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Lauren Boebert told 40 people at her Durango meet-and-greet Thursday she’s running into Republicans who want an active representative in Congress, “not someone just warming a seat thinking we’re in a district we can’t lose.”

Boebert made her first Durango appearance at Four Leaves Winery after holding several appearances in Cortez. She returned to Cortez the next day, meeting constituents and speaking at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5231 on Friday evening.

“I think people want to see me, and then when they come, the first thing they say is, ‘Where’s your gun?’ I don’t have a good side. I have a gun side,” Boebert said at the Durango meet-and-greet.

And, showing up with a pistol strapped to her thigh, she didn’t disappoint attendees.

Boebert, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, for the 3rd Congressional District seat, told the crowd her open-carry practice, started at her restaurant, Shooters Grill in Rifle, has provided a benefit she particularly enjoys.

“I’ve learned, I’m really good at triggering liberals, and I really like it,” she said.

While attending an Aspen City Council meeting, she said one of the councilors saw her Glock 9 mm and announced he was “awash with fear.”

She joked, “I didn’t know if he was going to call his mom or what?”

Beyond Boebert’s defense of gun rights, she said her signature issue is really a defense of something broader. “People see our advocacy for the Second Amendment (at Shooters Grill), but really what it is, is an advocacy for all our freedoms.”

Boebert said she was raised in a household with Democratic politics and an ethos that government assistance was essential because the family could not succeed on its own.

But after getting her first job at McDonald’s, she realized she could build her skills and advance in the workplace.

“I know what it’s like to stand in line for cheese and grape juice from the government. I thank God there was a minimum wage low enough when I was growing up that an owner of a McDonald’s could offer a girl with no skills a job,” she said.

Tom Clemens, who lives east of Durango, said he would vote for Boebert if she made the ballot.

“I’m not pleased with Tipton. I don’t see him taking any stands. He’s too mushy for me. He just tries to play it safe,” he said.

Clemens was unconcerned that knocking off a GOP incumbent might give Democrats a better chance to pick up the seat.

“I think she’d have a better chance, honestly, because she stands for something,” he said.

Boebert also previewed her first commercial, a 30-second spot that will run on social media in the 3rd Congressional District.

The commercial states:

“Hi everyone, I’m Lauren Boebert, and I want you to send me to Congress to help President Trump build the wall, drain the swamp and stand up to all the left-wing lunatics. I’m pro-Trump, pro-Constitution, pro-life, pro-guns, pro-energy. I’m a conservative, a Republican, a mom, a business owner. I’m in this fight because freedom is a great motivator.

“Join me. I’m Lauren Boebert, I’m running for Congress and I approved this message.”

Boebert asked attendees to support her at the 3rd Congressional District Assembly in Broomfield on March 17.

In Cortez on Friday, she repeated her message to a crowd of around 40 as well, alongside Greg Lopez, a gubernatorial candidate and the former mayor of Parker.

“I’m here to be with the freedom-loving patriots of Cortez,” she told The Journal. “This is my third speaking engagement here, and it’s good to be back with everyone.”

She spoke of her commitment to conservative values, highlighting her “fighter” attitude and efforts opposing the National Popular Vote in Colorado.

“Because I am a mom, there is a mandate on my life, to secure the nation I am going to send my boys out into,” she said. “And I refuse to send them into a socialist nation. I will do everything I can to secure freedom for them and teach them how to secure it for their children.”

She will be placed on the ballot for the June 30 primary if she gets 30% of the assembly delegates to support her.

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