CRAIG – Steam rises from the coal-fired Craig Station power plant, pickup trucks filter in and out of the Trapper Mine southwest of town and Bob Seger drifts over the radio waves.

Here in northwest Colorado, where the mountains and foothills give way to rocky mesas, signs and banners pledging support to U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert’s reelection campaign dot the landscape alongside the sagebrush and lichen.

Those signs aren’t limited to front lawns or gateway signs for farms and ranches. They’re plastered inside windows of downtown auto parts stores, embroidery shops and western boutiques, next to life-sized cutouts of Jesus and American flags.

This is Boebert country.

Since sweeping into office nearly two years ago in a massive upset ousting incumbent Republican Rep. Scott Tipton, Boebert has become a national figure, a conservative firebrand and controversial even within her own party. She’s known for her vehement pro-gun stances, her support for former President Donald Trump and her small-government and Christian nationalist rhetoric.

Like Trump, Boebert has repeatedly shared baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. To date, she has neither acknowledged that President Joe Biden legitimately won the election (he did) or said that she’ll accept the results of the 2022 midterms even if she loses.

Yet most expect Boebert to win a second term in Congress. Voters across her sprawling district – covering the Western Slope and as far east and north as Pueblo – say the congresswoman enjoys widespread support. She easily fended off a primary challenge from former state Sen. Don Coram in June and appears likely to coast past Democratic challenger Adam Frisch on Nov. 8.

Why?

Voters throughout her district told The Denver Post they appreciate that Boebert is a loud voice for conservative values. They like and relate to her unpolished and blunt demeanor. She’s standing up for at-risk religious freedoms and gun rights, they say.

They shrug off the string of controversies trailing behind the far-right congresswoman and say she’s an equal and opposite reaction to progressive liberal voices like those of U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. The Democratic Party is no stranger to controversy either, they’ll note.

Voters from Pueblo, Hotchkiss, Hayden and Craig say they see their own values reflected in the congresswoman. They know that people in Denver, Boulder or across the rest of the country might not understand that connection due to America’s ever-widening urban-rural divide.

Even some Republicans who dislike the congresswoman, saying she’s ill-equipped for the job and out to enrich herself, still plan to vote for her in November.

“You could hold a gun to my head and I will never vote for a Democrat,” Ray Langston, of Montrose, said. “A half-assed Republican is always better than a Democrat.”

Boebert spokesman Ben Stout said the congresswoman would not agree to an interview for this story because The Post attempted to contact her husband after police were called on him in July.

“Maybe her point is not to pass legislation.”

Political conversations in downtown Craig draw the attention of anyone within earshot and, just as often as not, people start to congregate.

The owner and operator of a downtown embroidery shop didn’t want to speak on the record about his support for Boebert but his comments caught Lisa Zirkle’s ear.

Zirkle speaks with a subtle southern accent, she’s a Dallas native but has lived in Colorado for the past 25 years. She clutches a black JanSport backpack to her chest, a pair of sunglasses and a pair of prescription glasses both sit atop her head. With a wry smile, Zirkle said that Boebert, like Trump, represents a “club” to the political establishment.

Like the vast majority of her first-term Republican and Democratic colleagues in Congress, Boebert has yet to pass a single piece of legislation. None of her 39 proposed laws have made it to the House floor.

And that’s OK, Zirkle said. It’s her voice, her platform that counts.

“Maybe her point is not to pass legislation so much as to create a climate where people don’t trust people who are untrustworthy,” she said.

On Twitter and in person Boebert often criticizes the country’s rampant inflation and skyrocketing grocery and utility bills. She blames Biden and Pelosi. She frequently mentions a “con game” that Pelosi runs in Congress and still mentions former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as “the most corrupt human being to ever walk planet earth.”

Boebert warns of widespread crime and illegal immigration while pushing to defend Second Amendment gun rights.

Langston said the congresswoman’s remarks mostly amount to a lot of bluster, though. Not only has Boebert alienated Democratic colleagues – she’d only need a few votes from across the aisle to pass a law, he says often – but she’s increasingly unlikely to find cooperation within the Republican Party as well.

She’s insulted too many people in Congress, Langston said. And a representative who can’t pass laws doesn’t offer much substance.

“I’m a meat and potatoes guy and I want something more than a salad,” he said.

Just west of Hotchkiss, Kaylee Armstrong measures small but perfectly ripe organic strawberries into individual containers to sell on the side of Colorado Highway 92. Armstrong doesn’t want the name of her business mentioned, she’s already lost customers over politics, but she nods in satisfaction when discussing Boebert and said she loves the congresswoman.

Boebert is willing to call out corruption in Washington D.C. and speak on behalf of the country’s conservative voters, Armstrong said.

“She’s not afraid to stand up for what she believes in,” Armstrong said. “She actually stands up for our rights.”

Armstrong said the country is in decline and she’s particularly concerned about religious liberties.

“If it’s this bad now, what’s it going to look like in 20 years?” she said. “I’m terrified.”

Some on the Front Range might laugh at the concerns, Zirkle said, but they’re very real issues to rural Coloradans.

In the early days of the pandemic, state officials prohibited in-person gatherings with more than 10 people, including in churches. Many rural Coloradans understood this to be a government effort to limit where and how people could practice their religion, Zirkle said.

Those orders also forced large and small businesses alike to close, many of which never reopened, Zirkle said. Another government encroachment hurting entrepreneurs, she said.

Colorado legislators in 2013 banned gun magazines that can hold more than 15 rounds and in 2019 they also passed a red flag law allowing police to seize weapons from those reported as a possible danger to the public. Zirkle mentioned both laws, noting that she has complicated feelings about them but also that many see the moves as an effort of government officials to curtail gun rights.

What’s next for religious institutions, small businesses or gun owners, Zirkle asked. Where does it stop?

At every step, Boebert’s spoken on behalf of rural Coloradans fearful of losing those personal freedoms, Zirkle said.

The congresswoman’s strategy is an effective one, Justin Gobble, a political scientist with Colorado Mesa University, said. She’s taken a few issues that resonate at the local level and amplified them to a national audience.

This helps her connect with constituents, Gobble said.

That was a shortcoming of Boebert’s predecessor, Tipton, according to Brandy Meek, a realtor in Craig. The state’s largest congressional district is difficult to travel and Tipton often lacked the ability to make his constituents feel involved in his work. Boebert’s clear and effective instincts, especially on social media, brings her much closer to the voters.

Plus, Boebert often speaks in defense of the energy industry, especially Colorado’s oil and gas sector, which employs a substantial chunk of people throughout the district, Meek said. Should the country switch to renewable energy overnight – as it appears many national Democrats want – communities like Craig will suffer greatly.

“Democrats have no regard for that, they’re not going to stand up for my community,” Meek said. “Everybody knows a coal miner who lost their job. Everybody knows someone who works at the power plant, or is related to someone who works at the plant.”

Gobble added that Boebert’s strategy works on a larger scale, too, by widening her national reach, connecting her to conservatives across the country and strengthening her fundraising base. That money helps fend off any who might look to unseat the congresswoman.

The strategy works on social media as well as on cable.

Since taking office, Boebert has appeared on conservative news channels nearly 80 times, according to data compiled by the left-leaning nonprofit Media Matters for America, which investigates right-wing news channels.

The data underscores a trend that conservative legislators increasingly act more like conservative news hosts rather than policy wonks, Matt Gertz, a senior fellow with Media Matters, said.

“There are people, Like Boebert, (Georgia’s U.S. Rep.) Marjorie Taylor Green or (Florida’s U.S. Rep.) Matt Gaetz who get their jobs because they’re attuned to the cultural grievances of the right-wing media,” Gertz said. “They aren’t really in office to legislate or provide constituent services.”

Appearing on shows like Fox and Friends, Jesse Watters Primetime or The Ingraham Angle, Boebert has discussed topics like carrying a gun in dangerous cities, accused Democrats of “Muzzling children” and being the party of cancel culture, Media Matters’ dataset shows.

“It’s hyper-aggressive tweets, throwing red meat to the base,” Gertz said.

And it works. To date, Boebert has surpassed 2 million Twitter followers, split between two accounts, and raised more than $5.6 million for her reelection campaign, more than twice the amount raised by her Democratic opponent, federal campaign finance records show.

“What else was in the bill?”

If Boebert amounts to an atypical congresswoman, she also has a unique voting history in Congress.

Boebert voted against the Honoring our PACT Act which would provide healthcare and other resources to veterans exposed to toxic substances during their service. That bill passed the House with 222 Democrats and 34 Republicans voting in favor and 174 Republicans voting against it. She was one of 21 House Republicans that voted against awarding Congressional Gold Medals to police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol from Jan. 6 insurrectionists and one of 18 Republican lawmakers who voted against Finland and Sweden joining NATO after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Boebert was also one of two votes against the TRANSPLANT Act, which reauthorized the National Marrow Donor Program. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was the only other vote in the House against the bill. And she was one of eight votes against the Protecting Seniors from Emergency Scams Act.

At a debate in Grand Junction, she called that bill a “blank check” and part of “Pelosi’s con games.”

Robert Leverington, chairman of the Pueblo County Republican Party, quickly dismisses the congresswoman’s voting record. Often large bills are a way for Democrats to sneak in unrelated and harmful legislation, he said.

“What else was in the bill?” Leverington asked.

Langston calls foul, however.

“That moral high ground bulls— doesn’t sit well with me. That’s when you sit down, roll up your sleeves and work it out,” Langston said.

Still, Leverington and other Republicans in Pueblo aren’t too worried about the voting record. When they need something from Boebert she’ll show up, or at the very least send in a video of her supporting (or opposing) whatever issue they mention. And that’s good enough, Leverington said. She’s a busy legislator.

Pueblo represents something of an X-factor in Boebert’s district, one of its largest population centers. And even though there’s a heavy Democratic presence, Todd Rogers, former chair of the Pueblo Republican Party, notes that many of those Democrats are conservative in nature.

In the 2020 election, Biden beat Trump in Pueblo by just 1,520 votes (49.6% to 47.8%). Sen. John Hickenlooper beat his incumbent predecessor, then-Sen. Cory Gardner, by an even slimmer margin of 693 votes. And Boebert lost to her Democratic challenger, former state Rep. Diane Mitsch Bush by just 204 votes.

District-wide, Boebert beat Mitsch Bush 51.4% to 45.2%.

Leverington said he expects a stronger turnout for Boebert this November, especially since she’s paid extra attention to Pueblo since she was elected. But in reality, he said she only needs like 35% of the votes because the rest of her conservative district would compensate for the loss.

Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District leaned Republican before 2021 redistricting and now it leans even further right.

The demographics of the district’s residents likely mirror Boebert’s base, according to Tucker Richmond, owner and operator of the Way Out West Trading Co. in Craig. They’re white (75% of the district), they’re older (median age is 42 years old) and they tend to be blue-collar or working class (median household income is $63,601).

Boebert connects especially well with the working class voters, Richmond said.

“Very genuine, very kind,” he said. “You can tell when she talks to people it’s not a face she’s putting on.”

The main counties voting against Boebert are those housing Colorado’s major ski towns like Eagle, Pitkin, Routt and San Miguel counties. Boebert also lost in her home of Garfield County by nearly 6%.

Her voter base is also overwhelmingly Christian, Richmond said, his floral-patterned shirt with mother-of-pearl buttons tucked into jeans and secured behind a belt buckle announcing “Jesus Christ is lord.”

That religious aspect lends a moral backing to Boebert’s personality, he said quoting Nietzsche’s “God is dead” philosophy. Without that religious backing, who decides what’s right and wrong, he asked.

“In God we trust,” Richmond said. “If we’re not going to do it with him then we’re not going to do it at all.”

Multiple social, political and religious experts have said that Boebert’s repeated calls for a religious takeover of America amount to Christian nationalism and threaten the country’s democratic foundations. But they also acknowledge that the rhetoric lands well with her voter base.

A large sign in favor of Boebert graces the facade of Richmond’s business, a life-sized wooden carving of Clint Eastwood’s Outlaw Josey Wales inside, a cigarette dangling from its mouth.

Richmond says he’s lost some business because of the politics but he’s not one to back down, nor are Boebert’s other supporters. She stands by them and so they’ll stand by her and just as loudly, he said.

“If I support something then I’m gonna find the tallest hill and plant my flag as hard as I can,” he said.

Another factor among Boebert’s constituency is a deep-seated mistrust of government officials in general, Richmond said.

“I don’t know of anybody that trusts the government,” he said.

Voters throughout the district, however, are quick to dismiss allegations made against Boebert. She’s been accused of cashing in on large amounts of mileage reimbursements from her own campaign (more than $22,000 for reportedly driving 39,000 miles) and failing to disclose that her husband made $480,000 working as a consultant for an oil and gas firm.

Zirkle said she doesn’t mind the payments and doesn’t believe the congresswoman is in office to enrich herself. But Langston disagrees.

“The only person who has benefitted from her being in Congress is her. She’s getting rich and famous,” Langston said. “She’s stumping for her next job.”

“I wanna give her a little more of a chance.”

Boebert is certainly an untraditional representative – and that’s worked in her favor – but she’s not necessarily an ineffective one, Gobble said. She might not have had many policy successes but she’s been able to raise money for herself and other Republicans and grow or energize the party’s base.

The congresswoman hasn’t been placed in leadership positions in Congress but that’s to be expected for a freshman legislator, Gobble said. If she’s reelected in November that might change.

And if Republicans retake the House, Boebert might be well positioned to introduce legislation or at least force the conversations she wants to have in Congress, Gobble said. If Republicans carry a thin majority in the House, the threat of a “no” vote from Boebert might carry more weight too.

Zirkle’s quick to mention that she’d like to see term limits in Congress and would hate to see Boebert become a “career politician” but so far she’s off to a good start and deserves another term.

“I wanna give her a little more of a chance,” Zirkle said.

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