An automatic recount confirmed that Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert narrowly won her bid for re-election, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced Monday evening.
NBC News’ Decision Desk has projected Boebert, a far-right lawmaker, the winner of the House race against her Democratic challenger, Adam Frisch. The recount found a four-vote difference from November’s result, with Boebert getting 546 more votes than Frisch.
With all House races from the midterm elections now called, Republicans are projected to have a nine-seat majority in the new House next month: 222 GOP members to Democrats’ 213.
Boebert, a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump, found herself in an unexpectedly tight race in a district rated as solidly Republican before the November midterm elections by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
Under Colorado law, a recount is triggered if the difference between the top two vote-getters is less than or equal to 0.5% of total votes cast.
Frisch conceded the tight race against Boebert in the days after the election, saying that although he expected the close vote count to lead to an automatic recount under state law, he did not think the results would change.
“The likelihood of this recount changing more than a handful of votes is very small, very, very small,” Frisch said when he announced his concession. “It would be disingenuous and unethical for us or any other group — any other group — to continue to raise false hope and raise fundraising for a recount.”
The close contest came as a surprise after Boebert handily defeated a more moderate primary opponent in June. Trump won the district twice, capturing 53.1% of the vote in 2016 and 52.9% four years later.
Boebert gained attention for a series of inflammatory remarks in her first term in Congress, and she is among a group of Republican lawmakers who have repeatedly pushed Trump’s false claims of fraud in the 2020 election.
