Democrat Adam Fries announced Friday that he has called Democratic Rep. Lauren Bobert and conceded the race for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District.
Although there will be an automatic recount by the Colorado Secretary of State’s office, Frees said in a Facebook Live chat that he didn’t request a recount, doesn’t expect the results to change and doesn’t want to raise money for an essentially fruitless cause.
“The likelihood of this recount changing by more than a handful of votes is very small. Very, very small. It would be disingenuous and unethical for us or any other group to continue to raise false hopes and encourage recount fundraising,” Frisch said. “Colorado elections are safe, accurate and secure. Save your money for your groceries, your rent, your kids, and other important causes and organizations. I just got off the phone with Congressman Boebert. I called on her to officially concede these elections.”
Bobert acknowledged on Friday that she received Fries’s concession call, tweeting: “I’m looking forward to getting through the election season and focusing on conservative governance in the House majority. Time to get to work!”
As of Friday morning, with nearly all the votes tallied, Bobert led Fries by just 551 votes in what was considered a safe Republican district in western Colorado. In Colorado, any race decided by a margin of 0.5% or less of the top vote-getter is automatically counted. Today’s margin of 551 votes is about 0.34% of Bobert’s 163,758 votes.
According to information released by the Colorado Secretary of State’s office, all but one of the counties in the Western Slope region have completed casting ballots.
Under Colorado law, counties have until Nov. 29 to complete a risk mitigation audit, which involves double-checking a small number of ballots against recorded votes, and then until Nov. 30 to certify their final tallies Results.
Colorado Secretary of State Jenna Griswold has until Dec. 5 to certify the election and order any mandatory recounts. These recounts must be completed by December 13.
Bobert’s close race in a seat that has become more Republican since redistricting — former President Donald Trump would have carried it by 8 points in 2020 — surprised many political observers. Fries, a local businessman and former Aspen city councilman, made the election a referendum on the hardline lawmaker’s controversial tenure in Washington. Throughout the race, his campaign revolved around a trailer called “Beat Boebert Buggy,” and his Twitter bio describes Frisch as “Candidate to beat Lauren Boebert.”
Bobert suggested on CNN last week that voters’ lack of enthusiasm for her party’s candidates for governor and U.S. Senate had caused her race to be much closer than expected.
He noted that Gov. Jared Polis and Sen. Michael Bennett, both Democrats, were skating to re-election.
“I think Polis and Bennett definitely carried the ticket for the Democratic Party,” he told CNN.
“I don’t know if there wasn’t enough excitement about our top gubernatorial and Senate candidates or what happened there. But there was a big vote shift there,” he said.
Bobert was new to politics in 2020 when she upset Rep. Scott Tipton in a GOP primary. She found substantial support in Colorado by positioning herself as a close ally of Trump. Her bombastic political style, however, was controversial in Washington. Earlier this year, she shouted during President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address as he discussed aid to US veterans and in 2021, her baseless suggestion that Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar was a terrorist drew national attention. headlines. Bobert later apologized to “anyone in the Muslim community that I offended”.
A handful of races remain uninvited by CNN as of Friday morning, including several contests in California and the race for Alaska’s At-Large district, which will likely be decided by the state’s new ranked-choice voting system next week.
This story and title have been updated with additional developments.
