A Colorado woman who is running for Congress as a Republican celebrated the reopening of her grill after a state injunction forced her to close.
Speaking with the Washington Examiner on Wednesday, Lauren Boebert, who runs Shooters Grill in Rifle, Colorado, admonished Colorado Gov. Jared Polis for adopting “unconstitutional executive orders” and said that government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has motivated her bid for Congress.
“I’ve had so much exposure to the power that government has and how easy it is to take our rights,” Boebert said. “So, this has motivated me more than ever to get into office, so I can limit that government overreach and give power back to the people and do what elected officials swear an oath to do: Secure our rights. We’re just not seeing that. I feel there is a necessity now more than ever for me to win.”
Boebert, whose employees open carry in her grill, shot to internet stardom in the fall of 2019 when she contested former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s call to ban semi-automatic rifles. She has struggled to reopen her grill amid a number of state-mandated hurdles that have made it difficult to navigate the new era of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on social distancing.
She attempted to reopen her grill on May 9, based on similar measures adopted in the neighboring county of Mesa, but a judge slapped a restraining order on her business. In a video shared to Twitter on Wednesday, Boebert celebrated the reinstatement of her restaurant license and credited local officials with “seeking solutions that make sense and respect our rights” after they allowed her to serve customers seated outside.
.@ShootersGrill update: Back in business, met payroll along the way, additional seating in parking lot is on its way. Glad to be heard because freedom is a right, not a permission. Thank you for your support. Now let’s go win this Republican primary and fight for freedom in DC! pic.twitter.com/ORkidkMo0f
— Lauren Boebert for Congress (R-CO3) (@laurenboebert) May 27, 2020
“There was going to come a payday, very soon, where I would not be able to pay my employees,” Boebert told the Washington Examiner. “It was working out very well. We had social distancing in place. Masks, gloves, sanitary procedures. I feel at this point, this was a success. I didn’t miss a payroll. My employees were taken care of this entire time, and the city of Rifle worked with me to get outdoor seating in place.”
Boebert is challenging Republican incumbent Scott Tipton in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, where residents will vote on June 30. Boebert accused Tipton of voting with Democrats, such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, on major legislation.
“If I thought we were being represented here in the 3rd District, I would not have stepped up to run for office,” Boebert said. “Scott Tipton ran as a Tea Party conservative, and he votes alongside Democrats instead of standing up for the things we put him in office to do. In December, he voted with Democrats to give millions of law-breaking illegal immigrants amnesty and one billion of our hard-earned tax dollars to their housing subsidies.”
Boebert said that although the coronavirus pandemic has presented new challenges to campaigning, it has also allowed her to communicate on a more intimate level with “thousands” of residents in her district who she has called by phone.
