Boebert and Laubacher Clash on Data Center Tax in Colorado

The air in Windsor is dry and sharp, the kind that cracks your lips if you aren’t careful. It’s a town where the wind off the plains carries the scent of dried grass and diesel, a landscape that stretches out flat and unbroken until it hits the foothills. It’s here, in this quiet corner of the 4th Congressional District, that U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert has made her home since 2023, trading the rugged terrain of the West for the more suburban sprawl that now defines her political base. She is 39 years old, a former restaurant owner who knows the weight of a tip jar and the sting of payroll taxes. Across the aisle, in Highlands Ranch within Douglas County, sits Eileen Laubacher, 58 years old, a retired Navy Rear Admiral who spent 34 years in intelligence and the National Security Council. These two women are locked in a contest that will decide who speaks for a district that runs from the eastern plains to Loveland, and their answers on the big bills of 2026 reveal a stark divide in how they view the American worker.

The Colorado Sun laid out their positions on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and the differences are immediate. When asked which tax cuts in H.R. 1 should become permanent, Boebert’s answer is simple: all of them. She wants the cuts for seniors and tipped workers to stick, but she also wants to lower capital gains taxes for older homeowners and slash the payroll tax on tips. Her reasoning is personal, grounded in her own past behind a counter. "People were very generous with the waiters at my restaurant, and many times I ended up paying for it," she said. It’s a line that lands with a certain warmth, a reminder of the small-business reality that still exists in this valley. Laubacher’s approach is more surgical. She supports making the tax breaks for tipped and overtime workers permanent, and she likes the increase in the child tax credit to $2,200, proposing it go higher. But she has her sights set on a specific target: a $70 billion tax benefit for companies building data centers. She wants to eliminate it. It’s a clear signal that while she may share some economic goals, her definition of who benefits from federal policy is narrower.

The fight extends beyond taxes to the very fabric of social safety nets and energy policy, though the full scope of their stances on Medicaid work requirements, rural hospitals, and water rights remains a complex web of legislative maneuvering. Boebert’s platform leans heavily on the existing momentum of her party’s recent victories, seeking to lock in those gains. Laubacher brings the weight of military service and a different perspective on national security, having served at the highest levels of intelligence. Douglas Mageris of the Libertarian Party also appears on the ballot, adding a third voice to a district that is increasingly polarized.

You can feel the tension in these debates, not just as political posturing but as a reflection of how people here live. For a restaurant owner in Windsor, the tax code is a survival tool. For an admiral in Highlands Ranch, it’s a lever for broader economic strategy. The 4th District is not just a map line; it’s a collection of lives, commutes, and paychecks. As the election approaches, the choice between making every tax cut permanent or targeting specific corporate benefits becomes a test of which version of prosperity the district values. The wind will still blow across the plains, and the lights in Loveland will still glow against the dark, but who holds the pen on those decisions changes the texture of daily life for everyone in between.