Lauren Boebert elected to Republican House leadership position

House Republicans on Wednesday elected Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado to a leadership role in which she will advise them on policy.

Boebert, a right-wing extremist who has often created a spectacle on Capitol Hill, including flashing firearms during committee hearings and refusing to follow Capitol security procedures, will serve on the Republican Policy Committee, a group of 23 GOP members who come up with “conservative policy solutions” for the House Republican Conference. The chair of the committee is a member of House Republican leadership.

“I am committed to delivering on the conservative policies we promised the American people,” Boebert said in a news release. “I have a unique opportunity to be a voice for four states, all of whom share Western Conservative values. Being their advocate is a responsibility that I take seriously.”

House Republicans elected Boebert to the policy committee after she barely won reelection in her usually safely Republican district, which went for former President Donald Trump by 8 points in 2020. Boebert defeated Adam Frisch, her Democratic opponent, by just over 500 votes, stunning election analysts who didn’t consider the seat to be competitive. Due to Colorado election rules, a recount has been ordered, even though Frisch has already conceded the race.

Some Republican observers said Boebert’s brand of extremism, along with those of fellow Trump supporters Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Matt Gaetz of Florida, and outgoing Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, led the party to significantly underperform expectations in the 2022 midterms.

“Over the last two years we’ve watched her become a little bit more arrogant and condescending, and it kind of highlights her youth and immaturity. And I think that’s turned off a lot of voters,” Pueblo County Republican Party Chair Robert Leverington told Colorado Public Radio.

Zack Roday, a Republican strategist who worked on Colorado Republican Jon O’Dea’s failed Senate bid, told Time magazine that Trump’s influence is part of the reason “the Republican brand is deeply damaged.”

“That’s a seat that should not be in contention,” Roday said of Boebert’s district. “Too many people went into the ballot box in Colorado and across the country with inflation, the economy, and crime as top of mind. And then they voted directly against their interests by voting for Democrats. And there’s only one explanation for that, and that’s the cancer. That’s Donald Trump.”

Democrats are poised to use Boebert’s new position on the Republican Policy Committee to continue to brand the Republican Party as too extreme.

“Q: Who is the @HouseGOP looking to for policy leadership & ideas? A: MAGA Congresswoman @laurenboebert,” tweeted Jaime Harrison, chair of the Democratic National Committee.

“When Boebert is writing your policy, you know the MAGA inmates are officially running the asylum,” tweeted Jesse Ferguson, a Democratic strategist.

Democratic strategist and podcast host Sawyer Hackett said Boebert’s election to the policy committee is just the latest sign that Republicans did not learn from their mistakes after the 2022 election.

“Majorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar are getting back on their committees; Lauren Boebert was just elected to the GOP policy committee; the new Speaker won’t condemn Trump for meeting with a Nazi; this is the Republican Party after a catastrophic midterm underperformance,” Hackett tweeted.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.