Back in 2008, when I made my own run for Congress, I ran in Congressional District 5, because that is where I live, in Colorado Springs. The district was a different shape back then, as it was redrawn after 2020 (as happens after every census) to include basically only El Paso County, whereas before the district included Fremont, Teller, Park and Lake counties as well. Given the stunning beauty of the district, I greatly enjoyed the times I was able to travel to the “outer counties” in my campaign, but I did focus most of my time where most of the votes were, which of course is El Paso County.

But it never occurred to me I should think about moving to a different location within Colorado, where I might find victory less difficult. On the day after the election, having been handed my hat (for the young folks out there, that means having been beaten badly) by the GOPer, U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, then-Gov. Bill Ritter was kind enough to call me to thank me for running, and he remarked my moderate stance and military background would have proved successful in, as he put it, anywhere else in Colorado. But anything with an “R” after his or her name, Ritter noted, wins in CD5. Those were kind words and generous to a fault, in that I suspect CD3 and CD4 would have proven problematic. But the point is I ran from where I was from, as is the norm.

Well, norm-ish…

In a recent Colorado Politics article, ace reporter Ernest Luning reviewed the history of carpetbagging in Colorado. As you likely recall, a “carpetbagger” is a term ascribed to people who live in one political district and run for office in another, after quickly moving into the new district. The story noted carpetbagging, while still technically rare, is not unheard of in the 2024 election cyle.

In a recent column, I was not favorably impressed with U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert’s move from the area she currently represents, CD3, over to CD4, hoping for an easier path to keep office. But Luning’s article is fascinating in terms of how often such moves are made, and how the voters have responded. So, take a minute to read the article, I’ll wait here…

All set?

In modern times, Hillary Clinton may well be the most famous of the carpetbaggers, when, at the end of her husband’s second term, the family moved to New York, became residents there and she promptly ran for the open New York U.S. Senate seat. She addressed the carpetbagger issue head on, even bringing a literal carpetbag on stage with her. The voters, the ultimate arbitrators, were OK with her move, and she was elected to the Senate.

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But there have been others. In the middle of the 19th century, a gentleman named James Shields was elected to the U.S. Senate. Recall please that prior to the 17th Amendment passing in 1913, a state’s U.S. senators were selected by the state legislatures, and not by a direct vote of the people.

Anyway, Sen. Shields would later be called the “King of Carpetbaggers” when he first became a senator from Illinois, then when beaten, moved to Minnesota where he was elected to the Senate, and then, when ousted from Minnesota, moved to Missouri, where he was appointed to, guess where, the U.S. Senate again. He remains the only person in United States history to be a senator from three different states. A century later, John F. Kennedy would “live” in an apartment building across from the Massachusetts State House, while continuing to work in D.C., during his inaugural congressional run, wherein he got 73% of the vote.

As reported in CoPo, Rep. Boebert is hardly the only Colorado person in this election cycle that might be called a carpetbagger. Luning notes quite a few (and even more in our state’s history) are running for office in places they don’t currently live or have only lived in for a brief time. The Constitution, after all, only requires a state’s congressional delegation live in the state they represent but does not require they live in the district within the state they seek to represent. Clearly, the concept of carpetbagging didn’t bother the founders of our nation, if they even thought much about it.

Some may move because the redistricting ended up drawing their houses in a different district. But others move because they think they have a better chance of winning, such as Boebert. Also on that list is former State Rep. Ron Hanks, a Republican from (at least for the moment) Cañyon City, but now that Boebert is out of CD3, he has declared for that seat, and will move from the far less GOP-friendly CD7.

My old friend and U.S. Rep. Jason Crow (full disclosure: I’ve known and respected Jason for a long time and he helped out on my campaign) moved 17 blocks to get into CD6, where he defeated Mike Coffman, became a Jan. 6, 2021 hero, and is likely very safe for reelection. Carpetbagger? The GOP tried to tag him as such, and he still won and has been easily reelected.

And so, was I unfair to Rep. Boebert just last week when I criticized her for abandoning CD3 in hopes of greener CD4 grasses? Maybe. But I do think an incumbent who was elected by the good people of a particular district shouldn’t be abandoning that district, during their actual time in office representing those folks, just because reelection looks tough. You are supposed to be there to serve and not to be, as some have put it, a single-minded seeker of reelection. And I will be just as quick to condemn, say, Crow, should he decide in some future election to abandon the people that voted for him in a quest for an easier win, if perhaps U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette was to decide to retire from the very Democratic CD1. Jason won’t do that, I’m sure, but if he did, I’d scold him.

So, am I a hypocrite, based on a column from just last week? I don’t think so, but you decide. My beef with Boebert was her abandonment of those who elected her, albeit by a whisker. I don’t have any issues with Hanks moving, or any of the other folks either moving or thinking about moving into districts they think they can win more easily. The voters will ultimately decide. In New York they decided they wanted Hillary as their senator, and the folks in CD6 want Jason Crow.

That’s one of the nice things about having regular elections: the will of the people, as imperfect as is always the case with humans involved, is the ultimate arbitrator.

And as to the current Colorado carpetbaggers? We’ll see what happens in the primaries and the general election.

Hal Bidlack is a retired professor of political science and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught more than 17 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.