Lauren Boebert Loses Colorado Seat to Democrat Eileen Laubacher

Last updated Nov. 13, 2026, 4:35 p.m. ET. This is a developing story.

Ten days after the polls closed, the last big unknown in Colorado finally broke. Lauren Boebert loses her seat in Congress: Democrat Eileen Laubacher defeated the Republican in Colorado's 4th Congressional District, NBC News projected Friday afternoon. CBS News made the same call.

It wasn't a blowout. CBS News Colorado said only about 1% of the vote separated the two when the race was projected.

Lauren Boebert loses in a district Trump-era Republicans counted on

The 4th District was supposed to be the safe landing spot. Boebert held the 3rd District for two terms, and in 2022 she survived there by just 546 votes, according to NBC News. So in 2024 she moved east to the redder 4th, which covers the eastern third of Colorado plus part of Douglas County south of Denver and Loveland in Northern Colorado. She won it with 53.6% of the vote.

Two years later, that cushion was gone. NBC News described the result as part of an anti-Trump wave that swept out a long list of GOP incumbents in the midterms. Democrats flipped both chambers of Congress, CBS News reported, and the party is already sorting out who leads the new Senate majority, as we covered in Chris Van Hollen's challenge to Chuck Schumer. House Republicans have their own reshuffle underway, with Jim Jordan's bid for minority leader.

Who is Eileen Laubacher?

Laubacher is a retired two-star Navy rear admiral and an Afghanistan war veteran. She served on the National Security Council under President Joe Biden. She lives in Highlands Ranch and used to be a Republican before changing her party registration, CBS News Colorado reported.

She ran as a common-sense candidate and named three priorities: keeping costs down, fighting corruption and improving access to rural health care.

"Integrity matters. Character matters. Truth matters, and public service should always be about what you can do for other people, not what you do for yourself," she told supporters on election night, as quoted by The Colorado Sun and cited by NBC News.

She didn't wait for the final count to start the job. Laubacher claimed victory earlier this week and was at the Capitol on Monday for the first day of new member orientation, according to CBS News Colorado.

What Boebert has said

Boebert held off on conceding while ballots were still being counted. Speaking to reporters on the Capitol steps Monday night, she said her campaign had been curing ballots for more than a week.

"We still have military and overseas ballots that are coming in, and we'll see what that number is," she said, per CBS News Colorado.

After the election she also pointed to spending against her. "There was a lot of money dumped on my head," she said, according to NBC News, and she blamed the Senate for failing to pass House Republican bills.

Neither NBC News nor CBS News reported a concession from Boebert as of Friday afternoon. We'll add her response when she gives one.

Six years of headlines

Before Congress, Boebert was a gun-rights activist who owned Shooters Grill in Rifle, Colorado. She beat Rep. Scott Tipton in the 2020 GOP primary and became one of Donald Trump's loudest defenders on Capitol Hill.

That relationship cooled. In November 2025 she was one of four Republicans who signed the discharge petition to force a vote on releasing the Justice Department's Jeffrey Epstein files, against Trump's wishes, NBC News reported. When Trump went after Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky over the Epstein push, Boebert campaigned with Massie in May. Trump called her "dumb" and "weak-minded" and threatened to pull his endorsement, though he never did.

She was also known for clashes. She heckled President Biden at the 2022 State of the Union alongside then-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and in 2023 she and her date were escorted out of a "Beetlejuice" performance in Denver.

What happens next

Laubacher will be sworn in with the new Congress in January. Boebert stays in office until then. If Boebert's campaign seeks a recount or challenges the count, we'll update this post.

This is a developing story.