The two women vying to represent Colorado’s easternmost congressional district engaged in a feisty back-and-forth during a televised debate Monday night, touching on topics ranging from tariffs to the Iran war to diesel prices.
The candidates, incumbent Congresswoman Lauren Boebert and retired Navy rear admiral Eileen Laubacher, also waded into more arcane topics like Laubacher’s previous work history and Boebert’s vote against a bill to help veterans.
On the Iran war, which has driven up diesel prices to record levels in recent weeks, Boebert, a 39-year-old Republican, said she hadn’t wanted for the country to be at war but stands by President Donald Trump.
“I will stand by and say the president is commander in chief,” she said. “This was never about regime change — this was about making sure Iran never has a nuclear weapon.”
Laubacher, a 58-year-old Democrat who served in the Navy for 34 years, said the United States and Iran were in negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program when Trump bombed the country on Feb. 28.
“When negotiations are on the table, you do not start a war,” Laubacher said. “We should have given those serious efforts and instead of that, we go to war and we accidentally kill 150 girls (at an Iranian school).”
Boebert and Laubacher appeared together in the 9News studios for the hour-long debate — the only one scheduled in the district this fall. The election is Nov. 3 and thousands of ballots have already landed in Colorado voters’ mailboxes.
Democrats are taking their hardest run yet at the district that covers all or parts of 21 Colorado counties that stretch largely across the state’s Eastern Plains. Pieces of several populous Front Range counties, like Arapahoe, Douglas, Larimer and El Paso, are also in the 4th District.
The district has been reliably red for years, with no Democrat representing it since Betsy Markey left Congress in January 2011 after serving a single term.
But the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in August. It’s part of an aggressive play the national party has made this election cycle for House districts once considered out of reach, taking advantage of the president’s over the Iran war and stubbornly elevated prices.
The 4th Congressional District is dominated by farming and ranching, where Trump’s tariffs haven’t always been greeted with enthusiasm. Boebert on Monday insisted that Trump’s tariffs have been a “tool” in trying to secure the best trade deals for the United States.
But Laubacher said many of the Trump administration’s tariffs are not paid by foreign governments, but by Americans.
“It’s hurting our consumers,” she said. “Congress is supposed to be looking after consumers.”
Laubacher was challenged by the moderator as to why she only switched her party affiliation from Republican to Democrat in the last year or so. And whether her decision to do so was solely for the purposes of running for Congress.
Laubacher said her previous Republican affiliation was due to the fact that the party traditionally emphasized fiscal restraint, a strong military defense and support for individual liberties.
“I feel like we’ve gone from that party to a party that is barely recognizable,” she said of today’s GOP.
Boebert was asked about whether she has made a concerted effort to engage in less drama-filled and confrontational behavior, antics that landed her in hot water — and her name splashed across front pages everywhere — when she was tossed from a musical three years ago after fellow patrons objected to her conduct in public.
“I think it’s great to have an approach to disagree better,” Boebert said.
The women agreed on a couple of items: both said the loose border policy under President Biden was a disaster and both said it was a mistake for Trump to import Argentinian beef in an effort to bring down meat prices.
Laubacher holds a massive money advantage over Boebert. According to the most recent contributions and expenditures listed with the Federal Election Commission, which date back to the end of June, Laubacher had nearly 15 times as much money on hand as did her opponent.
The latest fundraising reports, covering the third quarter of 2026, are due on Thursday.
Neither candidate has lived for long in the 4th District.
Boebert moved there last year after leaving her previous congressional district (the 3rd) in a successful move to save her political career. Laubacher moved to Highlands Ranch in 2024, having lived in the neighboring 7th Congressional District, where she still owns a home.
