DENVER – Though the 3rd Congressional District race in Colorado is headed to an automatic recount, Democrat Adam Frisch called Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert Friday to concede the race, in which he currently trails by 554 votes.
Frisch said the recount is not likely to give him the votes needed to overtake Boebert and said he respects Colorado’s elections are safe, secure and fair and that he wouldn’t question the results.
Frisch called the chances of a recount putting him in the lead “very, very small” and said it would be disingenuous and unethical for his campaign or any other group to try to continue raising money for his campaign or for a recount.
“Please save your money for your groceries, your rent, your children, and other important causes and organizations,” Frisch said in a Zoom news conference at 11 a.m. Friday.
Frisch praised his family, volunteers, supporters and those who voted for him – turning a district that favors Republicans by 9% and which Donald Trump won handily into one in which he might lose by only a few hundred votes. Frisch said he felt his campaign was successful in building a “deep, independent coalition” that can be a model for Democrats across the country.
“Extremist politicians can be defeated. Loud voices are not invincible, and shouting doesn’t solve problems,” Frisch said. “We have more in common than we differ. Our great country must get back to normalcy. America is tired of the circus, tired of the lack of respect for institutions and our democracy, and a lack of civility.”
But he also dug into Democrats for abandoning rural and working-class America, noting that the party needs to be able to win those voters over again in order to break the division in the country and win more seats.
“Monopolies are bad in business but bad in politics as well,” Frisch said. “Democrats have abandoned rural and working-class America, and Republicans have had a monopoly.”
"We told the country that the urban and rural divide plaguing the Democratic party over the past decades does not have to continue," Frisch added. "Denver and D.C. politicians need to demonstrate and understanding of the issues that face rural America and celebrate, not disrespect, the rural folks across the country."
Frisch, a former Aspen City Councilman, had run a race based on those ideals – eschewing painting himself as a deep blue Democrat but rather someone who would work across party lines and focus on what matters to voters on the Western Slope, southern Colorado and Pueblo areas. His campaign also filed paperwork for 2024 in the 3rd Congressional District race on Friday.
There are only a few hundred ballots left to be added to the official tally Friday, but the race is likely to remain in automatic recount territory — the difference between the two candidates being equal to or less than 0.5% of the leader’s vote count.
And both Frisch and Boebert acknowledged that the recount was not likely to vastly change the outcome. Boebert, in a video she tweeted late Thursday, had already claimed victory.
Past recounts in Colorado have resulted in far fewer votes being adjusted than anything that can affect the current outcome we’re seeing tonight in this race,” she said. “So, come January, you can be certain of two things: I will be sworn in for my second term as your congresswoman, and Republicans can finally turn Pelosi’s House back into the people’s House.”
A Boebert victory would give Republicans 219 House seats currently to the Democrats’ 212, with four seats left to be decided. Democrats would hold a 5-3 advantage over Republicans in terms of the number of seats they hold in Colorado. An automatic recount would have to be completed by Dec. 13.
This is a developing news story and will be updated.
