Colorado's Fourth Congressional District was one of those Republican strongholds that was supposed to be safe this cycle that instead turned out to be a true battleground. Two years ago, Rep. Lauren Boebert won election by more than 11 points after moving to the district. This time around, Boebert is in the fight for her political life.
As of Thursday morning, Boebert trails Democrat Eileen Laubaucher by about 2,500 votes out of nearly 350,000 that have been counted. The latest estimate is that represents about 93 percent of all votes cast, so it's still too close to call, but there's a very real possibility that Boebert will be sent packing once all the votes have been tallied.
Boebert has been a reliable champion for the Second Amendment in her time in office, while Laubacher is a near total cipher when it comes to the right to keep and bear arms. Neither the Second Amendment nor gun control are mentioned anywhere on her campaign website, and she apparently didn't talk about those issues on the campaign trail or with the media either.
There's no documented endorsement from a major gun-control organization, either. The only hint of her views comes from her campaign's own messaging about the Libertarian candidate in the race. From Laubacher's media kit:
Likely voters in Colorado's 4th Congressional District with a Democratic support score of 0-19 and a turnout score of 60+ should know where Libertarian candidate Douglas Mangeris stands on key issues and that he’s too conservative for Colorado voters.
Opposes Colorado gun restrictions.
Opposes income taxes on workers.
Supports congressional term limits and reducing politicians' pay.
Has called for the deportation of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar
If Laubacher dinged Mangeris for opposing Colorado's gun restrictions, that certainly suggests that she supports some or all of them, including the state's new permit-to-purchase scheme for most centerfire, semi-automatic long guns, restrictions on "large capacity" magazines, a mandatory three-day waiting period on all firearm transfers, and an expansive "red flag" law that allows institutions as well as individuals to apply for an Extreme Risk Protection Order.
Does Laubacher want to see similar laws imposed at the federal level? We don't know, because she hasn't bothered to tell voters... and apparently no reporter bothered to ask.
That's a notable omission for someone running to represent a district that includes plenty of rural communities where gun ownership is a way of life. You'd think that somewhere along the way, a reporter, debate moderator, or even a curious voter would have pressed her to explain where she stands on an issue that matters to so many of her prospective constituents.
If Laubacher manages to pull off the upset, I suspect we'll find out where she stands soon enough, and my guess is that the Second Amendment supporters in CO-04 aren't going to be happy with her positions.
Given the size of the Democrat majority in the House next year, Laubacher isn't going to be the deciding vote on any gun control bill if she does win the election. Boebert's defeat, though, would still be a significant loss for Second Amendment supporters in Congress.
The voters of Colorado's Fourth District deserved an answer about Laubacher's views on the right to keep and bear arms long before Election Day. They shouldn't have to wait for the possibility of her casting votes to discover where she stands on one of their fundamental constitutional rights. Then again, maybe Laubacher's silence on the issue tells us all we need to know about what she thinks about the Second Amendment and the gun owners she might soon represent in Congress.