Lauren Boebert challenger raises nearly $3.4m after her Beetlejuice scandal

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Adam Frisch, the Democrat who lost narrowly to Rep Lauren Boebert (R-CO) in 2022, raised almost $3.4m in the third quarter of this year as he’s campaigning to take on the rightwing congresswoman again in 2024.

This comes after Ms Boebert was thrown out of a Denver production of the musical Beetlejuice for getting inappropriately intimate with her date, loudly singing along and vaping during the performance.

The massive haul for Mr Frisch is larger than many nationally known candidates for senate during the same period, Politico noted.

The Frisch campaign said that the average donation was below $32. The campaign has $4.3m cash on hand.

Mr Frisch lost to Ms Boebert by just 546 votes in 2022.

“I am deeply humbled by the over 100,000 individual donations that were made to our campaign this quarter to defeat Lauren Boebert,” Mr Frisch said in a statement.

His fundraising numbers equal those of Senate candidates such as Sen Bob Casey (D-PA), who raised $3.2m, and Rep Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who raised $3m for his senate run.

The bar co-owned by the man who went to the Beetlejuice stage performance in Denver with Ms Boebert was inundated with bad reviews after the bar owner was caught on surveillance footage getting intimate with her during the show.

Quinn Gallagher, 46, has co-owned the Hooch Craft Cocktail Bar since 2022, according to the New York Post.

The bar has been the venue for a number of gay-friendly events, with the co-owner now being labelled a hypocrite for dating Ms Boebert, a member known for her social conservatism and anti-drag stances.

The Independent has attempted to reach the owners of Hooch Craft Cocktail Bar for comment.

The relationship between Mr Gallagher and Ms Boebert became known after they were seen on surveillance footage apparently vaping, singing, and groping each other at the Beetlejuice musical performance in Denver. They were eventually booted from the theatre before the end of the show.

Ms Boebert gave the other attendees the finger before leaving the venue, The Post noted. She said she would report her removal from the theatre, saying “do you know who I am?”

She later apologised for her behaviour, saying in a statement that she had recently split up with her husband of 18 years.

“There’s no perfect blueprint for going through a public and difficult divorce, which over the past few months has made for a challenging personal time for me and my entire family. I’ve tried to handle it with strength and grace as best I can, but I simply fell short of my values on Sunday,” Ms Boebert said in a statement. “That’s unacceptable, and I’m sorry.”

Her campaign initially claimed that Ms Boebert hadn’t vaped in the theatre, something she later admitted.

“Whether it was the excitement of seeing a much-anticipated production or the natural anxiety of being in a new environment, I genuinely did not recall vaping that evening when I discussed the night’s events with my campaign team while confirming my enthusiasm for the musical,” she said.