Three candidates are running for a seat in the House of Representatives in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District this year. The primary election is on June 30. That election will decide which names appear on the ballot in November. Students associated with political groups on campus expressed concerns over job security and gas prices.
Incumbent Jeff Hurd runs unopposed after President Trump-endorsed candidate Hope Scheppelman dropped out of the Republican race on March 20. Democratic candidates Alex Kelloff and Dwayne Romero both want to flip the consistently red seat. The last Democrat to represent the 3rd District was John Salazar in 2009.
The Criterion spoke with Kelloff and Romero. Hurd did not respond to requests from the Criterion.
Both Kelloff and Romero come from the Roaring Fork Valley. Kelloff started campaigning for the seat almost a year ago, and Romero joined the race in early March.
All three candidates prioritize the same issues: jobs, affordability and water access.
College Republicans at CMU (CR-CMU) President Jess Clark-Scott connected the jobs issue with Gen Z’s struggle to find work.
“Gen Z wants to work. We just don’t have the opportunities right now to work. It’s not a lot of jobs, not a great job market here,” Scott said.
Turning Point USA at CMU (TPUSA-CMU) president James Ruehmann offered thoughts on affordability.
“The most realistic approach to affordability is to get gas prices down, but we can’t do that without the Strait of Hormuz being reopened,” Ruehmann said.
The Criterion contacted Allies Representing Progressive Policies (ARPP) for their perspective on the upcoming election and they declined an interview.
Rep. Hurd ran unopposed in 2024 after then-Representative Lauren Boebert moved her campaign to Colorado’s 4th Congressional District. He beat Aspen Democrat Adam Frisch by a 5% margin. Hurd ran on a campaign that emphasized his roots to Grand Junction, affordability and being pro-life. He presented himself as a “sensible alternative” to Boebert and described himself “as exciting as a bread sandwich.”
Hurd lost Trump’s support in February after he voted against Trump’s tariff agenda. As part of a large post on Truth Social, Trump wrote:
“Based on a lack of support, in particular for the unbelievably successful TARIFFS imposed on Foreign Countries and Companies which has made America Richer, Stronger, Bigger, and Better than ever before, I am hereby WITHDRAWING my Endorsement of RINO Congressman Jeff Hurd, of Colorado’s 3rd District, and fully Endorsing Highly Respected Patriot, Hope Scheppelman, to take his place in Congress”
After Scheppelman left the race, Trump re-endorsed Hurd.
“We’re the only variable that changed in that time frame. Now obviously if you read Trump’s Truth Social, he talks about ‘Hope can step down and join their administration and […] golly gee, Jeff Hurd is actually a great guy and I’m going to go ahead and re-endorse him.’ But we have a theory that they saw what was happening with the Democratic side of this particular race and recognized that there was a stronger horse coming into the race,” Romero said.
Romero remains critical of Trump and said the following in his campaign announcement video:
“Jeff Hurd and Donald Trump have taken too much. It pisses me off to see them kick people off healthcare, close hospitals and make everything cost more. I sure as hell didn’t risk my life in Iraq so Trump and Hurd could sow chaos and trample our freedoms.”
Romero described this announcement as a call to action.
“It’s like, wait a minute, this has gone too far. This is hurting everyday citizens in our district and he did nothing about it. He voted for the one big beautiful bill, which included those particular reductions and that really, really upsets me,” Romero said.
Romero previously worked as an officer of the Army Corps of Engineers, graduated from Harvard Business School with his masters in business administration and owns a real estate company in Basalt. He served in former Governor John Hickenlooper’s administration as the Chief Economic Development Director, served as the president and a member of the Aspen School District and served as an Aspen City Council member.
Hurd’s current campaign website focuses on similar issues, with border security as the top priority listed. Hurd faced scrutiny from Grand Junction residents in July when he voted “No” on bringing the Epstein Files Transparency Act to a vote. A banner reading “Hurd Protects Epstein” sat above I-70 at 24 Road towards the end of the month. When it was eventually brought to a vote in November, Hurd voted “yes” to release the information to the public.
Kelloff co-founded ski company Armada and lives in the Aspen area. He campaign runs on a platform that emphasizes jobs, safeguarding social welfare and improving educational opportunities.
“We can reform student loans, student financial aid, so that people can, one, pay back their loans, but two, don’t get in a position that effectively bankrupts them, or crowds out other spending that they would like to make. To buy a car, or lease a car, to buy a home. If they’re spending too much on their student debt,” Kelloff said.
The US’s total student debt has risen by $1.26 trillion since tracking started in 2006, according to statistics from the Education Data Initiative.
