Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert and her Democratic challenger, Eileen Laubacher, sparred Monday night in their first and only debate before the November election.
This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org.
The debate was moderated by Kyle Clark of 9News, who sometimes had to jump in to gain control, as verbal attacks flew and the candidates talked over one another.
The attacks, at times, seemed like throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what would stick.
Boebert accused Laubacher of several things: being a foreign agent, involvement in the Hunter Biden laptop cover up, being responsible for the Gaza floating pier, and supporting Flock cameras.
Laubacher parried that she worked briefly as a consultant for K2, a startup to help rebuild from Maui fires, and was not a foreign agent. She said the media misreported that she took part in a meeting involving Hunter Biden’s laptop, but she was not involved with the laptop investigation at all. Laubacher also gave Boebert a geography lesson, saying that she worked on South Asia policy in the President Joe Biden’s White House and not on Gaza policy, and that she did not support Flock cameras.
Laubacher threw her own punches, asking why Boebert voted against four bills that support veterans, including the PACT Act, and asked why Boebert voted for the Iran war.
“If you believe no war is worth it, then you should be voting against this war,” said Laubacher. “No one knows more than I the cost of war.”
Boebert defended President Donald Trump’s actions as necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
In both her opening and closing remarks, Boebert said the voters know her.
“I represent you. I serve you. I fight for you each and every day,” Boebert said. “I deliver results and some may say that I get loud, but when I get loud that means that Lamar is heard, Burlington is heard, Holyoke is heard. And results are delivered on your behalf.”
Boebert said during her six years in office, she has learned on the job, working across the aisle, something she didn’t necessarily do when she first started in Congress.
Laubacher is a retired Navy rear admiral who served in the military for over 30 years, including a deployment to Afghanistan, a tour as a defense attache in India and a stint at the National Security Council. She’s a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy.
Laubacher said she was called again to service because of the chaos in Washington D.C., and the extremes in both parties.
“I’m someone who understands that we need to push back on both parties and the extreme edges of them, and find ways to work together,” Laubacher said. “Find ways to actually deliver for the people of this district. That’s our job. That’s the job that I want.”
But when pressed by Clark for names of who those Democratic extremists are, Laubacher wouldn’t provide specifics. Laubacher also struggled to explain her decision to become a Democrat in 2024 after being a longtime Republican and briefly an unaffiliated voter.
Boebert is a former restaurant owner who was first elected in 2020 to represent the 3rd Congressional District. After narrowly winning reelection by 546 votes in 2022, she switched districts and narrowly won reelection in the 4th Congressional District, which covers most of Douglas County and the eastern half of Colorado.
The move to the 4th District surprised many, but was politically astute. Boebert cleared a wide primary field, but won by a smaller margin in 2024 than previous occupants. It’s considered a safe Republican seat.
The firebrand conservative has had a rocky tenure in the House, from almost having her committee assignment stripped after suggesting Rep. Ilhan Omar was a terrorist and criticism for an off-color Halloween costume to heckling President Joe Biden during the State of the Union address to bearing the wrath of President Donald Trump for signing a discharge petition on a bill to release the Epstein files and campaigning for GOP Rep. Thomas Massie.
This is Laubacher’s first run for office. The former registered Republican turned independent and finally Democrat has pitched herself as a drama-free moderate, who will listen to all corners of the district. During the debate, Laubacher struggled to explain what the tipping point was that made her switch her party affiliation.
She’s vastly outraised and has outspent Boebert this cycle in her bid to oust Boebert, according to campaign finance reports.
Here are the main takeaways from the debate:
Health care
Boebert defended her vote last year for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, otherwise known as the Working Families Tax Cut, and argued that rural hospitals are suffering from state cuts to Medicaid, not federal cuts. She also touted her support for a $50 billion fund for rural hospitals that was part of the OBBB.
“I want our rural hospitals to have a fighting chance,” Boebert said.
Laubacher said she’s heard from rural hospital CEOs that if things don’t change “dramatically” in five years, “there will be no rural hospitals on the Eastern Plains.”
Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert winks at someone off camera while debating Democratic challenger Eileen Laubacher for Colorado’s 4th Congressional District during a debate hosted by 9NEWS on Oct. 12, 2026, in Denver. (Cheney Orr, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)
Laubacher said the rural hospital fund has its own challenges. It has to be used for something new and innovative, and not for something they’re already doing.
“They don’t need band-aid solutions, they need real help,” Laubacher said.
Laubacher also said she’s against the idea of Medicare for All because of its negative impact on rural hospitals. She supports restoring the Affordable Care Act subsidies so people can afford health care, but said Congress also needs to look at transforming the health care payer system.
Affordability via tariffs, Iran and housing reform
One area of agreement between the two candidates: They both oppose Trump’s move to import more foreign beef.
But they disagreed on the impact from the Trump administration’s tariffs, the Iran war and other issues that impact affordability.
“I think President Trump is using tariffs as a tool,” Boebert said, noting that at the founding of the U.S., it was not income tax that funded the government, but tariffs. “It would be great to get back to abolishing that federal income tax and only charging other countries for our goods and services.”
Boebert also noted that Laubacher supported tariffs in the first Trump administration.
Laubacher replied some tariffs can be effective, like pushing back on China and the semiconductor industry, but that tariffs in Trump’s second administration, like the ones imposed on Canada, aren’t being paid by foreign governments.
Democrat Eileen Laubacher, who is challenging incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert for Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, responds during a debate hosted by 9NEWS on Oct. 12, 2026, in Denver. (Cheney Orr, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)
“Those are being paid by Americans, by American small businesses, by American consumers. That’s who this is hurting,” Laubacher said. “The tariffs that you are supporting are not used like a scalpel, are not used in a way that is effective in making a difference. It is hurting people.”
Boebert noted that the Iran war has been “detrimental on many levels” and said she wants it to come to an end. Still, she countered that voting for an Iran war powers resolution, which she called a “symbolic procedural vote,” is not going to end the war.
Laubacher said that was an example of Boebert not understanding the job of a representative.
“Your job is to vote whether or not you think the war should continue,” Laubacher countered. “You can say all day long that you don’t want there to be war and you want it to draw to a close, but you’re not using your voice to raise the voices of the people that you describe in Congressional District 4 who are opposed to this war.”
Boebert and Laubacher also differed on Trump’s plan to import Russian diesel.
Boebert said she supports the plan, saying Trump is doing all he can to lower prices. Laubacher opposes the idea, saying it will support Russian President Vladimir Putin and his war on Ukraine when the U.S. could import more diesel from a partner, like Canada.
Boebert was also challenged on why she voted against a bipartisan housing reform package, called the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, aimed to increase housing inventory and help lower home prices. Boebert was the only Colorado congressional member to vote against the bill.
She said while she liked the original House version of the bill, her objection centered on a temporary ban on a central bank digital currency, rather than an outright ban, that was included in the final bill.
Immigration
Boebert said she supports legal immigration, but added: “If you broke our country’s laws to come here illegally, then you should answer to that and go back home.”
She noted people are making use of a self-deportation program.
When it came to how mass deportation was being conducted in the country, Boebert admitted “there have been some concerning moments,” but that Trump has changed leadership at the Department of Homeland Security.
Laubacher gave credit to Trump for securing the southern border, but had harsh words for the rest of the administration’s immigration policies.
While she supports deporting violent criminals, Laubacher called for reforms that would give people a path to legal status or citizenship.
Trump
Boebert has long been a Trump supporter, and features his endorsement on her campaign website.
When asked if she was comfortable with Trump and his family enriching themselves during this administration, she noted Trump was a billionaire before he came to office.
“If there’s anything illegal, then he’ll have to answer to that,” she said. “I’ve never been one to cover up for any wrongdoings on either side of the aisle, and I have no problem standing up to even my own party.”
She used her time to accuse Laubacher of enriching her family through the “military industrial complex.”
Laubacher’s husband works for Lockheed Martin. She explained her husband has a 401(k) through work, but if elected they would put everything in a blind trust and make sure nothing was getting traded. Laubacher said she would also support a ban on congressional members from trading stocks.
Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, left, and Democratic challenger Eileen Laubacher, who are running to represent Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, engage in a debate hosted by 9NEWS on Oct. 12, 2026, in Denver. (Cheney Orr, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)
When the subject of impeachment came up, Boebert, who introduced articles of impeachment against former President Joe Biden for violating his oath of office, said Trump has not violated the oath of office.
Laubacher said “it is possible” that Trump has violated his oath, “but we should not be spending time trying to impeach the president. That is not what the people of this district need or deserve.”
Trump was impeached twice by the House in his first term in office, but was not convicted by the Senate either time.
Colorado Sun staff writer Jesse Paul contributed to this report.
This story was produced by the Capitol News Alliance, a collaboration between KUNC News, Colorado Public Radio, Rocky Mountain PBS, and The Colorado Sun, with support from news outlets throughout the state. Startup funding for the Alliance was provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Type of Story: News Service
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