On September 20, 2026, Boebert posted a video on X directly addressing reporters: “Hey, ‘journalists!’ This one’s for you.” She accused outlets of running a “smear and called it news” after amplifying a sworn filing to the House Ethics Committee by David Wheeler of American Muckrakers. The filing alleged sexual relationships with three current or former staffers (Clarice Navarro Ratzlaff, Raven Finegan, and Jeffrey Small) and a roughly $200,000 payment to one after she purportedly threatened an ethics complaint.
Boebert’s office rejected the claims as “utterly false” and “nothing more than a politically motivated stunt designed to manipulate the ethics process, create headlines, smear her, and generate clickbait.” One of the named former staffers, Navarro Ratzlaff, also called the allegations “entirely false, defamatory, and beyond ridiculous.” The filing came from Wheeler, a longtime critic whose group has previously published sensational claims about Boebert (including unverified abortion and escort allegations) that were fact-checked as lacking evidence or inaccurate.
House Ethics Committee rules further undercut the filing’s standing: a complaint generally cannot be filed within 60 days of an election in which the member is a candidate, and a non-member submission requires a written certification from a House member that it was made in good faith. Boebert’s office noted neither condition was met, calling the document a “political smear packaged as an ethics filing.” Multiple outlets still treated it as news despite the denials and procedural issues.
This is not an isolated episode. Boebert has faced years of personal and political attacks, from theater incidents to family legal matters to earlier unproven claims by the same activist network. Coverage often prioritizes salacious details over verification or context about the source’s track record and timing (weeks before the November 2026 election).
Voting Record: Consistent Conservatism
Boebert’s legislative record stands in contrast to the personal attacks. She has compiled high scores from limited-government and constitutional scorecards:
- Freedom Index / John Birch Society-style constitutional scorecards: lifetime around 93%, with session scores in the low-to-mid 90s (117th–119th Congresses). Strong marks on limited government, spending restraint, migration, abortion, gun rights, and opposition to “woke” policies.
- Heritage Action and similar conservative trackers have given her lifetime scores in the mid-to-high 90s range on key votes.
- Party unity is typically high (around 88–96% in recent years), reflecting alignment with House Republicans on major items while occasionally breaking for more restrictive fiscal or America First positions.
Key issue areas reflected in her votes and sponsorships include:
- Border and immigration: Opposed amnesty bills, supported measures to end catch-and-release, restore Remain in Mexico, expand detention, and fund barriers/technology. Backed the Laken Riley Act and related enforcement priorities; criticized open-border policies and high encounter numbers under the prior administration.
- Second Amendment: Consistent “A” or better ratings from gun-rights groups (NRA, Gun Owners of America, NSSF). Opposed expanded background checks, assault-weapons bans, red-flag expansions, and ATF rule changes; introduced or supported efforts to roll back prior gun-control provisions.
- Abortion and life issues: 100% pro-life voting record on tracked measures. Supported Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act and Hyde/Weldon protections; opposed bills expanding abortion access or funding.
- Fiscal and energy policy: Voted against major Democratic spending packages (American Rescue Plan, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS Act). Favored energy production, opposed Green New Deal-style measures, and supported spending caps or rescissions where available.
- National defense and foreign policy: Supported National Defense Authorization Acts with amendments limiting DEI/“extremism” programs, restricting China-linked entities, and backing Israel. Favored stronger military readiness while critiquing open-ended foreign engagements in some cases.
- Other: Opposed COVID vaccine mandates for certain sectors, backed election-integrity measures (e.g., SAVE Act priorities), and prioritized Colorado-specific appropriations (water, military, education choice) that reached law.
Attendance has drawn criticism—she has missed a higher share of votes than the House median in some sessions (around 4% lifetime in one tracker)—but her recorded positions remain reliably conservative on the issues that define her brand: border security, guns, life, limited government, and skepticism of progressive social and fiscal priorities.
Media focus on personal allegations and past controversies often crowds out examination of this record. Voters in Colorado’s 4th District (and previously the 3rd) have repeatedly returned her to office on the strength of that voting pattern and her confrontational style. The latest ethics filing, whatever its ultimate fate under committee rules, fits a pattern of high-visibility, low-verification attacks that Boebert and her allies argue are designed to distract from policy disagreements rather than adjudicate facts.