In the run up to election day, the Four Corners region of Colorado has been getting some attention from the candidates running to represent Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District.
Adam Frisch appeared confident when he spoke with supporters in Durango just before the Women’s March on October 9.
Frisch was on an extensive town hall tour, visiting cities and small towns in the region, and he was riding high on a Keating Research poll that showed him statistically tied with Lauren Boebert.
"I wish there were more opportunities to see some of these extremists defeated in Congress, but I knew that if a moderate pragmatic Democrat could get by the primary with the Democratic Party, I could try to build this coalition," he told the crowd.
Unlike Lauren Boebert, Frisch needs to introduce himself to many voters.
But after spending a little time on his own background and upbringing, he criticized Boebert’s votes against congressional earmarks that could benefit western Colorado.
"She continues to vote against the district’s needs and wants. She’s voted against veterans about 80% of the time. She’s just not focused on this district. Even those that voted for her," he said.
Frisch likes to remind voters that Boebert did not even carry Rifle, her hometown, when she was elected in 2020.
And he says, not a single bill of Boebert's has made it past committee in the House while she has been in office, something Boebert responded to while stopping in Cortez on October 29.
"Republicans are in the minority right now and there are very few Republican bills that have made it all the way through the House, Senate, and to the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office," she said.
Boebert’s base, however, is strong.
During her visit, she took time to honor Stockman of the Year Tim Lanier, who recently passed away.
She prayed with the Lanier family.
She also voiced her support for oil and gas production in Colorado.
"Democrats have failed us on our energy policies and have surrendered our energy independence. I have a 100% conservative voting record and I have governed exactly as I campaigned," said Boebert.
But there are some signs that Boebert has lost some standing in her own party.
She beat Don Coram during the Republican primary this year 64 to 36 percent.
But recently Coram endorsed Frisch, a Democrat.
And Frisch is making the most of that endorsement, and has launched a “Republicans for Frisch” website.
"40% of the Republican party wants their party back," Frisch told the crowd in Durango.
Nonetheless, pollsters say CD-3 is a solidly red district.
Seth Masket, a political scientist at Denver University, says the chances Adam Frisch has of winning are narrow, that this is Boebert’s race to lose.
"It’s pretty unlikely that he wins, I’d be surprised by it, just given that she won by several points last time, she’s an incumbent now, her district was re-districted and became a little safer for her," said Masket.
Still Masket concedes there could be an upset.
CD-3 is a district larger than the state of Pennsylvania, with a majority of unaffiliated voters, voters Boebert stands to lose.
"The one thing that suggests to me that this might be a close race is that Boebert is treating it like it’s a close race. She did the debate, she’s been putting out some messaging recently about all the work she’s done in Congress, she seems to be actually, like, running to defend her seat," said Masket.
Lauren Boebert made multiple stops in the Four Corners area on Saturday October 29, including in Ignacio visiting the Southern Ute Tribe and Towoac to speak with the Ute Mountain Ute.
This story from KSUT was shared with Aspen Public Radio via Rocky Mountain Community Radio, a network of public media stations in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico including Aspen Public Radio.