BREAKING ELECTION UPDATE: Dem. Laubacher flips Colorado’s 4th District, defeating Lauren Boebert

Joining us now, staff writer at The New. Yorker Susan Glasser, senior reporter at The Bulwark Will Sommer, founder and principal. of BlueStack Strategies Maura Gillespie. and contributing writer at The Dispatch. and MSNOW contributor, David Drucker. And before we go any further with this panel, germane to this conversation, we have a race to call according to the AP. Democrat Eileen Laubacher has won election to. the U .S. House in Colorado's fourth CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT THIS. IS. A FLIP EVERYONE LAWBAKER DEFEATS. REPUBLICAN LAUREN BOEBERT WHO.

DECIDED TO RUN HERE ALMOST AFTER. LOSING HER DISTRICT IN COLORADO IN 2022. SO AGAIN, another projection for the. Democrats. in all of this. So it relates to what we have been referring to, this crisis among MAGA falling out. of favor with a lot of Americans. So I'll put it to YOU, MARA, WHERE DOES THE PARTY GO NEXT? I THINK THEY SHOULD RETURN TO WHAT. THEIR VALUES ARE. WE LARGELY LOST THOSE WHEN DONALD. TRUMP TOOK OVER AND IT BECAME, AS YOU MENTIONED, THE PARTY OF ONE.

A LOT OF PEOPLE IN THE ADMINISTRATION. WERE ON UBER CONSERVATIVE NETWORKS, WE'RE PLAYING TO AN AUDIENCE OF ONE AS. OPPOSED TO THE VALUES AND THE PRINCIPLES. THAT MAKE AND DEFINE A CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT. THERE HAVE BEEN POLICIES PUT. FORWARD THAT OUTRIGHT CONTRADICT. THINGS THAT REPUBLICANS HAVE LONG STOOD for. And so I do think there is a moment to bring. some common sense back into the picture, and I would hope that that would start. with pushing back against redistricting efforts. that are more or less gerrymandering, and especially in the middle of a cycle. I think you can talk about the tariff policy. that has.

been very destructive and damaging to consumers, but to a lot of our economy. when you really look at it. These short-term pains for long-term gains. the president promised did not come to fruition. And so I think there is an opportunity. for Republicans to reclaim the narrative, especially in terms of executive overreach. and addressing corruption. So there's a lot of things that Republicans can do if. they. have the courage and the wherewithal to do. so. How, David, how illuminating is it that. someone. like Lauren Boebert, who has been staunchly in. the president's camp, has essentially been MAGA for the last many years,

that she has now lost her seat. to a Democrat in Purple, Colorado. Yeah, look, I mean, we've seen, uh, this past cycle, a lot of Republicans fall that have. been bear hugging Trump. But, you know, I think a lot of this gets. back to Arielle. This idea that voters really aren't. that ideological. They just want something that works. Right. And what we saw with the historic rebuke. of President Trump. in last week's midterm elections, not just a normal rebuke,

not just a standard midterm rebuke, but a historic rebuke is. that they don't think his agenda. is working for them. And sometimes in Washington, we can forget and this includes me. that voters aren't ideological. in the way we talk about these things. in D .C., they just want a government that works for. them. And they voted for Democrats in places. They don't normally vote for Democrats. because they don't think government's working. And so whether or not you're defined. as MAGA or traditionally conservative.

or liberal or progressive, all they're saying is give. me a government that works. And so if Republicans want to improve. in the elections to come. and history shows us that they will because. parties. that have been trounced always come back, they'll focus on putting whatever. it is they believe into the service. of policies that voters think, number one, are speaking to their frustrations, but two, then show that they're working. And they'll reward that. But if they continue to stick. with a president's agenda.

that they don't think has been working, then voters are not going to give. them a second look. And I think it's really not any more complicated. than that. I mean, clearly, Susan, Lauren Boebert is the prime. example. of hitching your cart to the Donald Trump wagon. And we were all privy to the polling. for the president that has been. at record lows way before the midterm. So there was time to untether that card to. continue to extend the metaphor. Should Republicans like Lauren Boebert have.

read the tea leaves here a little sooner? Yeah, I mean, look, I don't think they had any. choice. because they had already given over their party, you know, pretty much lock, stock and barrel to Donald Trump. You know, remember, this is the post-January 6. GOP. that we're talking about here. So the option to untether, I think, you know, sort of was abandoned. in the moment when, you know, the majority of the House Republican. conference walked over the broken glass. of the United States Capitol and, you know, decided to go along.

with the lies that Trump Trump insisted. that they pursue about the 2020. election. And so, you know, that's the thing. It's not just as simple as like, oh, well, never mind, right? You know, this is a party that has. actually. been remade in a fairly structural, specific way over the last decade. And, you know, so I think that it's not. going to be as easy as just following where the. wind blows. in the polls. Some, some, uh, Republican elected. officials,

especially those who were never sort. of a core part of MAGA. You'll see them distance themselves a little bit. more, but it was very telling, wasn't it? That not a single Republican member, even after this defeat, EXCEPT FOR THOMAS MASSEY, THE KIND OF ROGUE GOP. CONGRESSMAN. WHO OFFERED THE ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT AGAINST PETE. HEGSETT, THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE THIS. WEEK. NOT ONE OTHER REPUBLICAN JOINED. HIM DESPITE THE FACT THAT MANY. OF THEM LOST THEIR jobs this election cycle, arguably because of the mismanagement. of the Pentagon and the war.

And I do think that it's not going to. be just a simple kind of like one-and-done. RECOVERY PROCESS HERE. IT'S REALLY GOING TO BE A GENERATIONAL. PROJECT TO FIGURE OUT WHAT REPUBLICANS. REPRESENT GOING FORWARD, AND I THINK THEY'RE VERY. DIVIDED. I MEAN, YOU KNOW, YOU SHOWED. MIKE PENCE AT THE BEGINNING, THEN THERE'S J. .D. Vance, two vice presidents of Trump. with two very, very different views about what the Republican. Party is. Yeah. And Will, I know you've done a lot of reporting. on Lauren Boebert specifically and her support.

of QAnon and OTHER CONSPIRACY THEORIES. WHAT ARE THE DARK CORNERS OF THE MAGA WEB SAYING. AT THIS POINT? I MEAN, LOOK, RIGHT NOW, I THINK IT'S LESS OF A. FIGHT BETWEEN. MODERATE REPUBLICANS AND TRUMPIST REPUBLICANS. AND I THINK IT'S MORE OF A FIGHT BETWEEN TRUMP. REPUBLICANS AND PEOPLE FURTHER TO THE RIGHT. I MEAN, THERE IS THIS SENSE THAT THEY LOST THE MIDTERMS. BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, TRUE TRUMPISM HAS NEVER BEEN TRIED. THEY WEREN'T HARD ENOUGH ON DEPORTATIONS. WITH ICE. THEY WEREN'T HARD ENOUGH ON OTHER issues. I think that's crazy if you look at the polls,

but, you know, I think we can see the Republicans believe it. You know, they're making Jim Jordan. the minority leader. Obviously, Stephen Miller now is the. White House chief. of staff. There's a conference in Dallas this week. on kind of post-Trumpism for the right. And it's definitely further right elements, more racist elements that are kind. of trying to plot out their roadmap here. So I think, you know, you know, the other thing to keep in mind is a lot. of the moderate Republicans have lost. their seats in the House. So I think that's kind of what's going. on and that this fighting has been.

roiling the right for more than a year. And it's going to really go into overdrive now. that THEY LOST THE ELECTION. DAVID, IS THE REPUBLICAN, THE CHARACTER, THE SOUL OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY CHANGED. FOREVER BASED ON THE PAST DECADE? NO. IS THERE STILL TIME Is there still time for, you know, what remains of the old right to. seize those disaffected MAGA voters. and voters who are looking for more moderation? Yeah. So look, I wouldn't look at this as old right. versus new right.

And I'd caution that, you know, every time, you know, we read a political party's obituary, they always come back. Right. And we've done this with the Democratic Party. You know, during during the Reagan era, you know, in the 1980s, Democrats Democrats lose three. presidential elections in a row, and everybody's talking about their inability to. ever win. the White House. And then you have Bill Clinton with two terms, right? Everybody is reading the Republican. Party's obituary after 2006 and 2008, two wave elections for the Democrats. and then Republicans come roaring back.

in 2010 and then another big midterm. in 2014 even though Obama wins re-election. So, number one, no political party's ever dead. But I think the way you want to position, And I think what Republicans are, you know, need to figure out is A LOT. OF WHAT DEMOCRATS WENT THROUGH POST 2024, THERE WAS A ROBUST DEBATE WITHIN THE. PARTY ABOUT THE DIRECTION THEY SHOULD. TAKE ON KEY ISSUES AND OTHER THINGS.

AND THAT IS STILL CONTINUING WITH THEM. DESPITE THE VICTORIES THEY ENJOYED. LAST week. And I think Republicans want to do better sooner, then they'll have an honest reassessment. of what didn't work. And the only thing that's going to. elongate this process is the fact. that most of them are unwilling to point. fingers at the president. The president is an unusual politician. in the way he dominates the bully pulpit. of the White House, which is already the. biggest bully pulpit. in POLITICS, AND THEY'RE STILL AFRAID OF HIM.

AND, YOU KNOW, THEY SHOULD AGREE WITH HIM. WHERE. THEY AGREE WITH HIM, BUT THEY SHOULD BE WILLING. TO POINT OUT WHAT DIDN'T WORK. AND THE IDEA THAT REPUBLICANS LOST LAST week, because they weren't pure enough. in their pursuit of Trumpism. When you look at deportations. and you look at his tariff policies. and other things, it's just ridiculous. It's just IT'S NOT SUPPORTED BY THE FACTS. SO EVENTUALLY THEY'LL GET AROUND. TO FIGURING THIS OUT, IT'S JUST HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE THEM?