Jeff Hurd wins in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District

Republican Jeff Hurd won the race to represent Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, beating Democrat Adam Frisch despite Frisch’s more than a $10 million fundraising advantage in the race to take the seat Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert’s has represented since 2021.

Hurd, a Grand Junction attorney, led the race with 50.1% of the vote to Frisch’s 46.8% on Thursday. The Associated Press called the race at 10:10 a.m.

Frisch, a former Aspen City Council member, was by far Colorado’s best-funded congressional candidate.

He broke records while campaigning against Boebert and has continued to lead candidates across the state in quarterly fundraising totals even after she switched districts.

The district, one of three seats that were open in Colorado this election cycle, has been represented by Boebert since 2021. After winning reelection by just 546 votes against Frisch in 2022, Boebert switched districts this year to run in the more conservative 4th Congressional District on the other side of the state. She won her race in the 4th on Tuesday.

Both Frisch and Hurd started their campaigns contrasting themselves as sensible alternatives to Boebert. Frisch identifies as a conservative Democrat and had counted on appealing to Colorado’s unaffiliated voters. 

Hurd works as a commercial and regulatory attorney at the Grand Junction office of Ireland Stapleton Pryor and Pascoe and is the former board chairman of the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce. He grew up in Grand Junction, and this is his first campaign for elected office.

Frisch and Hurd differed little on policy stances in their two debates, diverging mostly on abortion policy.  

The 3rd District encompasses Colorado’s Western Slope and the southwest corner of the state, sweeping east to include Pueblo, Otero and Las Animas counties. It historically leans strongly to the right, according to a 2021 analysis of recent elections.

Editor’s note: This story was updated to reflect that The Associated Press called the race for Jeff Hurd on Thursday.