Lauren Boebert primary live: Congresswoman fights for election in new district

Here’s John Bowden’s latest dispatch from Colorado, where GOP candidate Richard Holtorf was forced to head home to tackle a crisis sparked by dry wells on his farmland on the eve of the vote.

Here’s the candidate’s latest social media offerings, a last-ditch appeal for support and an endorsement from He Who Shall Not Be Named:

For balance, here’s what her rivals have to say:

Lauren Boebert danced in red stilettos down a gauntlet of Republicans wielding foam pool noodles in a faux “American Gladiator” event during one of the more surreal moments of a final campaign appearance Thursday – before voters in a district she’s just moved to decide whether they want her representing them in Congress.

Her opponent in Colorado’s 4th congressional district, Richard Holtorf, pawed the ground with his foot before revving up to run the same gauntlet at full speed – presumably in a nod to the livestock his family has reared for three generations.

He’d ditched his trademark cowboy hat for a “Freedom” baseball cap.

The two congressional hopefuls were participating in the good-natured pool noodle run during the candidate forum for Douglas County Republicans’ Freedom Fellowship.

Here’s Sheila Flynn to explain.

Meanwhile, in New York, Democrat Jamaal Bowman’s struggle against an AIPAC-supported primary challenger is about race, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and the future of “The Squad”.

Eric Garcia reports on a campaign that has led to some shocking accusations.

Colorado’s congressional primaries could end up bringing about the downfall of one of the US’s most scandal-plagued members of the House of Representatives: Lauren Boebert.

If it doesn’t it will be because, as one of her opponents put it, there were too many horses in the race.

Voters will decide the fate of Boebert and other races across the state today.

One way or another, they make their judgment on the long, strange road the far-right Republican congresswoman has taken since her 2022 defeat, after which she became further embroiled in scandals and fled her district.

Here are John Bowden and Sheila Flynn to set the scene.

Hello and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of an all-important primary day in the United States.

Colorado Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert faces voters in her state’s GOP primary election on Tuesday after she fled a tough re-election race to run in a more right-leaning district, only to suffer a scandal-hit campaign and accusations of carpet-bagging.

Boebert, who first planted her MAGA flag in the House of Representatives in 2020, has amassed conservative clout with her attention-seeking antics on Capitol Hill but faced more than her fair share of public embarrassments and setbacks.

She has insisted she made the switch to compete for outgoing Ken Buck’s old seat to ensure another Republican could win her old district, although she almost lost it in 2022, blaming “Hollywood elites” for targeting her.

On Tuesday, Boebert is up against a number of more traditional GOP rivals, including former state senator Jerry Sonnenberg, current state representatives Mike Lynch and Richard Holtorf and parental rights advocate Deborah Flora.

New York Democratic congressman Jamaal Bowman, one of the most liberal members of Congress, is meanwhile also facing a strong primary challenge on Tuesday from moderate county executive George Latimer in a Big Apple race that has turned a spotlight on the party’s divides over the Israel-Hamas war.