Adam Frisch, the Democrat vying for a 2024 rematch against U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, raised more than $500,000 within three days of announcing his candidacy last week in Colorado's 3rd Congressional District, his campaign said.
The former Aspen City Council member has received more than 15,000 individual donations since making his campaign official on Feb. 14, his campaign told Colorado Politics on Tuesday. That total includes donors from all 50 states and all 27 counties in the sprawling district, which covers most of the Western Slope, Pueblo County and Southern Colorado, a campaign spokeswoman said.
The Silt Republican defeated Frisch for a second term in the closest congressional race in the county last year, prevailing by 546 votes out of more than 325,000 ballots cast, for a margin of just over 1/10th of a percentage point.
Frisch cited the unexpectedly close race — branded a safe Republican seat by election forecasters, the contest didn't draw any heavy outside spending — as a reason for launching another run so early in the cycle.
Frisch said his campaign's powerhouse fundraising out of the gate meant that "we enter this race in a position of strength."
“The outpouring of support we have received this week is a testament to the fact that people in this district and across the nation are ready for Boebert’s angertainment circus to stop," he said in a statement. "The people of Western and Southern Colorado deserve a leader who will focus on the needs of the district to protect our water, create jobs, and achieve energy independence — not one like Boebert who is only focused on herself."
A Boebert campaign spokesman greeted word of Frisch's repeat run with a shrug.
"She looks forward to continuing to serve Colorado's 3rd Congressional District, regardless of whoever runs against her," Ben Stout said in an email after noting his boss's success passing legislation out of the Repblican-controlled House, some with bipartisan support.
House Republicans put Boebert at the top of a list of the most vulnerable GOP incumbents in next year's election, Punchbowl News reported Sunday, citing a presentation at the National Republican Congressional Committee's winter retreat in Key Biscayne, Florida.
A prodigious fundraiser herself, Boebert finished 2022 with about $770,000 in her campaign coffers, a little over twice the $365,000 Frisch had left over, according to year-end reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
While Frisch is counting on more Democratic-friendly voters turning out for next year's presidential election than did in last year's midterms, he doesn't have his party's nomination sewn up.
Gunnison veterinarian Debby Burnett, one of 12 Democrats who ran in the district last year, has also filed paperwork to campaign for the seat.
Boebert and Frisch both faced primaries last year, with Boebert overwhelmingly defeating former state Sen. Don Coram, R-Montrose, and Frisch winning the nomination over Pueblo community organizer Sol Sandoval by a razor-thin margin.
