10
Loading video...
By Giulia Carbonaro
Senior Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Representative Lauren Boebert, an ally of Donald Trump who was one of the Republicans to split with the president over the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, is projected to lose her seat in Colorado, according to CNN.
This would mean that along with fellow GOPers Marjorie Taylor Greene, Thomas Massie and Nancy Mace, she will not be a member of the new House which meets in January.
Democratic candidate Eileen Laubacher, a retired two-star United States Navy rear admiral who served on the National Security Council under President Joe Biden, will pull through the tight race with Boebert to win Colorado’s 4th District, CNN’s Decision Desk wrote. Laubacher already declared victory on Monday, though The Associated Press is yet to call the race officially.
Read More on News
The news agency gave Laubacher ahead with 48.8 percent of the vote over Boebert’s 47.9 percent, while libertarian candidate Douglas Mangeris had 3.3 percent of the vote.
"Over 17 months, I traveled 40,000 miles across all 21 counties. The message was clear: Coloradans are tired of political games, broken promises, and being ignored by Washington," Laubacher said in a statement Monday. "They want someone who will fight for them and deliver results."
Boebert has refused to concede the race. "The fat lady aint’s saying sung yet," she told reporters, as reported by TMZ. She added that not being a congresswoman could be "almost liberating."
On social media she wrote: "Election week isn’t finished! Let’s finish counting every vote and hearing every voice before declaring anything."
...
If results were to confirm the defeat of the conservative firebrand, who switched congressional districts in the 2024 election to improve her chances of staying in the House, Boebert will become the latest and last of the four Republicans who helped force a vote on releasing the so-called Epstein files to end up either out of office or soon-to-be out of office.
Former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia resigned from Congress on January 5, 2026. Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky lost his Republican primary to a Trump-endorsed candidate in May 2026. Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina lost the Republican gubernatorial primary in June and announced she will leave Congress when her House term ends.
Newsweek contacted the White House, Boebert’s campaign, Massie’s and Mace’s offices for comment by email on Tuesday morning. Greene was contacted by direct messaging on social media.
The Key Vote These Four Republicans Have in Common
In September 2025, Massie filed a discharge petition to force a vote on the Justice Department releasing all files related to the disgraced financier and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The success of the petition, backed by Democrats, depended on a few Republicans sympathetic to Massie’s goal and willing to go against Trump’s will, as the president was initially opposed to the release of all files.
These included Boebert and Mace, two close Trump allies. According to the New York Times, Trump summoned Boebert to a White House Situation Room meeting with then-Attorney General Pam Bondi and F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, to discuss the release of the files. Trump also talked about the vote on the phone with Boebert and Mace, the newspaper reported.
In a post shared on social media on November 12, 2025, Boebert thanked the White House for the meeting but added that she remained "committed to ensuring transparency for the American people." On the same day, Mace wrote on X that the Epstein petition was "deeply personal" for her, and, while pledging loyalty to Trump, swore that she "will NEVER abandon other survivors" of sexual assault.
In an interview released in September 2025, Greene said she was also contacted by Trump about the petition, but told the New York Times she denied changing her vote: "I told them, ‘You didn’t get me elected. I do not work for you; I work for my district.’"
...
On November 12, 2025, Massie’s petition received the minimum-required 218 signatures needed, including those of 214 Democrats and four Republicans—Boebert, Mace, Massie, and Greene.
The House then voted 427-1 to pass the act on November 18, 2025, with Representative Clay Higgins of Louisiana, a Republican, the only one to oppose it.
The Senate passed the bill unanimously the day after, on November 18, 2025, and Trump, who had initially been opposed to the release of the files but supported the release telling House Republicans "we have nothing to hide," signed it into law. The bill gave the Justice Department 30 days to release all the documents.
Instead, the Justice Department released only a first batch of documents on December 19, 2025, sparking bipartisan criticism by failing to disclose all files as the law demanded. The delay in the files rollout, and the heavy redactions made to hundreds of pages, spurred a backlash against the Trump administration. All files available, amounting to over 3.5 million pages, were released by January 30, 2026.
All Four Could Be Out by January 2027
The four Republicans who defied Trump to force a vote on the Epstein files’ release share another thing in common: all four have had a tumultuous relationship with the president, either for years or since his return to the White House.
Massie has been Trump’s most consistent Republican critic of the four. A libertarian-leaning conservative, the Kentucky congressman has repeatedly opposed the president’s spending plans, government expansion and attempts to exert control over Congress. His criticism of Trump dates back to his first mandate, when the congressman opposed his pandemic relief bill, prompting the president to demand that Republicans remove him from the party.
Last year, he voted against Trump’s flagship tax and spending legislation, arguing against excessive federal spending and borrowing, and this year he challenged the president’s authority to undertake military action without congressional approval.
Similarly, Mace fell out with the president after the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021, with the congresswoman saying his legacy had been wiped out and that he should be held accountable for the attack. Despite this, she eventually endorsed Trump in the 2024 presidential race. This year, she has also criticized the administration’s handling of the Iran war, threatening to support restrictions on Trump’s military powers.
Greene turned critical of the Trump administration over its support for Israel and Ukraine, accusing the president of spending too much on foreign affairs while neglecting Americans facing inflation, high housing costs and healthcare affordability challenges.
Unlike the two, Boebert has not experienced a total rupture with Trump, but the two had something of a falling out in May, when the president called the congresswoman "dumb" and "weak-minded" after she defied him by campaigning for Massie in Kentucky.
Despite this lashing out, Trump endorsed Boebert in her run for reelection in Colorado on November 3, calling her an "America First Patriot" and a "MAGA Warrior" who was "doing an incredible job representing Colorado’s 4th Congressional District."
He added: "Lauren Boebert has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election. GET OUT AND VOTE FOR LAUREN — SHE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!"
Massie’s and Mace’s terms both end on January 3, 2027, while Boebert could be out of the House by the same date if she loses to Laubacher.
Contact Newsweek editors for this story: Robert Greenall and Tobias Meyjes
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines