Jayson Boebert is the husband of Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert and the father of their four sons. The 40-year-old former oil and gas worker helps run their gun-themed restaurant, Shooters Grill, in their home state of Colorado.
Boebert’s wife was elected to represent Colorado’s 3rd congressional district in 2020 and was sworn into office in 2021. Lauren Boebert, 34, and Jayson Boebert live in Silt, Colorado.
Here’s what you need to know about Jayson Boebert, Lauren Boebert’s husband:
1. Jayson Boebert & Lauren Boebert Were Married in 2005 & Opened Shooters Grill, Where the Wait Staff Openly Carries Guns, in 2013 in Rifle, Colorado
Boebert CampaignRep. Lauren Boebert with her husband, Jayson Boebert, and their four sons.
Jayson Boebert and Lauren Boebert were married in 2005, according to her campaign’s website. The couple met after Jayson Boebert moved to Colorado from Las Vegas, Nevada, where he grew up, The Herald Times wrote. She told the newspaper, “We had to develop conservative values over the years. We learned that when times get tough, we buckle down and get tougher.”
In June 2020, Lauren Boebert tweeted a photo with Jayson and wrote, “Happy anniversary to the most selfless man I know! Thank you, Jayson, for standing with me in every season. I’ve learned by allowing our strengths to cover one another’s weaknesses, we are steadfast and immovable. I love that I get to live life having you by my side!”
According to the Herald Times, the Boeberts opened Shooters Grill in 2013 because of volatility in the oil and gas industry. She told the newspaper they opened the restaurant as, “a backup plan for ourselves and to employ others in our community.” The restaurant, in Rifle, Colorado, has a gun theme and the wait staff openly carries guns. The restaurant gained national attention, especially from conservative media, including Fox News, after it opened.
In January 2017, Lauren Boebert wrote in an opinion piece for the Glenwood Springs Post Independent, “When my husband, Jayson, and I made the decision to open a restaurant, we knew the financials in the industry were not always favorable. That did not deter us; we were not and are not in this business for the sole purpose to make a profit. We rely on our valued customers to keep our doors open, but that money does not go into our pockets.”
She added, “Our restaurants have never been just about guns, but what an interesting way to connect with people and have the opportunity to reach into their hearts from such a superficial, beginning level. We have seen families reconciled, bodies healed, people brought into the Kingdom of God by making Jesus their Lord and so much more.”
In 2016, the couple opened an expanded restaurant in Rifle. Lauren Boebert gave credit to her husband, telling the Post Independent, “This man right here, he put a lot of work into this.”
2. The Couple’s 3rd Son Was Born in the Front Seat of Jayson Boebert’s Truck
Boebert CampaignLauren and Jayson Boebert with their children.
Jayson and Lauren Boebert have four sons together. According to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, their eldest son was born when Lauren Boebert was 18, shortly after she had dropped out of high school to get a job to help her family. According to The Herald Times, the Boeberts kids were 14, 12, 10 and 7 in January 2020 when Lauren Boebert entered the congressional race. She told the newspaper her sons attend a private school in Glenwood Springs.
The couple’s third son, Kaydon, was born in July 2009 in the front seat of Jayson Boebert’s pickup truck, according to The Aspen Times. “When we got to New Castle my water broke, and I started pushing and couldn’t stop. By the time we got to the West Glenwood exit, the baby’s head was out,” Lauren Boebert told the newspaper. “I was just trying not to panic. I was really scared, but I knew I couldn’t be. My body kept pushing, and I couldn’t stop. I caught him and pulled him up to my chest, and told Jayson to just keep going. Everyone was a mess when we pulled up to the ER, not really knowing what to do next.”
I am a mother to 4 boys. My husband and I are raising them to be strong men! I refuse to send my children into a socialist nation. Their freedom IS my motivator! Threaten the liberty of Americans, and I’ll be there to hold you accountable! #USHouse #CO03 #HellNObeto @BetoORourke
In May 2020, Boebert tweeted from her campaign account, “I am a mother to 4 boys. My husband and I are raising them to be strong men! I refuse to send my children into a socialist nation. Their freedom IS my motivator! Threaten the liberty of Americans, and I’ll be there to hold you accountable!”
3. Jayson Boebert Was Accused of Exposing Himself to Young Women, Including a Teen Girl, at a Bowling Alley in 2004 & Was Also Arrested on a Domestic Violence Charge
Happy anniversary to the most selfless man I know!
Thank you, Jayson, for standing with me in every season.
I’ve learned by allowing our strengths to cover one another’s weaknesses, we are steadfast and immovable.
I love that I get to live life having you by my side!
In October 2020, Colorado blogger Anne Landman uncovered a 2004 case involving Jayson Boebert. She posted the arrest report from the case. According to police, Jayson Boebert was accused of exposing his penis to young women, including a 16-year-old girl, at a bowling alley in Rifle.
According to the arrest report, Jayson Boebert was at the bowling alley’s snack bar while the group of young women discussed their tattoos. Police said he overheard the conversation and interjected, telling them he had a tattoo on his genitals. According to police, the women turned away from him to ignore him, but he came up to them, unzipped his pants and exposed his penis. Police said the bowling alley owner then called police after Jayson Boebert refused to leave.
Landman wrote, “Two females described the incident to Garfield County Sheriff officers and signed witness statements leading to Jayson’s arrest. Jayson told the officers that he had ‘displayed his thumb pretending it was his genitals in a gesture of fun,’ according to the report, but one of the victims wrote in her statement, ‘I know that wasn’t his thumb, because thumbs aren’t 6 inches long.'”
According to the arrest report, Lauren Boebert, then known by her maiden name, Lauren Opal Roberts, was listed as a witness, but told police she didn’t observe the incident. Jayson Boebert later pleaded guilty to public indecency and lewd exposure and was sentenced to four days in jail and two years of probation.
Also in 2004, Jayson Boebert was charged with domestic violence against Lauren Boebert. They were dating at the time, according to the New York Post. A Garfield County court clerk told The Post that Jayson Boebert, “did unlawfully strike, shove or kick … and subjected her to physical contact,” and served seven days in jail in that case.
Jayson Boebert has not commented about the arrests. His wife’s campaign told the New York Post in January 2021 that reporting on their criminal past, is “a retread of a failed personal attack by the Democrats from the last campaign.” Lauren Boebert also has a history of arrests and criminal citations.
4. Before Opening a Restaurant With His Wife, Jayson Boebert Worked for an Oil & Gas Company as a Well Site Supervisor
Jayson Boebert worked in the oil and gas industry before opening a restaurant with his wife. According to his LinkedIn profile, he was a well site supervisor for Chesapeake Energy. He also said he attended the College of Southern Nevada and previously worked as a roughneck for Nabors Drilling. Online records also show he operated Boebert Consulting LLC from 2012 to 2019.
The couple has overcome financial issues during their journey to owning a restaurant, according to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. In 2010, the couple lost their home in a foreclosure case and were evicted, the newspaper reported. Lauren Boebert told The Daily Herald, “I grew up in a Democrat home. My mom believed all those failed [government] promises. She believed you need the government to support you.” But she said she learned she could take care of herself better, “There was such a sense of pride that came with that.”
According to the financial disclosure filed by Lauren Boebert after she was elected, the couple earned $645,042 in income from their restaurant in 2018 and $17,701 from the affiliated smokehouse they also own. But the financial disclosure form shows the businesses had a net loss of $242,347 that same year. More recent financial information for 2019 and 2020 was not listed. According to Colorado Newsline, the Boeberts paid off $20,000 in state tax liens against the restaurant in 2020.
Lauren Boebert told The Colorado Sun in 2019, “Being raised in a poverty mentality, you kind of were raised believing everything (is) a struggle, and it is, but there’s hope in that struggle, and you have to have vision to get out of it.” She added she and her husband said they realized when they decided to open a restaurant, “failure and government assistance were not an option.”
5. Jayson & Lauren Boebert’s Restaurant Has Been Accused of Public Health Violations After 80 People Got Sick From Pulled Pork Sliders They Served at a Rodeo
At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Jayson and Lauren Boebert squared off against local health authorities, defying a shutdown order before eventually agreeing to open at lower capacity, according to The Post Independent. Before reopening, Lauren Boebert wrote on Facebook in March 2020, “Shortly after 5pm the Garfield County Health Department suspended my food license. My restaurant can’t serve food until further notice. A virtual hearing is scheduled for Monday. Governor Polis, your policies are literally bankrupting small businesses like mine that are trying their very best to responsibly stay afloat. This has to stop.”
It was not the couple’s first run-in with health authorities. According to The Post Independent, at least 80 people were sickened with food poisoning after the Rifle Rodeo in 2017. The newspaper wrote, “Our open records request and follow-up found that pulled pork sliders served by Shooters Grill, ‘the only temporary food vendor reported to be present at the rodeo,’ was blamed for the sickness. The pork was smoked at Smokehouse 1776, which has common ownership with Shooters in downtown Rifle.”
The newspaper added, “The county’s final county report said, ’36 of 38 who reported eating sliders became ill; all 36 of those ill reported eating sliders, suggesting the sliders as the most likely culprit.’ In addition, ‘100 percent of those interviewed with diarrhea ate pork sliders.’ The meat apparently was handled poorly.”
Lauren Boebert pushed back against the accusations in a 2017 letter published in The Post Independent, “Of course with our mission being to serve the people we love and care for, we hold high standards to food safety. All of our employees undergo proper training. We have passed all of our previous and recent health inspections, of which I am happy to release. I want my business to be places of healing, restoration and edification; certainly not sickness.”
She added, “I am sorry so many people have been misled by bits and pieces of stories that were released in an excitement to create some sort of “news” in our uneventful area. There were dozens of people who were affected with the same symptoms that did not eat any of the food provided the night of the rodeo. There were only two confirmed stool samples that returned with bacteria, and the health inspector told me both samples were very improperly handled.”
Boebert also wrote, “It’s sad that our local paper can turn two confirmed cases into ’80.’ There are many more people who ate the same food and did not experience any symptoms. The health inspector communicated with me on multiple occasions concerning the level of filth that was on the grandstands at the fairgrounds, mainly mentioning fecal matter. None of this product was ever tested. My food was tested immediately and came back negative of all bacteria. Yet, this was not stated in any articles. I will take the hit and stand strong and love in the midst of this trial.”
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