By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice
The phone rang Tuesday at almost dusk at Lauren Boebert’s Victory Headquarters. On the other end of the line was Jerry Sonnenberg.
He was the first, and at the time the only, of Boebert’s five Republican Party primary election opponents to call and congratulate her on victory and wish her well in the general election. She praised his spirit of sportsmanship.
Sonnenberg had finished second in the 4th District race for U.S. representative, following ex-U.S. Rep. Ken Buck in office. He had captured victory in five of 21 counties in the district, but not in the vote-heavy and population-thick western areas of the district. Boebert had claimed 43.4% of the vote in a six-person race, carrying 15 counties; Sonnenberg had beaten four of his five opponents with 14.5% of the vote.
A two-hour drive away in Sterling, Sonnenberg was about to speak with his supporters, working a home crowd in only the way he does.
“I’m going to be here a lot more and continue with one of the greatest jobs I’ve ever had: a county commissioner,” Sonnenberg said. “It’s great being a county commissioner, because when someone calls with a problem you can pickup the phone and fix it.”
He received some laughter from the audience of family, friends and supporters when he called Boebert’s victory a mixed blessing.
“You can ask my kids,” he said. “They were kind of hoping, especially after having to fix my screw-ups yesterday, that maybe I’d actually be gone a little more.”
Both Boebert and Sonnenberg indicated there could be a relationship beyond the finish line of the Republican Party primary election.
“I look forward to working with Jerry as a commissioner,” said Boebert, sharing a story of a time during the campaign when Sonnenberg had personally pulled down a Tweet a staffer wrote that he deemed “too mean.”
“He apologized in person, and it meant a lot,” Boebert said.
In Windsor, she called for the Republican Party to seek unity as it enters the general election with Democrats as the new opponent. In Sterling, Sonnenberg indicated an openness to join her in that effort.
“She was very gracious, and I look forward to having those conversations,” he said.
Rocky Mountain Voice Ambassador Drake Hunter contributed to this report.