This story was updated at 1:30 a.m. June 18 to clarify portions of the article related to allegations.
With less than two weeks remaining before the Democratic primary for the University of Colorado Board of Regents, the race for the District 2 seat has drawn attention after an anonymous online post targeted one of the candidates.
A Reddit post written by a user claiming to be the mother of an incoming CU student criticized candidate Kubs Lalchandani’s legal work in Florida, questioned his ties to Boulder and suggested links to the cryptocurrency industry.
The user wrote that Lalchandani’s background left her “shocked” and “uncomfortable” as a parent preparing to send a child to the University of Colorado.
Boulder Reporting Lab obtained screenshots that show the poster was not a CU parent. Instead, the screenshots link the Reddit account to the campaign manager for Lalchandani’s opponent, former state Rep. Edie Hooton.
The account used the username “Sweaterstar.” In a message to colleagues reviewed by Boulder Reporting Lab, Hooton’s campaign manager, Anna Wert, wrote: “My username is sweaterstar.”
The post and Reddit account were deleted within hours on June 16, but not before the post circulated widely in Boulder political circles and became a flashpoint in the closely watched CU Regent primary.
Wert, a 2024 graduate of CU Boulder, has worked on numerous local Democratic campaigns, including District Attorney Michael Dougherty’s current campaign for attorney general.
Dougherty confirmed that Wert left the campaign on June 17 after the Reddit post came to light.
“I view it as unethical conduct on behalf of the other campaign,” he told Boulder Reporting Lab. “Although it has no connection to my campaign, integrity matters.”
Dougherty described Wert as creative, hardworking and intelligent, but added: “Clearly setting up a fake profile for another campaign crosses a line.”
Wert did not respond to requests for comment.
Hooton said she was unaware of the Reddit post and suggested Lalchandani was attempting to shift attention away from the issues in the race. Boulder Reporting Lab learned of the post independently before contacting the campaigns for comment.
“Rather than running on his record as a long-time Florida resident with an extensive Google footprint defending medical malpractice and crypto bros, Mr. Lalchandani is instead trying to make this race about a now-deleted social media post that Edie knew nothing about,” Hooton wrote in a statement. She called the controversy a “last-ditch effort to distract voters from the issues that define this race.”
Lalchandani rejected Hooton’s characterization of his record and said he had intentionally chosen not to run a negative campaign.
“Look, I’ve put my heart into this campaign and I want to be a regent with integrity, and I am so focused on the challenges facing CU and higher education,” he told Boulder Reporting Lab.
“How do you become a good example for students if you’re attacking people for trying to be in public office?” he said.
“I came to caucus and assembly with ideas [about] what the challenges CU is facing are, and my solutions for them,” Lalchandani said. “And I just presumed, maybe naively, that should be the entirety of the campaign.”
The Reddit post was not the first attack in the race. Campaign finance records show that Colorado Within Reach, an independent expenditure committee formed May 13 that has focused exclusively on the CU Regents race, has spent more than $6,500 on negative ads targeting Lalchandani and more than $25,000 on mailers supporting Hooton.
The post included many of the same allegations as an anonymous text message sent to delegates in the 2nd Congressional District Democratic caucus on the day they were voting on which CU Regent candidates to place on the primary ballot. “Kubs Lalchandani may not be exactly who you think he is,” the text began.
Hooton told Boulder Reporting Lab she didn’t know who sent that message. Chris Nicholson, her campaign manager at the time, said he also did not know its source.
The Reddit post and anonymous text message included claims about Lalchandani’s background, legal work and campaign supporters. Some of those same criticisms also appeared in Hooton’s statement to Boulder Reporting Lab.
They reference articles published during Lalchandani’s unsuccessful 2018 campaign for Florida’s 113th House District. During that race, opponents and news coverage scrutinized his work representing cosmetic surgery businesses after the Miami Herald reported on serious patient injuries and deaths associated with procedures performed at some of the clinics.
Lalchandani said the attacks on his legal work reflect a misunderstanding of the role lawyers play and noted that he represents hundreds of companies across the healthcare and technology sectors as a corporate attorney.
“Lawyers are part of the system,” he said. “They are not their clients. They represent clients in different scenarios, and as long as they do it with integrity and honesty, that’s what we should be asking of lawyers.”
He also rejected suggestions that he lacks ties to Boulder, noting that he attended Fairview High School, bought a home in Boulder with his partner in 2019, and he has been registered to vote in Boulder since 2021. Lalchandani said his family has remained in Boulder since he left for college and that he has returned regularly for years.
“I grew up here. Since 2008, when my dad had a heart attack, I don’t think I’ve gone two months without being here,” he said.
The Reddit post also suggested Lalchandani’s campaign was backed by people connected to the cryptocurrency industry. Campaign disclosures reviewed by Boulder Reporting Lab do not identify any contributors whose listed occupation is cryptocurrency trader. Lalchandani said he does not have corporate backers.
District 2’s CU Regent seat represents Boulder and a large swath of northwestern Colorado stretching to Steamboat Springs. All three candidates in the race live in Boulder.
Recent Boulder elections have featured their share of hardball tactics.
In 2021, Boulder Progressives co-founder Eric Budd created a Twitter account using the name of former city council candidate Steve Rosenblum, leading to a defamation lawsuit that was settled in 2025. In 2023, the Working Families Party sent a mailer depicting then-mayoral candidate Bob Yates alongside images from the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, which Yates called “abhorrent.”
Nicholson, Hooton’s former campaign manager, said he believes voters in Boulder tend to reject overtly negative campaign tactics.
“Boulder likes clean campaigns in a massive way,” he said. “I’ve never seen a negative attack succeed in Boulder proper.”
