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‘On the Lauren bandwagon’: Pitkin County conservative praises Boebert’s background

Roger Nicholson, 84, sits in Aspen earlier this month. Nicholson is a supporter of U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert. "It was a way to honor my mother in supporting Lauren,” he said of his 2020 vote. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)

Editor’s note: This story is part of an ongoing series highlighting voters throughout Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District. Through the month of May, The Aspen Times, the Glenwood Springs Post Independent, Steamboat Pilot & Today, Craig Press and Vail Daily will be running stories highlighting Democrat and Republican voters in our communities.

Roger Nicholson was a longtime supporter of former Republican Rep. Scott Tipton — until he heard Lauren Boebert speak for the first time in 2018.

“(Tipton had) started to get wishy-washy,” Nicholson said. “I saw Lauren as a fighter … and Scott was getting weaker, so I jumped on the Lauren bandwagon. I admire the hell out of her.”



Nicholson, 84, has lived full-time in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District for 11 years, though he’s owned property in Old Snowmass, where he now lives, for more than 20 years. The semi-retired businessman from Southern California is a registered Republican and voted for both Boebert and former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

Boebert, in particular, impressed him partly because she reminded him of his mother. His father, an Englishman, and his American mother met during World War II. The relationship didn’t last and his mother brought him and his brother to the U.S. while they were children and raised them here, he said.




“Because she was courageous and we had amazing opportunities, we made it,” Nicholson said. “It’s the same story with Lauren. She started with nothing. It was a way to honor my mother in supporting Lauren.”

He said he admired Boebert’s ability to build a family, a business and a political career from nothing. Just as important, Nicholson said he liked her “love of country” and fighting spirit.

“She is treated unfairly but she doesn’t let it get her down,” he said. “She bites back. She’s tough.”

However, he said it’s too early to rate her performance in Congress. Boebert is in the midst of finding allies and coalitions to defend against threats to immigration and threats to the Second Amendment and needs time to find her way.

“She has not disappointed a single avid backer like me,” Nicholson said. “I think she’s doing all she can be doing under the circumstances of the moment.”

He said he’s a strong supporter of immigration enforcement, a lack of which is “undermining the country.” Nicholson again pointed to his own experience and said he followed the rules for legal immigration “and we made it.”

“(Boebert) feels strongly that our laws should be followed,” he said.

But more important to Nicholson than that is the bigger picture, and restoring a sunnier view of the future in line with the outlook presented in the 1950s and ’60s.

“What matters most to me is the future of this country,” Nicholson said. “(The midcentury’s sunny outlook) has changed into a darker future in the last 15 or 20 years. I have eight grandchildren. I’d like to see their future as powerful as mine was, and I’m not sure about that anymore.”

Without hesitation, Nicholson said he’d vote for Boebert again in 2022.

“I’ve done a lot for her,” he said. “I’ve raised money for her. I’ve been like a missionary for her, and I’m going to continue because I believe in her. Our country needs people like her.”