Lauren Boebert Wants ‘Mercy.’ Some Republicans Want an Alternative.

At a casino bingo hall in southwestern Colorado, Lauren Boebert, a Republican congresswoman, bounced her 6-month-old grandson on her knee.

“The election’s still a ways away,” she said as the guests arriving for the Montezuma County Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Day dinner trickled into the room. “And in talking with people at events like this, you know, it seems like there’s a lot of mercy and a lot of grace.”

The month before, Boebert, then in the midst of finalizing a divorce, was caught on a security camera vaping and groping her date shortly before being ejected from a performance of the musical “Beetlejuice” at the Buell Theater in Denver for causing a disturbance. The footage contradicted her own initial claims about the incident, and the venue’s statement that Boebert had demanded preferential treatment added to the outrage.