Colorado’s Adam Frisch (D) and Jeff Hurd (R) are running in the open 3rd Congressional District

Adam Frisch (D), Jeff Hurd (R), and four others are running in the general election for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District on Nov. 5.

Incumbent Lauren Boebert (R) is running for re-election in the 4th District, leaving the 3rd District open.

Hurd won the Republican primary, running on a platform of growing Colorado’s rural economies. He defeated five other candidates with 42.0% of the vote. The next closest candidate, Ron Hanks (R), received 27.7% of the vote.

Frisch was uncontested in the Democratic primary. He was the Democratic nominee in 2022, losing the general election to Boebert 50.1% to 49.9%. In that election, Frisch described himself as “a pro-business, pro-energy, moderate, pragmatic Democrat.”

Leading up to the primary, the Democratic group Rocky Mountain Values PAC spent around $500,000 on ads promoting Hanks and opposing Hurd. Frisch’s campaign did the same with around $100,000. A Republican super PAC, The Congressional Leadership Fund, spent $436,000 in one week on ads against Hanks, which claimed he was too liberal on gun issues. According to Axios Denver, a Hanks’ victory could have made the district more vulnerable to a Democratic win in November, but the primary result gave “establishment Republicans [Hurd] a victory against pro-Trump forces [Hanks] and [made] it more likely Republicans will retain the seat in the November election.”

According to Colorado Politics, independent election forecasters rated the district as Lean Republican in July 2024, meaning the district is “still considered in play.” Additionally, former President Donald Trump (R) carried the district by 15 percentage points in 2016. This advantage was nearly halved in 2020, when he carried the district by 8.3 percentage points.

The Journals’ Sandra Fish and Jesse Paul said, “The district hasn’t sent a Democrat to Congress since 2008. And when redistricting happened in 2021, the 3rd District was made more favorable to Republicans. Excluding Boebert’s 546-vote win in 2022, the closest 3rd District race since Republicans took control of the district in 2010 happened that year, when Tipton beat incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. John Salazar by 4 percentage points.”

Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District is one of 34 congressional districts with a Republican incumbent or an open seat the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is targeting in 2024. To read about DCCC targeting initiatives, click here. For a complete list of DCCC targeted districts, click here.

Frisch is a business owner and substitute teacher. His priorities are inflation, women’s rights, ranching, and farming. Frisch said he would work to secure the southern border and lower gas prices.

Hurd is an attorney and manager of the Grand Junction office of Ireland Stapleton Pryor & Pascoe PC. He said he would focus on legislation that would benefit water, energy, and natural resources if elected. Like Frisch, Hurd also said he would work to secure the southern border and lower gas prices.

Minor party, independent, and write-in candidates include James Wiley (L), Gary Swing (Unity Party), Adam Withrow (Unity Party of Colorado), and Frank Hernandez (Independent).