Democrat halts bid for nomination to take on Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, leaving one primary contender

John Aguilar, The Denver Post on Apr 2, 2026

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DENVER — Democrat Trisha Calvarese, who was vying for a second chance to take on U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert in the November election, has dropped out of the primary race in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District.

Her Tuesday evening announcement came 48 hours before she and her Democratic rival were set to compete in the 4th District Democratic assembly Thursday night.

Calvarese threw her support to Navy veteran Eileen Laubacher, despite having sued the retired rear admiral over her eligibility to compete for a nomination to the June 30 primary ballot. Calvarese’s lawsuit was dismissed by a Denver District Court judge last month.

“We’ve made the difficult decision to suspend my campaign to represent Colorado’s 4th Congressional District,” Calvarese’s campaign posted on its website. “Congratulations to Eileen Laubacher and her team. I hope this carries through to a win in November.”

The two had competed for support in local caucuses and county assemblies ahead of the district assembly. Calvarese thanked her supporters and said only that “I’m sorry we fell short” in her message Tuesday. She also was trailing Laubacher in fundraising at the end of 2025.

In a statement Wednesday, Laubacher said Calvarese “has helped elevate the visibility of this race and engage people across the district in meaningful ways.”

“It’s time to turn the corner and focus fully on what comes next and what matters most: defeating Lauren Boebert in November,” she said.

Laubacher, a longtime Republican and then unaffiliated voter, registered as a Democrat early last year. She had the biggest haul of the final quarter of last year of any candidate running for Congress in Colorado, pulling down just over $2 million and bringing her contribution total in the election cycle to nearly $6.5 million.

She also had about five times the cash on hand that Calvarese had at year’s end.

Calvarese was chasing the Democratic nomination through the congressional assembly process only, while Laubacher had been competing both at the assembly and by submitting signatures to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office in March to get on the primary ballot through the petition process.

Laubacher’s petition has not yet gotten a sufficiency ruling from state elections officials. But she stands as the only Democratic candidate left in the race after contenders John Padora and Jenna Preston neither petitioned their way onto the ballot nor were listed as contenders on the Colorado Democratic Party website.

Laubacher will have a tough road ahead in the 4th District, given its makeup as the most Republican-leaning district in the state. Calvarese lost to Boebert in 2024 by over 10 percentage points after Boebert switched over from Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District.

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