DENVER (KDVR) – Democrat Adam Frisch conceded the Colorado House District 3 race to incumbent Republican Lauren Boebert in the race during a news conference Friday morning, even though a recount is expected.
Neither Decision Desk HQ nor the Associated Press have called the race yet.
“The voters have spoken and while we showed great progress, I remain down by a few hundred votes,” Frisch said.
This small margin triggers an automatic recount in Colorado’s election system, Frisch said.
Frisch explained that he did not request the recount.
“We are not asking for this recount, it is one our citizens of Colorado mandate through our election system,” he said.
He noted that the “likelihood of this recount changing more than a handful of votes is very, very small.”
“It would be disingenuous and unethical of us or any other group to continue to raise false hope and encourage fundraising for a recount. Colorado elections are safe, accurate and secure. Please save your money for your groceries, your rent, your children and other important causes and organizations,” Frisch said. “I just got off the phone with Rep. Boebert to formally concede this election.”
Boebert, meanwhile, tweeted on Thursday: “We won! I am so thankful for all of your support and I am so proud to be your Representative!”
NewsNation local affiliate KDVR asked Boebert why she would declare victory when the race is still “so close” and a recount is imminent.
“The last recount in Colorado was for a statewide office and it changed the vote by only 13 votes and again, that’s statewide,” Boebert said. “The process for a recount is very simple, they’ll run the same ballots and count the same ballots and once every legal vote is counted, I will have won this race.”
A recount is, indeed, unlikely to change the outcome of the election, according to a KDVR analysis of previous races and a FairVote analysis of statewide and national races from all 50 states between 2010 and 2019.
“First of all, I do just want to say thank you to all of my supporters, my friends and my family, who have entrusted me with their votes once again to send me here, and especially to send me to the majority,” Boebert said. “Here in the 117th Congress, we are in the minority and we don’t have any power. We don’t have an opportunity to produce results that impact our nation.”
Boebert said she hopes with a House majority of Republicans they will have the power to get policies passed that they’ve been working on for the past two years. She also explained that representatives on both sides of the aisle have campaigned on similar policies.
“I hope that Democrats govern as they have been campaigning. Many Democrats have campaigned on Republican policies, just like my opponent here in Colorado, who said that he was a conservative,” Boebert said. “He ran on the same policies that I’ve been working towards, securing the southern border, protecting the Second Amendment increasing domestic energy production, reducing inflation and interest rates and crime. And these are the policies in rural Colorado and all across America want to see.”