Colorado's 3rd District prepares for epic, costly election battle -- even without Lauren Boebert

Hurd, 44, has raised appreciably more money than his Republican opponents and has picked up some high-profile endorsements from the likes of former Gov. Bill Owens and John Suthers, the former Colorado attorney general and Colorado Springs mayor. But he needs to do better in the money game versus Frisch, and he knows it.

Frisch took in $1.4 million in the first three months of 2024 compared to Hurd’s $241,000.

“We’re going to have a formidable and well-funded candidate to face. As Republicans, we need to take it seriously,” Hurd said. “I’m motivated to raising more money in the next quarter.”

He lists the flow of immigrants across the southern U.S. border in recent years as a “massive political failure” at the top of the issues page of his campaign website. Energy extraction, important in the 27-county 3rd District, is also a priority for Hurd. Those two issues form a nexus between Hurd and former President Donald Trump, who will be the Republican presidential nominee at the top of November’s ballot.

“His top two issues are my top two issues — securing the border and energy independence,” Hurd said.

Beyond that, Hurd is tight-lipped about the former president, declining to say even whether he voted for him in the last two elections — “I’m not focused on 2016 and 2020,” he said — or whether he will vote for Trump this fall.

“I don’t talk about who I vote for,” Hurd said.

Trump could be a volatile factor for the district’s Republican nominee, Saunders said. Colorado voters gave President Biden a more-than-13-percentage-point edge over Trump in 2020.

“So, how close can Hurd get to Trump without cost is an interesting question in this cycle,” Saunders said. “Likewise, will Frisch try to tie the Republican nominee as closely as possible to Trump in order to alienate those unaffiliated voters again?”

On the other hand, the party standard bearer at the top of the ticket could mobilize the GOP base in the 3rd Congressional District. After all, Trump won the district by more than 8 percentage points over Biden four years ago, according to calculations by the progressive political site Daily Kos that take redistricting into account.

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