Logan County Democrats Back Laubacher for CD-4, but Caucus Process Draws Complaints

Retired two-star U.S. Navy rear admiral Eileen Laubacher won more than 90% of the votes at the Logan County Democratic county assembly March 7, securing an overwhelming local mandate to challenge Republican incumbent Lauren Boebert in Colorado's 4th Congressional District this fall. The victory came despite a lawsuit filed the previous week by fellow Democratic candidate Trisha Calvarese seeking to block Laubacher from participating in the caucus and assembly process altogether.

The county assembly, held at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Sterling, struggled from the start with a new online preference polling system built around a series of QR codes. Rolled out this year by the state party, the system generated confusion about how to access each successive round of voting and how to tally the results, delaying the proceedings. Logan County Democrats were dissatisfied enough that they voted on the spot to send a formal statement to the Colorado Democratic Party alleging the system discriminated against older party members who might struggle with the technology and who, the statement noted, also tend to skew more conservative within the party.

The frustration did not end the evening's business. Participants also conducted a nonbinding straw poll covering several statewide races, saying they wanted state assembly delegates to know which candidates local voters preferred to support.

For Laubacher, the county result is one step in a multi-stage process. Under the structure the Colorado Democratic Party uses for congressional races, delegates elected at the March 7 county assembly must next participate in the CD-4 Assembly, scheduled virtually for March 26 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. That assembly draws delegates from across the district, and each candidate speaks before the final vote that determines who reaches the primary ballot.

The Calvarese lawsuit, filed the week before the Sterling assembly, adds a legal dimension that remains unresolved. Court filings, the specific legal claims, and the current status of the case were not available at the time of publication, and neither Calvarese nor the Laubacher campaign has released public statements responding to the litigation. How the lawsuit may affect Laubacher's standing at the March 26 CD-4 Assembly is the most consequential open question heading into that vote.