As congressional district’s go, Colorado’s 4th Congressional District is interesting. It is vast and, to say it’s diverse, would be an understatement. It includes some of the state’s toniest zip codes and some of it most financially challenged. It may also home to the reddest, most conservative Republican swaths of voters in the state. It is also represented in Congress by, perhaps, Colorado’s most news making politician of the current era.
Three-term Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, a tabloid magnet, who represents CD4. She has served the district for a single term. But as long-term politicians go, Boebert is a newcomer to the district. Prior to winning election in the district, Boebert represented CD 3, a district that stretches from Aspen to Pueblo and tons of places in between. Boebert is running unopposed.
A quick glance at CD4 shows it has a population of 740,000. It is the reddest congressional district in the state. In 2024, nearly 60 percent of voters cast ballots for President Trump compared to 43 percent of all state voters.
There are 18 counties included in the district. Among them are Baca, Bent, Otero and Weld where Greeley is the largest city. The counties contain some of the most sparsely populated and lowest income locales in the state. The four represent a dramatic contrast to some of the other counties in the district. CD4 neighbors include Adams, Arapahoe and Boulder, some of the most populated and highest income areas of Colorado.
While Boebert will run unopposed, two Democratic candidates are squaring off in the end of June primary to face her in the fall. Both are women, one being a retired two-star Navy Admiral, the other a clinical psychologist.
The retired two-star Admiral is Eileen Laubacher, opposing her is Dr. Jenna Preston. Both are transplants, Laubacher and her family moved to Colorado following a 34-year career in the U.S. Navy where she served as a Senior Defense Official and as a Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for South Asia. Laubacher is also a U.S. Naval Academy graduate. While a registered Democrat, Laubacher is relatively new to the party. She was a registered Republican up until 2024.
Laubacher explains her registration and voting record as a Republican, which began in 1998, as simply supporting the late Senator John McCain, a man she said she held in high esteem and for their common connection to the Naval Academy. But according to Rocky Mountain Voice, a self-described “right of center” news source, Laubacher has offered more than one story explaining her party switch. Laubacher has also raised the most money of any of the candidates.
Dr. Preston was born in New Jersey but says her childhood summers were spent with relatives near Rifle where she began her love for the state. She and her family now call Douglas County home.
On Preston’s campaign website, she describes herself as an advocate for both education and mental health. Preston has lived abroad with her husband, a retired military officer. At her husband’s posting at RAF Mildenhall, Preston opened a private practice serving U.S. military families. Preston has also served as a Governmental Affairs Chair for the American Art Therapy Association.
Her current position is working at Space Force Base in Aurora where, according to her website, “she’s delivered over 10,000 behavioral health sessions for active-duty service members.” Her practice includes serving a cliental with depression, addiction and anxiety.
