Scoop: Centrist Democrats target Boebert and Van Orden in 2024
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Reps. Lauren Boebert and Derrick Van Orden. Photos: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images.
The centrist Blue Dog Coalition is backing challengers to high-profile Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Derrick Van Orden (R-Wisc.) in its first endorsements of 2024.
Why it matters: The group of Congress' most right-leaning Democrats is trying to rebuild its ranks after successive election losses and a schism in January decimated its membership.
Driving the news: The Blue Dogs are endorsing Adam Frisch and Rebecca Cooke – who are running to take on Boebert and Van Orden, respectively – according to a press release first shared with Axios.
- Frisch, a city councilor from Aspen, nearly unseated Boebert last year in what would have been the upset of the cycle. He's raising enormous sums in his rematch bid, capitalizing on Boebert's infamy in liberal circles.
- Cooke, a small business owner who served on Wisconsin's Economic Development Corporation, finished a close second in the Democratic primary in her district last year behind state Sen. Brad Pfaff.
What they're saying: Blue Dogs co-chairs Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) said in a statement that Frisch and Cooke "are America's best shot at defeating two of the weirdest far-right extremists in Congress."
- The trio said they are "prepared to do everything we can to help them win."
- Both candidates released statements praising the group, with Frisch saying they "listen and are loyal to their districts," and Cooke applauding their "commitment to getting things done."
Zoom out: Boebert and Van Orden, who both represent districts former President Trump won in 2020, share a scandal-prone nature that has made them both top targets for Democrats.
- In addition to the legal troubles she faced before entering Congress and her hardline politics and incendiary antics as a lawmaker, Boebert was kicked out of a showing of "Beetlejuice" after security footage showed her and her date behaving inappropriately.
- Van Orden, who was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 before being elected last year, has grabbed headlines for two separate profanity-laced tirades aimed at teenage Senate pages and Biden administration foreign policy officials.
