OnPolitics: Adam Frisch saw an opportunity to defeat Lauren Boebert. He nearly did it.

Happy December, OnPolitics readers! Winter beckons but we never cool down. 

Rep. Lauren Boebert’s Democratic challenger Adam Frisch, who barely lost to the far-right Republican last month in the midterm election, talked to USA TODAY about his nail-biter loss, his struggles to be taken seriously as a candidate and how he came to the realization to run in the first place.

The backstory: Frisch asked national Democrats for money to unseat Boebert, but ultimately got nothing more than a few encouraging words. She won by about 500 votes (out of more than 327,000 cast) in the western Colorado district. Reporters Erin Mansfield and Rachel Looker explored what happened in this story.

• Frisch told us he decided to challenge Boebert after seeing she won in 2020 with just 51% of the vote in a district with more Republicans than Democrats.
  • “Boebert in 2020 was at 51% and did not win her hometown. And my view is if you don’t win your hometown, those who know you best don’t care for you very much,” he said.
• "I saw and was like, 'Oh my goodness, this is the only brand-name extremist that has any chance of losing, and if a moderate pragmatic Democrat, pro-business, pro-domestic energy could get by a Democratic primary – which wouldn’t be easy, and it wasn’t. I won by 290 votes out of 50,000."
• After making it to the general election, he asked the House Democrats’ fundraising arm for help: “I said, ‘Listen, this could be the emotional win for the country and the party if you actually put some investment in here.’”

Could Frisch have won with a little help? Read our story.

Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide

Lauren Boebert won:But did Democrats miss a chance to flip her Colorado district?

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