Hurd retains 3rd District seat in tight Colorado race
The AP called the race Friday morning with Hurd ahead by nearly two points, securing his status as the state's only Republican in Congress.
By Layla Richardson ·
Jeff Hurd holds 49.29% of the reported votes in Colorado's 3rd Congressional District, a margin that secured his victory over Democratic challenger Dwayne Romero. The Associated Press called the race at 9:24 a.m. on Friday. Romero, a former Aspen City Council member, had 47.44% of the tallied votes at that time. Libertarian candidate Cory Robertson received 1.67% of the vote, while unaffiliated candidate Clifton Brown received 1.6%.
Hurd's win makes him the sole Republican member of Colorado's congressional delegation. He is also the highest elected Republican official in the state. The three other Republican members of Congress from Colorado were either defeated or are heading for defeat in their respective races.
The 3rd District has been represented by a Republican since 2011. The area covers most of Colorado west of the Continental Divide and extends into the south to include Pueblo. It is a competitive seat that Democrats have long targeted. President Donald Trump won the district by 10 percentage points in 2024. However, Gov. Jared Polis won the district by 3 percentage points during his 2022 reelection campaign.
Hurd first won the seat in 2024. He defeated his opponent in a race that followed the departure of previous representative Lauren Boebert, who switched districts. Boebert's final race in the 3rd District in 2022 was decided by fewer than 600 votes against Adam Frisch, a former Aspen City Council member.
Hurd is an attorney and former small business owner living in Grand Junction with his wife and five children. His campaign emphasized his independence from President Trump. Hurd told voters at one campaign stop that he hoped they saw him as a voice of independence. He highlighted his disagreements with Trump on various issues.
Romero is an Army combat veteran and small business owner. He focused his campaign on Hurd's votes supporting Trump's agenda, specifically citing H.R. 1, the federal tax and budget bill. Romero argued that the district was ready for a candidate to lower costs and protect Social Security. He criticized the incumbent for rubber-stamping Washington's chaos.
Hurd issued a written statement on Friday while touring flood damage in southwestern Colorado. He expressed gratitude to voters for their trust and thanked Romero for a hard-fought campaign. Hurd said he would continue working for every corner of the district and was ready to get back to work.
Romero spoke with Hurd and congratulated him on his victory. In a written statement, Romero said the team was proud of the race they ran and the values they stood for. He acknowledged that they came up short. A Pagosa Springs resident named Jeff Wallace, who is unaffiliated, said he voted for Hurd because he appreciated the candidate's integrity. Wallace described Hurd as a moderate Republican willing to listen to both sides and risk Trump's anger.
The 3rd District is large and logistically complicated to campaign in. It spans multiple distinct communities and media markets. Internal polls showed a tight race, but national Democratic campaign groups largely stayed on the sidelines. They directed their spending to other competitive races. Democrats made a late push by spending more than $2 million on TV ads to benefit Romero. This spending occurred after Republican groups had already invested more than $3 million in the district and about a quarter of the state's electorate had already cast a ballot.
