President Joe Biden is taking on Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) directly, promoting his economic vision in her congressional district as she stares at a competitive reelection bid. Her opponent, Democrat Adam Frisch, is taking a more guarded approach.
The president toured the world’s largest wind tower manufacturer on Wednesday, located in the city of Pueblo, which is in Boebert’s district. During his remarks, the president credited the expansion of the wind turbine facility to Democrats’ 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which included massive spending on renewable energy and drew a deep contrast to the Colorado Republican representing the district, who has called for the repeal of the sweeping climate bill.
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"She called this law a massive failure," Biden said to a crowd Wednesday after flippantly making the sign of the cross at the mention of Boebert's name. "Y'all know you're part of a massive failure? ... Tell that to the local economy who is going to benefit from these investments."
But another Democrat looking to represent Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District had a distinctly different message than the president as he looks to topple the incumbent in 2024.
“No big set of legislation is 100% supported by the vast majority of people, but to me, it was a net positive,” Frisch told the Washington Examiner in a brief interview. “There was some stuff in there that I would rather not have in there.”
Frisch, a Democrat who shocked Washington after coming close to unseating Boebert during the 2022 elections, is launching another election bid for this cycle. The former Aspen city councilman and financial trader says he’s running to counter the extremism in Boebert’s politics while maintaining the image of a conservative Democrat.
Touting an “all-of-the-above” energy approach that includes continuing the production of fossil fuels, such as natural gas, Frisch said while he would’ve voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, he also would have supported House Republicans’ sweeping energy bill, otherwise known as H.R. 1. The bill, which passed the lower chamber in March, would repeal large portions of the Inflation Reduction Act and address Republican priorities, such as mandating more oil and gas lease sales and making it harder for states to block the construction of interstate pipelines. The legislation stalled in the Senate.
“I thought [H.R. 1] was a net positive for the district, even though, like all these big bills, I would’ve loved to see some things different,” Frisch said.
Frisch’s comments represent a departure from the messaging used by Democrats looking to win national races. The district he’s vying for voted for President Donald Trump by more than 5 percentage points in 2020.
While the president has been eager to tout Democratic efforts to boost renewables, Frisch is taking a more centrist approach by stressing the need for the United States to increase domestic production of natural gas while supporting the transition to greener sources of energy.
“When I mean all of the above, I truly mean that we need to figure out a way to make sure that energy is affordable and it’s reliable,” he said.
The Colorado Democrat, who was an independent for over 20 years, said he would be avoiding the mudslinging often seen in competitive districts, although he noted that other outside groups would engage in the practice. Frisch said he'll be focusing on the issue of conserving water, as the drought-stricken Colorado River, one of the most important water sources for the state, creates a conundrum for state officials.
Boebert, whose brand has been centered in media attention, has attracted controversy on numerous fronts, making light of climate change and introducing a bill in 2021 that would block President Joe Biden from having to rejoin the Paris climate accords.
More recently, Boebert received flak after she and her date were kicked out of a Denver theater in September for vaping and groping, for which she has since apologized.
But staring down the barrel of a tough reelection bid, the lawmaker is digging deeper into policy — most notably, energy and environmental work. Boebert was able to secure two bills in Republicans’ marquee energy legislation that were meant to extend the length of drilling permits and shorten the length of time that a party can file a petition for judicial review of a major infrastructure project. The congresswoman was also able to secure an amendment in an appropriations bill that would counter a rule from the Bureau of Land Management revising the agency’s oil and gas leasing regulations as it relates to royalty rates, rentals, and minimum bids, a regulation that Boebert argued would enact “burdensome costs and regulations.”
These bills, which have passed the House, did not pass the upper chamber and have not been signed into law.
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“Instead of touting the poorly named Inflation Reduction Act that mandated Green New Deal policies which cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars, Joe Biden should work with me to get my Pueblo Jobs Act signed into law that will create 1,000 new jobs in Pueblo and help revitalize southern Colorado's economy,” Boebert said in a statement to the Washington Examiner, responding to Biden's expected remarks. The bill mentioned in the statement would aim to support jobs in the city as the Pueblo Chemical Depot, a chemical weapons storage site, finishes its closure process.
Earlier this year, CS Wind broke ground on a $200 million expansion to the Pueblo facility, creating 850 new jobs in the district, according to a fact sheet provided by the White House. Wind accounts for 28% of the state’s electric grid, according to the Energy Department.