold. Boebert had moved to the district in 2024 after barely winning the 3rd District in 2022 by just 546 votes, and her opponents and critics questioned that relocation. Boebert blamed heavy spending on her campaign and blamed the Senate for failing to pass many House-approved Republican bills, while Laubacher framed her campaign around integrity, character and decades of military service. The result also reflected a broader anti-Trump wave in the midterm elections that swept many Republican incumbents out of office.S1S2

Boebert's tenure was defined by controversy. She was a gun rights advocate and former owner of Shooters Grill in Rifle, Colorado, who became a vocal defender of Donald Trump after upsetting Rep. Scott Tipton in the 2020 primary. Her relationship with Trump soured after she signed a discharge petition in November 2025 seeking a vote to release Justice Department files on Jeffrey Epstein, and she later campaigned with Rep. Thomas Massie, whom Trump had vowed to unseat. Trump called her "dumb" and "weak-minded" and threatened to rescind his endorsement, though he never did. Earlier incidents included an apology in 2021 over remarks about Rep. Ilhan Omar, heckling of President Joe Biden at the 2022 State of the Union, and a 2023 incident in which she was escorted out of a Beetlejuice musical in Denver.S1S2

Laubacher, in her victory statement, said the campaign was about putting people first and pledged to work for voters on both sides. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Suzan DelBene said in a statement that "Lauren Boebert's sideshow is over." Boebert had accused Laubacher of moving to the district and changing parties to run for Congress, and she had attributed her move to "dark money" from Hollywood.S1S2