GLENWOOD SPRINGS — Rifle business owner and staunch Second Amendment advocate Lauren Boebert has won the race against incumbent Scott Tipton in the GOP primary for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District.

As of late Tuesday night, Boebert had earned 54% of the vote among Republican voters throughout the sprawling 3rd Congressional District, which includes the population centers of Grand Junction, Pueblo, Montrose and Durango. Tipton prevailed among Routt County voters, earning 1,441 votes to Boebert’s 888.

“Our freedom and our Constitutional rights are on the ballot this November, and Republicans just sent a loud and clear message that they want me there to fight for them,” Boebert said in a statement issued from her campaign watch party in Grand Junction on Tuesday night.

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Shortly after 9 p.m. Tuesday, Tipton’s campaign conceded the primary race.

“Third District Republicans have decided who they want to run against the Democrats this November,” Tipton said in a statement. “I want to congratulate Lauren Boebert and wish her and her supporters well.”

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Boebert’s win attracted the attention of President Donald Trump, who congratulated her on Twitter. He earlier had endorsed Tipton.

Boebert is the owner of Shooters Grill in Rifle, which has become widely known for its open-carrying waitstaff.

“I joined this race because thousands of ordinary Americans just like me are fed-up with politics as usual,” she said. “Colorado deserves a fighter who will stand up for freedom, who believes in America and who is willing to take on all the left-wing lunatics who are trying so hard to ruin our country.” 

Boebert will face Diane Mitsch Bush in the Nov. 3 election. Mitsch Bush, a former Routt County commissioner and state representative from Steamboat Springs who lost to Tipton in the 2018 general election, was the winner of the Democratic primary Tuesday over businessman James Iacino of Ridgway.

Covering over 52,000 square miles, Colorado’s 3rd District is one of the largest in the country. It stretches from Grand Junction to Pueblo and Cortez to Steamboat Springs.

Boebert called her run for Congress “a battle for the heart and soul of our country. I’m going to win this November because freedom is a great motivator,” she said.

Last fall, Boebert traveled to Denver to confront then-Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke regarding his stance on gun control, saying, “Hell no, you won’t take our guns.”

Recently, during the COVID-19 shutdown in Garfield County, Boebert defied Governor Jared Polis’ public health order and re-opened Shooters Grill to in-restaurant dining under Centers for Disease Control safety guidelines. 

Boebert noted in her statement that she was raised in a Democrat household and became a “self-taught Republican conservative.” She has never held public office.