Ex-Marine Reveals Plan to Defeat Lauren Boebert

A former marine who is vying to prevent Rep. Lauren Boebert winning re-election to Congress in November has described the House Republican as “a foot soldier for the mindset and the mob that unleashed an insurrection in the nation’s capital” on January 6, 2021.

Democrat Ike McCorkle and Boebert are among the candidates who will take part in their respective party primaries on June 25 to decide who will contest the November election to represent Colorado’s 4th congressional district.

Boebert currently represents the state’s 3rd congressional district, but announced in December she is seeking to switch to the 4^th district in November. Earlier this month Boebert secured the most support out of the GOP candidates vying to contest the 4^th district during a meeting in Pueblo, making her the clear favorite in the Republican primary.

Speaking to Newsweek, McCorkle, who spent 18 years in the Marine Corps, said he expects Boebert to win the GOP primary but is confident he can defeat her in November.

McCorkle’s website says polling by Gravis Marketing, funded by his own campaign, shows he is the Democratic frontrunner to face Boebert in November and also shows that the district’s voters would back him over Boebert by a seven-point margin.

He commented: “Our polling numbers speak for themselves. Despite her financial war chest and endorsement from [Donald] Trump, unaffiliated voters, and many Republicans are disgusted by her rhetoric and un-American brand of politics.

“Even in this conservative-leaning district, a candidate with the funding, name recognition, and work ethic—who speaks to the issues that voters actually care about— will beat her in November. I am that candidate.”

Newsweek contacted Boebert’s Washington D.C. office and representatives of her 2024 election campaign by email at 9 a.m. E.T. on Saturday. This article will be updated if the congresswoman decides to comment.

McCorkle stood for election in the 4th District in 2020 and 2022, losing both times to Republican Ken Buck, who is not running for re-election this year.

McCorkle was damning of Boebert’s decision to switch districts, which he claimed showed voters in her current district are rejecting her “extremist values.”

“It surprised no one in Colorado that Lauren Boebert cut and ran from a tough fight. The voters in her own backyard were tired of her ‘Ultra MAGA’ crusade and extremist values. In the Marine Corps, we learn to never leave another American behind, but that’s all Lauren Boebert has done with her time in Congress,” he said.

“She voted against healthcare for veterans, would slash budgets for Social Security and Medicare, and even turned down funding for renewable energy jobs right here in Colorado. Her friends and neighbors sent her packing for those reasons and many more, and she hasn’t found a warmer reception in Colorado’s 4th,” he added.

In a December 2023 Facebook video explaining her decision to switch districts, Boebert suggested she was being targeted by “dark money” in a move she described as “not fair to the 3rd District and the conservatives there who have fought so hard for our victories.”

McCorkle also suggested Boebert shared the “mindset” of the January 6, 2021 rioters, who stormed Congress in a bid to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory, falsely believing the contest was stolen by fraud.

“Let me be very clear. Lauren Boebert was a foot soldier for the mindset and the mob that unleashed an insurrection in the nation’s capital. After serving 18 years in the Marines my mission is preserving the democracy I fought so hard to defend in combat,” he said.

“I am running to ensure that Boebert’s brand of MAGA [Make America Great Again] extremism does not darken our doorstep again.”

Boebert, a supporter of former President Donald Trump, has denied any involvement in events surrounding the riot. “Let me be clear. I had no role in the planning or execution of any event that took place at the Capitol or anywhere in Washington, D.C., on January 6th,” the congresswoman said in a 2021 press release.

On January 6 this year, Boebert described those imprisoned after the Capitol riot as “political prisoners” and vowed to “fight for justice to be restored” in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Colorado’s 4^th congressional district became available after Buck, the former Republican incumbent, announced he would not be seeking re-election, then stepped down in March.

As a result, a special election will be held in June, though Boebert will not be taking part. The contest will be fought between Republican Greg Lopez, who is expected to act as a placeholder until November if he wins, and Democrat Trisha Calvarese, who also hopes to run in November.