Democrats are spending millions to lose to Boebert. And putting chances to flip the house in jeopardy in the process.
Lauren Boebert raised $90,000 last quarter. She has $219,000 in the bank — less than what most competitive campaigns spend in a week of digital ads. By any conventional measure, she should be in full panic mode.
She is not panicking. Because she doesn’t need money to win Colorado’s 4th Congressional District. She and the Republican Majority in the US House are thrilled to have Democrats keep doing exactly what they’re doing — pouring millions into a race she’s almost certainly going to win anyway, while the seat that could actually flip the House sits underfunded one district over.
At one point, three Democrats were battling each other in CO-4’s June 30th primary. Together, they’ve raised over $5 million — frontrunner Eileen Laubacher, a retired Navy Rear Admiral, pulled in $2.1 million in Q1 2026 alone and sits on $3.1 million cash on hand, more than any other congressional candidate in Colorado from either party.It looks like a serious challenge. The reality is it is a serious mistake. CO-4 carries a Cook PVI of R+9 — a voter index rating indicating it’s the most Republican-leaning district in Colorado. Even a broke, scandal-scarred Boebert is heavily favored in a district that voted nine points more Republican than the national average in the last two presidential cycles.
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Take direct action to target vulnerable Republicans. Our campaign to flip 5 seats is focused on targeting Republican incumbents and tying them to Trump’s abuse of power and corruption. We can take power together. Support our campaign now.
CO-4 is the latest chapter in a constantly repeating story for Democrats. Amy McGrath raised $94 Million in 2020, lost by 20 points. Val Demings raised $78 Million in 2022, lost by 16. Collin Allred raised $92 Million, lost by 9. In the special election to backfill Marjorie Taylor Greene’s old GA Congressional seat, Democrats poured more than $6 Million (compared to Republican’s $1.3M) and still the Democrat went on to lose by almost 12 points.
The formula is almost always the same: a villain Republicans love (Boebert, Cruz, DeSantis), a compelling challenger, a flood of national attention, and a fundraising surge driven by outrage. The villain wins anyway. The money disappears. Nothing changes. And next cycle, the same thing happens. Big names, big money, safe Republican seats — and nothing to show for it. It’s time for a smarter strategy.
What if you could know — before giving a single dollar — exactly which races were truly winnable, which seats could shift the balance of power, and where your money would make the most difference? That’s exactly what we have built at Flip the States.
Using a proprietary algorithm drawing on 15 years of district-level data — 15+ years of voting data from all 50 states, 43,000+ races, 27 data points, everything from incumbency and race cost to historical trend lines and donation impact — we produce an Impact Score for every federal and state legislative race in the country. We rank where Democrats can win, not based on who’s in the news cycle, but based on the evidence.
In 2026, accordingly to our data-backed smarter strategy, Democrats shouldn’t get distracted by Boebert and CO-4, but rather look right next door to a race Democrats can actually win, CO-8. It’s a race where those extra dollars will matter, and where a flipped seat will help flip the House. Republican incumbent Gabe Evans won Colorado’s 8th District in 2024 by fewer than 2,500 votes — under one percentage point. This is not a stretch goal. This is a gettable seat in a true toss-up district. CO-8 scores high on our Impact Score. CO-4 does not.
Donate today to our Flip 5 to Take The House Campaign
Take direct action to target vulnerable Republicans. Our campaign to flip 5 seats is focused on targeting Republican incumbents and tying them to Trump’s abuse of power and corruption. We can take power together. Support our campaign now.
Evans knows exactly how exposed he is. He’s built a $3.4 million war chest — the largest of any Colorado Republican. His Democratic challengers are competitive, but they’ve already burned nearly $3 million fighting each other in the primary. Whoever survives will enter the general election at a cash disadvantage, in a race that will be decided by hundreds of votes and won or lost on resources. Democrats fighting for CO-8 will need every advantage they can get. Right now, those dollars are going to CO-4 instead.
In 2024, our algorithm outperformed the DCCC in identifying competitive races and seats that actually flipped. Democrats need just three seats to take back the House — and with it, a real check on unchecked power. Flip the States has already identified 11 Republican-held districts with Impact Scores above 90. These are not wishful targets. These are races where the margins were razor-thin, the trends are moving, and every dollar makes a measurable difference.
Boebert is counting on your outrage. Every dollar sent to CO-4 is a dollar that doesn’t flip CO-8, doesn’t retire Gabe Evans, doesn’t take back the House. It feels satisfying. It accomplishes nothing.
The Democratic establishment isn’t going to fix this. The party is optimized for raising money, not for winning. Flip the States is built to do something different: target the races that matter, deploy dollars where they move outcomes, and take back power.
Stop giving Boebert what she wants. Fund the races that matter. Join Flip the States.
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