Rep. Lauren Boebert spent Friday saying goodbye. By Friday night, she was back on X with a parting shot about her loss, and one word in it has the internet in stitches.
“Unfortunately, we were all wrong, races can be baught,” the Colorado Republican wrote at 9:27 p.m. Eastern on Nov. 13, hours after she conceded her 4th Congressional District seat to Democrat Eileen Laubacher.
Yes, “baught.”
A concession, then a jab
The post was a reply to a supporter who had praised Boebert as “a breath of fresh air” among “stuffy uptight political types” and said he would miss her. Boebert’s answer did not name Laubacher, a donor or any specific spending. It said only that races can be “baught.”
It came the same day she conceded. In a video posted to X, Boebert said she had called Laubacher to congratulate her. “I just called Eileen Laubacher to congratulate her,” she said, according to the Associated Press, adding that “the people of our district are more important than party politics” and promising a smooth handoff of constituent cases and records.
I am home. I am happy. I have peace. … This is not the last you will be hearing from me.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, in her concession video
In the post that carried the video, she wrote, “My time to be sent to another unknown place is now. God’s got this. He’s got US! Jesus is Lord and I am proud to live in the greatest country on earth! Stay Tuned!” The Independent reported that the post passed 1 million views by Saturday and was quickly flooded with mocking replies.
She had already been blaming the money
The “baught” line didn’t come out of nowhere. Earlier in the week, while Laubacher was at new-member orientation on Capitol Hill and the race was still uncalled, Boebert told reporters outside the Capitol that spending had sunk her campaign, Colorado Newsline reported.
There’s a lot of money dumped on my head, and, I mean, I refuse to spend money like that again. I think it’s gross how much we dump into these races, and I was actually hoping to prove that seats just can’t be bought, but maybe I’ll be proven wrong. We’ll see.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, as quoted by Colorado Newsline
The money gap was real, and it was legal. Laubacher raised more than $13 million during the cycle compared with Boebert’s roughly $1.2 million, according to The Washington Post. Colorado Newsline reported that Laubacher raised more than every other candidate in the race, of either party, combined. Out-raising an opponent is campaign fundraising. It is not buying votes, and Boebert’s post offered no evidence of anything else.
The upset behind the typo
Laubacher, a retired Navy rear admiral and former National Security Council official, won by less than a percentage point, 48.8% to 47.9%, with about 99% of the vote counted, according to the AP, which called the race Friday. NBC News also projected Boebert’s defeat. It was a stunning result in a district President Donald Trump carried by 18 points in 2024.
Boebert moved to the 4th District for the 2024 election after nearly losing her old Western Slope seat in 2022, when she won by fewer than 600 votes. Laubacher, a longtime Republican who switched parties after retiring from the Navy, ran as a moderate. “This victory is historic. But making history means nothing if we don’t make a difference,” she said after declaring victory.
The internet did the rest
By Saturday afternoon, the “baught” reply had drawn nearly 49,000 views, 389 replies and 77 quote posts on X, as critics piled on the misspelling.
The irony writes itself: days after saying she had hoped to prove “seats just can’t be bought,” Boebert settled on the opposite conclusion and still couldn’t spell it.
Boebert has said she does not plan to run in 2028. But if her concession video is any guide, she isn’t going quietly. “Stay tuned,” she told her followers.
Just maybe with spell-check on.