By Jesse Sarles
Originally published at cbsnews.com.
The race to replace Lauren Boebert in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District is now focused with the results from Tuesday’s primary election. Jeff Hurd, a self-appointed first-time politician, came out victorious in the Republican primary and will face Democratic candidate Adam Frisch in the general election in November. Hurd has said he is planning on running a serious campaign for rural Coloradans in a traditionally conservative district.
With 91% of the votes counted, Hurd won by approximately 42%.
“The Democrats and Adam Frisch are afraid of me,” Hurd said on Tuesday. “They know that I am the candidate that can win the general election, that can hold this seat, that reflects western and southern Colorado values and can hold the seat come November.”
Frisch and the Rocky Mountain Values super PAC ran ads leading up to the primary that were aimed at helping former state Rep. Ron Hanks, formerly of Cañon City, and hurting Hurd in the GOP primary. They saw Hanks, an election denier, as easier to beat in the general election. Hanks wound up with approximately 28% of the vote.
The Republican party also ran ads attacking Hanks and accusing Democrats of “pathetic primary meddling.”
Stephen Varela, Russ Andrews, Lew Webb and Curtis McCrackin also also ran in the Republican primary and wound up with much lower vote totals than Hanks and Hurd.
Boebert, who will represent CD3 through the end of the year, announced earlier this year that she was moving to a new district in Colorado. She is running for Congress in CD4 and won Tuesday’s primary there.
Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District covers most of western Colorado and it also includes the city of Pueblo in southern Colorado.
