Political newcomer Jeff Hurd appears poised to win the Republican primary for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, setting up a potentially tough general election battle in November against a well-funded Democrat in the race for the seat currently held by Rep. Lauren Boebert.
The Associated Press called the race for Hurd just over an hour after polls closed. He is leading the primary field with 42 percent of the vote. The rest is split between the race’s five other candidates.
Hurd entered the race early as a challenger to Boebert and quickly racked up endorsements and donations from prominent Western Slope Republicans. The Grand Junction attorney pitched himself to voters as a dedicated but low-key public servant, in contrast to the firebrand that was Boebert.
Hours before the results came in, Hurd told CPR News he felt the district was “hungry for a serious, hardworking Republican candidate.”
“I think voters are tired of a kind of cynical politics that just gets them angry. And I think they're hungry for somebody that's focused on the issues that matter to them: the cost of housing, the cost of the food that they're putting on their tables, the cost of the gasoline they're putting in their cars,” Hurd said.
