WASHINGTON – The National Republican Campaign Committee has announced that CD-3 candidate Jeff Hurd was among its 26 top-priority candidates for the general election in November. The candidates, dubbed Young Guns, must meet internal NRCC benchmarks and receive additional support from the committee heading into the election.
The Young Gun webpage, similar to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s map of front-line candidates and districts in play, serves to streamline donors from across the country to races that the Republican Party views as essential for keeping the majority in the House come November.
The NRCC’s support is another indication of CD-3’s increasing national profile. The seat is currently held by U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, whose fiery remarks and fierce loyalty to President Donald Trump earned her attention outside of Colorado. But, after coming within 546 votes of losing to Democratic opponent Adam Frisch in 2022, Boebert is leaving the district to seek election in Colorado’s more conservative 4th Congressional District, on the eastern plains.
Her absence in CD-3 has created an opening for Hurd or Frisch, both of whom joined the race before she moved districts.
Despite both candidates focusing on running district-first campaigns, national congressional campaign committees for Republicans and Democrats have made CD-3 a priority for November.
As a Young Gun candidate, Hurd appears more prominently on the Committee’s webpage and will be included on email blasts to receive donations from supporters across the country. Campaign finance data from the Federal Election Commission show about 20% of Hurd’s donations have come from outside of Colorado, about the same as the share of out-of-state donor levels heading into June’s primary.
A spokesperson from Hurd’s campaign explained that Hurd’s profile as a Young Gun connects the campaign to members of Republican leadership. Those leaders, he said, “are all interested in time, effort and energy, so they will proactively reach out, check in with the candidates, make sure the campaign has everything they need, as well as come out and do fundraisers for us.”
Even with the additional support from the national campaign committee, Hurd’s campaign says he plans to continue putting the district first and that he doesn’t have “any obligation” to the national party.
The Young Guns program, a spokesperson told The Durango Herald, doesn’t require the campaign to pledge certain policies, and Republican leadership has been “really good on letting members vote for their district.”
“I think one of the mantras of leadership is essentially, ‘good local politics is good politics,’” the spokesperson said. “If you can deliver for your folks back home and you deliver on your campaign promises, at the end of the day, it's going to benefit everyone in the party nationally.”
Neither Hurd nor Frisch have endorsed a presidential candidate at the top of the ticket, even in their own parties.
Frisch, who called on President Joe Biden to end his bid for reelection, has since attempted to refocus his campaign on district issues. Frisch has also said his allegiance is to the district and not the Democratic Party.
Heading into the final months before November, Hurd’s campaign said it aims to stay on the road with community events across the district.
“From the campaign's perspective, like a resource perspective, we're spending a lot of our time and energy on knocking on doors and doing phone calls,” a campaign spokesperson said. “We'll never compete on commercials, but we will be able to compete from a manpower perspective.”
Kathryn Squyres is an intern for The Durango Herald and The Journal in Cortez and a student at American University in Washington, D.C. She can be reached at ksquyres@durangoherald.com.
