Democrat Trisha Calvarese speaks to volunteers before a canvas launch Oct. 26, 2024, in Highlands Ranch. (Jesse Paul, The Colorado Sun)
The two Colorado congressional districts that national Democrats are least interested in are playing host to what are becoming the state’s chippiest Democratic U.S. House primaries.
The drama is highest in the 4th Congressional District, where Democrats Trisha Calvarese and Eileen Laubacher are running against each other for a long-shot chance at unseating Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert in November.
Calvarese, a longtime Democratic campaign and policy staffer, was the party’s nominee in the 4th District in 2024, where she lost to Boebert by nearly 12 percentage points. Laubacher is a retired Navy rear admiral who was registered as unaffiliated until March 27, 2025.
Calvarese hoped to carry her 2024 momentum (she performed better than other Democrats in the district) into this election cycle. But Laubacher has stolen her thunder, raising more money ($6.5 million through the end of 2025 compared with $1.65 million) and persuading some Democratic leaders to switch their endorsements.
Things reached a fever pitch March 2, when Calvarese filed a lawsuit against the Colorado Democratic Party, alleging it illegally changed the date of the district’s assembly and asking a judge to block Laubacher from participating.
CDP Chairman Shad Murib pushed back the date of the assembly by one day, to March 27, which allowed Laubacher to qualify to participate under the party’s rule that candidates must be a Democrat for a year before seeking the nomination through the assembly process.
A Denver judge rejected Calvarese’s request for an ex parte temporary restraining order. The judge is set to hear arguments Monday before deciding whether to block Laubacher from participating in the assembly.
Even if a judge rules against Laubacher, as a backup, she collected and turned in signatures to make the ballot.
(Ironically, Calvarese was the target of an unsuccessful lawsuit seeking to block her from appearing on the ballot in the 4th District’s 2024 special election.)
More broadly, Calvarese has been on a tear in recent months attacking Laubacher, criticizing her for previously being a Republican, not voting after Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022 and even calling her a “Johnny come lately MAGA traitor.” Calvarese also labeled Laubacher a Trump official because she served in the Navy when Trump was president.
State records show Laubacher was registered as a Republican until January 2024, when she became unaffiliated, and that she didn’t vote in 2022. She hasn’t voted in a Colorado primary since 2010.
But Laubacher was not a Trump political appointee.
Laubacher fired back that Calvarese’s attacks amounted to an “insult to every service member.” Her campaign has criticized Calvarese for hiring attorney Gary Fielder, whom a federal judge put on probation for participating in a 2020 lawsuit based on election conspiracies, to represent her in the assembly lawsuit.
In the 3rd Congressional District, former Aspen City Councilman Dwayne Romero‘s entrance into the Democratic primary for a chance to dislodge Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd has also caused some division.
First-time candidate Alex Kelloff, a Democrat who lives in the Aspen area and has a background working in finance, released a statement insinuating Romero isn’t a serious contender.
“We must be honest about what hasn’t worked in the past in CD-3 — entering the race at the very last moment, not having done the work won’t cut it,” he said. “We cannot repeat the same playbook and expect a different result. The path forward is clear: support the candidate who has been doing the hard work, building trust, raising the resources, and listening to the people of this district from day one.”
Romero has the support of Adam Frisch, the Democrat who ran and lost in the 3rd District in 2022 and 2024. The two are former neighbors and served on Aspen’s City Council together.
“Dwayne is a fantastic human and an ideal candidate to win this House seat,” Frisch wrote in an email to supporters encouraging them to donate to Romero’s campaign.
Keep in mind: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is ignoring the 3rd and 4th districts right now. They don’t consider the seats winnable and they’re focusing their resources elsewhere — namely Colorado’s 5th and 8th congressional districts.
