Viral Boebert challenger Alex Walker has family political connections, few district ties

Alex Walker, a Democratic candidate for the 3rd Congressional District seat held by Rep. Lauren Boebert, launched his campaign with a scatological splash in February, announcing his bid with a video featuring simulated fecal matter raining from the sky.

Walker’s spoof of the “bulls***” spewed by the far-right Colorado congresswoman set the tone for his brash, occasionally foul-mouthed campaign, during which he’s urged Democrats to stop being “polite” in fighting back against Boebert’s “embarrassing circus.”

“Colorado needs a bull, not a bullsh***er,” reads a pitch for campaign donations on Walker’s website.

But with primary ballots set to arrive in voters’ mailboxes next week, Walker’s campaign has clammed up about basic information concerning his background and apparent lack of ties to the 3rd District, which encompasses much of Colorado’s Western Slope, along with Pueblo and the San Luis Valley.

A press release announcing his run said that Walker was “raised by Republican parents while growing up in Littleton and Eagle.” But Walker’s most substantial connection to the 3rd District appears to be a $2 million vacation property purchased by his parents in Avon in 2011, the year Walker turned 21. Walker’s campaign manager told The Colorado Sun Thursday that he had “lived in Avon off and on for 10 years.”

Rental listing photos of units sharing an address with Walker’s parents’ condo at the Beaver Creek ski resort closely match the background of some of Walker’s viral TikTok campaign videos. While that property was recently within the 3rd District’s boundaries, Colorado’s new 2022 congressional map placed it in Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse’s 2nd District.

And although he’s spoken often on the campaign trail about the bridge-building experience of growing up in a conservative household, Walker’s father, Sam, is a prominent Denver attorney who state and federal records show has given generously to both parties. A longtime top executive at Molson Coors, he is currently serving his second consecutive Democratic administration in Colorado as an adviser to Attorney General Phil Weiser.

Walker is registered to vote in Denver, at a $4.5 million condo at the Four Seasons Private Residences owned by his parents. Records show he didn’t vote in Colorado in the November 2020 general election. His campaign did not answer questions Thursday about where he voted in that election, if at all.

“Alex lives in Avon, which until a few months ago was in the third congressional district where he is now running,” Walker campaign manager Amy Beihl said in an emailed statement.

“It’s sad that when Colorado voters are focused on important issues like deadly mass shootings and a woman’s right to choose, that Alex’s family is the focus of the media’s attention,” the statement continued. “This is not what voters care about.”

Boebert the favorite

A Harvard Law graduate, Sam Walker served in several senior positions in the George H.W. Bush administration before joining D.C.-based lobbying firm Wiley Rein in 1992. Property records show the Walkers purchased a Littleton home in January 2003, shortly after Sam joined Molson Coors as the brewing giant’s chief legal officer.

He left that position in 2018 to serve Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper’s administration as the head of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, and currently advises the attorney general’s office in a “volunteer, near full-time role,” according to his LinkedIn page.

Though he has offered few specifics about his biography in his campaign’s widely shared TikTok videos, Alex Walker’s fundraising appeals to his 42,000 followers often feature complaints about the influence of “rich white dudes” on elections, including one video with the caption, “Turns out you can’t be poor and run for Congress.”

Both of Walker’s parents have contributed the maximum of $5,800 to his congressional campaign, according to Federal Election Commission disclosures.

One of Walker’s two opponents in the June 28 Democratic primary, former Aspen City Councilman Adam Frisch, has self-funded his campaign to the tune of $1.5 million, FEC records show.

After graduating from Stanford in 2013, Walker launched several unsuccessful tech startups, including Spindle, a “social journaling app.” He most recently worked as a product manager for travel app Omio, according to his LinkedIn page. Campaign representatives told The Colorado Sun that Walker lived in Los Angeles “for a portion of the pandemic,” but declined to answer more specific questions Thursday.

Boebert is favored to win reelection in the 3rd District, which grew more Republican-leaning in the redistricting process. Facing a long-shot GOP primary rival in state Sen. Don Coram, she has aggressively attacked her opponent over alleged corruption and self-dealing.

Federal law permits members of Congress to represent districts they don’t reside in, but such situations are rare. One prominent early Boebert challenger, Democratic state Sen. Kerry Donovan of Vail, dropped out last year after redistricting placed her residence outside the district, saying in a statement that there was “no viable path forward for me to remain in this race.”