Dem
51
GOP
49
Control of the House is on knife's edge, so every House seat that is in the range R+5 to D+5 will be fought over tooth and nail in 2024. Also a few outside that range. One of those is CO-03, that of Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO). It is R+7 but Boebert made a fool of herself so many times that in 2022, it was the closest race in the entire House and her 2022 opponent, Adam Frisch, is running against her again in 2024, only better known and much better funded than last time. Joe Biden knows this and so yesterday he campaigned in Boebert's district. That was no accident. A flight from D.C. to Pueblo, CO, where Biden went, takes 4 hours each way, plus time to and from the airports. It is a substantial amount of time, even though the president doesn't have to stand in line at a TSA checkpoint for an hour.
Biden's nominal purpose there was to visit wind-tower manufacturer CS Wind, which benefited from green-energy subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act that Biden signed. He was there to tout the 850 new jobs there the law created. He could have gone to some company in Maryland or Virginia that is also creating new jobs as a result of the IRA, but he clearly chose CS Wind because it is in CO-03. It also indicates that one of Biden's pitches next year will be that the IRA will not only fight climate change, but more importantly (for some voters) will create new jobs in an industry with a sunny (and windy) future. Expect more presidential visits to companies that got subsidies from the IRA in the coming year.
Naturally, Frisch was standing next to Biden while he talked about the new jobs at CS Wind, right? Well, no. He was 175 miles away at a water summit talking to agricultural leaders about water management, drought resilience, and other issues of great importance to Colorado farmers. How come? Well, the district is R+7, so Biden is probably not so popular there and the more distance Frisch can put between himself and Biden, the better. Biden understands this, of course, so no hard feelings. He will do what he can to help Frisch, even if it means staying 175 miles away from him.
Also, the local media will be reporting on this "snub" in detail. When they interview Frisch, he is going to talk about how he doesn't care about national politics and is running entirely to improve the lives of the people in CO-03. And maybe he'll even mention that the current representative, Ms. Boebert, seems to spend her time grandstanding and fighting with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), rather than fighting for the people of Colorado. This whole "snub" thing could resonate with Republicans who then think: (1) Frisch doesn't like Biden and (2) Frisch would rather talk to Colorado farmers than to the president, so maybe he isn't so bad after all, even if he is a Democrat. We don't know for sure, but we suspect this whole story was carefully choreographed in advance by Frisch and Biden's campaign staff. (V)