Eileen Laubacher, the Democrat challenging Rep. Lauren Boebert in Colorado’s Fourth Congressional District, finished the count with a lead of 3,523 votes as counties added their last ballots on Friday, Nov. 13. That is nearly four times the margin that would set off an automatic recount. The Associated Press called the race for her that afternoon.
The counties’ final unofficial counts, posted to the Colorado Secretary of State’s results by Friday afternoon, give Laubacher, a retired Navy rear admiral, 187,688 votes, or 48.8 percent, and Boebert 184,165, or 47.9 percent. Douglas Mangeris, the Libertarian, has 12,739. Friday’s counts came after Thursday’s deadline for military and overseas ballots to arrive and for voters to fix problems with their signatures. They added 1,470 votes for Laubacher and 1,309 for Boebert.
The lead moved both ways as the counties reported. Small counties on the Eastern Plains, where Boebert leads, posted first and cut it to 3,257 by 12:03 p.m. Douglas County’s count, released at 12:28 p.m., added 814 votes for Laubacher and 546 for Boebert and pushed the lead to 3,546. Weld County’s count took about 100 back, and Larimer County’s, at 2:49 p.m., left it at 3,523. By then 19 of the district’s 21 counties and county parts had added votes; Kiowa County and the district’s part of Adams County had added none.
| County | Laubacher | Boebert | Net for Laubacher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Douglas | 814 | 546 | +268 |
| Weld (part) | 156 | 261 | −105 |
| Larimer (part) | 155 | 90 | +65 |
| Elbert | 115 | 105 | +10 |
| 15 other counties | 230 | 307 | −77 |
| Total | 1,470 | 1,309 | +161 |
The Associated Press called the race for Laubacher at 12:53 p.m. Friday, Colorado Newsline reported. Laubacher declared victory on Nov. 9. Boebert declined to concede when reporters asked her at the Capitol on Wednesday, saying votes were still being counted, and said she would not run in 2028 if she lost, according to Newsline. Colorado Politics reported on Nov. 9 that she had told supporters in a fundraising email that her campaign was preparing for a recount.
Tri-Lakes voters are in the Fifth District, where Democrat Jessica Killin unseated Rep. Jeff Crank. The Fourth takes in all or part of 21 counties, from the Eastern Plains to the Loveland area. Douglas County, El Paso’s neighbor to the north, cast 52.9 percent of the district’s votes. Eastern El Paso County, including Calhan, is in it too: the county’s final unofficial count there gives Boebert 2,954 votes and Laubacher 937.
The recount line
Colorado law requires a recount when the gap between the top two candidates is half of one percent of the leader’s vote or less. Half a percent of Laubacher’s 187,688 votes is 938, so no automatic recount is due unless the official canvass, which counties must finish by Nov. 25, cuts her lead by 2,585 votes.
Short of that, the losing candidate or her party may ask for a recount and pay for it. The request must be filed between 10 and 22 days after the election, from Nov. 13 to Nov. 25, and paid for by Nov. 30. The money comes back only if the recount reverses the result or narrows the gap to the automatic threshold, and a requested recount must be finished by Dec. 8. When Boebert’s own narrow win in the Third District was recounted in 2022, the recount took three votes from her and gave one to her opponent, Adam Frisch.
How the late ballots broke
When this article first ran, on Nov. 9, the Independent estimated that about 5,200 ballots from the district were still to be counted and that Boebert would need roughly 81 percent of the votes on them to pull ahead. The estimate was a ceiling: it included ballots with signature problems that voters might never fix. The counts since then added 2,931 votes in the race. Boebert won 45.0 percent of them, less than her 47.9 percent across the district, and Laubacher’s lead grew by 171.
What happens next
Counties must complete their official canvass by Nov. 25; the results become official when they are certified. A requested recount, if Boebert files one, would follow. The new member takes office when the 120th Congress convenes in January.
Updated Nov. 13, 2026, with the counties’ final unofficial counts and the Associated Press call. This article first ran Nov. 9 with the state’s count as of 5:19 p.m. that day, when Laubacher led by 3,352 votes.
Sources & further reading
The Independent’s own coverage: Election wrap-up (the Fifth District and Tri-Lakes results) · Live results (the count for Tri-Lakes races and statewide measures)
Election records: Colorado Secretary of State, unofficial results (release of 2:49 p.m. Nov. 13) · ballots-returned spreadsheet, as of 11:59 p.m. Nov. 8 (the basis of the Nov. 9 estimate)
Recount law: C.R.S. § 1-10.5-101 (when a recount is required) · § 1-10.5-102 (congressional recounts and their deadlines) · § 1-10.5-106 (recounts on request) · Secretary of State, Dec. 12, 2022 (results of the Third District recount)
Reporting: Colorado Newsline, “Democrat Eileen Laubacher unseats Rep. Lauren Boebert in Colorado’s 4th District” (Lindsey Toomer, Nov. 13) · Denver7, “Democrat Eileen Laubacher flips Colorado House seat, ousting Lauren Boebert” (Scripps News Group, Nov. 13) · Colorado Politics, “Eileen Laubacher claims victory over Lauren Boebert in close race” (Ernest Luning, Nov. 9)
Candidates: Eileen Laubacher campaign · Rep. Lauren Boebert
Methodology
Vote totals are from the Secretary of State’s results feed, release of 2:49 p.m. Nov. 13. The lead chart uses every release from 12:44 a.m. Nov. 4 onward in which the lead changed (43 in all). Friday’s votes by county are the difference between the release of 3:45 p.m. Nov. 12 and the release of 2:49 p.m. Nov. 13, in the part of each county that lies in the district. The votes added since the first version are the difference between the release of 5:19 p.m. Nov. 9 and the release of 2:49 p.m. Nov. 13.
The Nov. 9 estimate of ballots left took ballots returned in each county (the secretary of state’s spreadsheet, as of 11:59 p.m. Nov. 8), subtracted ballots counted, and, in the five counties the district splits, assigned the difference to the district in proportion to its share of the county’s counted votes in the U.S. Senate race. The Associated Press call and the candidates’ statements are as Colorado Newsline, Denver7 and Colorado Politics reported them.
Using this reporting? Credit The Monument Independent and link to this article: https://monumentindependent.com/government/laubacher-boebert-fourth-district-count/. Our guidelines are at Using Our Reporting.
