Lauren Boebert ‘Melted Down’ On Debate Stage, Opponent Says

Lauren Boebert debated Democratic rival Trisha Calvarese for the first time on Tuesday, with the House Republican later accused of having “melted down on the debate stage” by her opponent.
In a statement released after the debate, Calvarese accused her rival of having “disrespected veterans” as well as “working against lowering the cost of critical prescription drugs” and “missing critical votes” concerning the national debt. The debate was held at Ravenna Golf Club in Littleton over lunchtime and was hosted by the Douglas County Economic Development Corporation.
Calvarese and Boebert are contesting in Colorado’s 4th congressional district for their respective parties in November. Boebert currently represents the state’s 3rd congressional district, but in December 2023 announced she would instead stand in the more conservative 4th district and convincingly won the subsequent GOP primary.
In the statement published on X (formerly Twitter), Calvarese said Boebert “melted down on the debate stage today” adding: “Whether it was floundering to try to defend her disgraceful record on Veterans or having no explanation as to why she missed crucial house votes, she was held accountable for her extremism.”
Newsweek contacted Representative Boebert and Calvarese for comment via email on Wednesday outside of regular office hours.
On the treatment of veterans, Calvarese’s statement described Boebert as “one of only a handful of members of Congress to vote against the PACT Act” which expanded the range of benefits available to former service personnel who were exposed to dangerous toxins, often via burn pits, during their time in the military.
Calvarese and Boebert clashed over this subject during the debate with the Democrat stating: “I think if you’re going to be America first, you can’t put veterans last.” The Colorado Republican responded, “When it comes to our veterans, I’ve absolutely put them first,” adding, “I have six amendments that have brought funding to our veterans.”
Concerning healthcare, Calvarese attacked Boebert for voting against allowing Medicare to negotiate the cost of prescription drugs like the ones that extended her father’s life. During the debate, she said, “You voted to keep the medication high and out of reach for millions of seniors that gave me four extra years of life with my father.”
Boebert hit out at the Biden administration over the level of government spending, which she linked to higher inflation. The Republican said: “The best thing that lawmakers in Washington D.C. can do is stop spending your money.” Referring to the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, she said: “We all know that did not reduce inflation.”
“It was $344 billion towards so-called renewable energy, which is extremely unreliable, and you have the federal government propping up one industry over the other and creating an imbalance in the market.”
However, in her statement, Calvarese said Boebert was responding for “missing crucial votes related to the debt ceiling, and then lying about it.”
In June 2023, Boebert said she intentionally skipped a crunch House vote on suspending the U.S. debt ceiling as a “no-show protest.” However, in a statement, she said she was “unavoidably detained” and would have voted against the motion if she’d been present.
Calvarese ended her statement by repeating a challenge to Boebert calling on the House Republican to “participate in two televised debates that are accessible to the public.”
In July, Calvarese released a viral video challenging Boebert to a debate at the Buell Theatre in Denver, which the latter was asked to leave during a performance of the musical Beetlejuice in September 2023 after being disruptive during the show.