Republican U.S. Representative Lauren Boebert of Silt caused a shock among political observers when she announced in December that she would not run in her home district, which makes up much of western and southern Colorado. Instead, she said, she’d be making a move to Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, which makes up much of the state’s Eastern Plains.
It’s considered a much more heavily Republican district, with whoever wins the Republican primary predicted to win the general election. Boebert eked out a win in the 3rd District, securing just 546 votes more than Democrat Adam Frisch of Aspen.
Frisch is running again, and is the only Democrat in the primary this year.
There are six Republican candidates appearing on primary ballots in the 3rd. In order of their appearance on the ballot, they are Stephen A. Varela, Ron Hanks, Lew Webb, Russ Andrews, Curtis M. McCrackin, and Jeff Hurd.
All candidates but Hurd participated in a Republican candidate forum in Durango earlier this month. During that forum, the candidates discussed topics like gun control and the Second Amendment, western Colorado’s water, and foreign aid to Israel.
All candidates but McCrackin list the international border with Mexico and immigration as being of highest importance in their stated policy platforms.
Stephen A. Varela
Stephen Varela currently represents CD3 on Colorado’s State Board of Education, and lives in Pueblo. He also ran for state senate in 2022, and lost to incumbent Democrat Nick Hinrichsen.
In addition to serving on the state BOE, Varela says that in the past, he’s served on the Pueblo County Planning Commission and two early education boards, along with the board of one of Pueblo’s charter schools.
During the Durango forum, Varela drew on his education background to set himself apart from the other candidates.
“Let me tell you, one of the biggest things that we have been doing is fighting to get as many kids out of public education as possible,” he said. “We've been fighting to make sure the money follows the student, making sure the parents have rights, because right now we are seeing our parents' rights robbed.”
Varela’s website lists “education freedom” as one of his top priorities. He writes that “eliminating the (U.S. Department of Education) will be challenging,” but that he would like to see it transformed into “an education freedom and choice machine.”
He defines that as funding charter schools and school choice programs, more technical and vocational opportunities, and defunding colleges and universities that “refuse to end race-based and woke education agendas.”
Ron Hanks
Ron Hanks is a former Colorado state representative, serving a single term at the state capitol from 2021 to 2023. He represented House District 60, located southwest of Colorado Springs, including Chaffee, Custer, Fremont, Pueblo, and Teller counties. Hanks also ran, unsuccessfully, for the Republican nomination in the 2022 Senate election, ultimately won by incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet.
Hanks says he currently lives in Grand Junction, but owns property in Fremont County.
As when he was a state representative, one of Hanks’ biggest issues is gun rights and the Second Amendment. During the Durango forum, he said he would not support mandating gun safety training before someone can apply for a concealed carry permit.
“You should be able to carry a weapon, sidearm, open carry in all 50 states, and you should be able to put a jacket over it and not be breaking some federal laws,” he said. “Constitutional carry makes sense with the crime we have now. To not allow people to carry and bear arms, and for our families to protect themselves, is criminal in itself. But what did I say?... This government is not working for us. It is working against us.”
Hanks also attended the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021, though he has denied that he was among the people who stormed the U.S. Capitol. During the Durango forum, he called January 6 “a peaceful protest.”
Hanks has secured the endorsement of the Colorado Republican Party, who call him “a conservative warrior.”
During the forum, Hanks was the only person who wouldn’t say definitively that he’d support whoever ended up being the Republican nominee, saying “it depends on who it is.”
Lew Webb
Lew Webb lives in Durango, and, according to his website, he “financed and built a mountain retreat to support missionaries, struggling pastors and church groups.”
One of Webb’s key issues is immigration: he says the U.S. currently has “no border… which means we soon won’t have a country,” and that the Biden administration’s border policies are “intentionally destructive.”
He also wants to see Congress reduce the nation’s $37 trillion debt, and cut back on federal spending.
But, during the Durango forum, he characterized all of those issues as being “sub-issue(s) to one huge issue…”
“Our government is totally corrupt,” he said. “I am not going to Washington D.C. to make friends, to get along, to reach across the aisle, or to compromise. I am going to Washington D.C. to pick a fight, a big one, one that we all have to win.”
He added, “Papa is going to Washington D.C. and they're not going to like me very much.”
Webb also discussed infrastructure issues in western Colorado. He said, because it’s very rural, money for infrastructure is not allocated fairly.
“But you have ski resorts and we have river rafting and we have mountain biking and all of these things that attract tourists,” he said. “So we have a much higher use of our infrastructure. But we don't have the population.”
Russ Andrews
Russ Andrews is a financial advisor and former naval engineer who lives in Carbondale.
His website says protecting the Second Amendment is his top priority. During the Durango forum, along with Hanks and Varela, he said he would not support mandatory gun safety training to apply for a concealed carry permit.
During his introduction in the forum, he asked audience members to raise their hands if they owned a truck, a gas stove, a gun, or a bible.
“I got bad news for you, folks,” he said. “They’re coming for your truck, they’re coming for your gas stove, they’re definitely coming for your firearms, they don’t have much use for Christianity.”
Andrews also sets himself apart from the other candidates through his focus on lumber—in particular, lumber from trees killed by beetles. “Utilizing Beetle Kill Wood” is one of his top legislative priorities on his website, and he went out of his way to discuss it during the forum.
He said there are 900 million dead beetle kill trees in Colorado (a 2017 report from the Colorado State Forest Service puts the number at 834 million), and more in the Rocky Mountain region as a whole.
“We need to expedite the process because some mom-and-pop, father-and-son type businesses could come in and harvest lumber, up 5 to 10 acres,” he said of his plan. He also proposed paying such people $5 a log. “But beyond that, the person that harvests the wood should be able to sell it, let's say, worry-free from federal taxes… And he should be able to sell it to a hardware store or whatever.”
Curtis M. McCrackin
Curtis McCrackin has a background in construction, and currently runs a real estate brokerage company in Cedaredge.
The focal point of McCrackin’s campaign is fiscal responsibility from the federal government. His website says all federal spending should be done through a “lens provided in the constitution.”
According to McCrackin, the constitution outlines that federal money may be spent for three reasons: to provide a common defense, to pay the debts of the nation, and for the general welfare of the nation.
During the Durango forum, he discussed the idea of a constitutional amendment that would mandate Congress to balance the nation’s budget, as well as 12-year term limits for members of Congress.
He also said he would support abolishing the 1906 Antiquities Act, which grants sole power to the president to establish a national monument. So far, President Joe Biden has used the act to establish five national monuments, including Camp Hale National Monument in Colorado.
“I think no single man should have that kind of power to control that kind of a landmass,” he said. “I think if we're going to create monuments and we're going to do those kinds of things with our federal lands, I think we should take that to Congress.”
Jeff Hurd
Jeff Hurd is an attorney and lives in Grand Junction.
According to his website, his issues of biggest concern are immigration, better jobs for rural Colorado, child tax credits, energy independence, and water.
Hurd’s endorsements include two former Republican representatives for CD3: Scott McInnis and Scott Tipton.
Editor’s note: more information on Hurd will be added following an interview with Aspen Public Radio.
Primary voting information
Ballots must be submitted by 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 25. Pitkin, Eagle, and Garfield counties all have information about where ballot drop boxes are located.
If you are unaffiliated, you may only turn in one ballot, either a Republican or Democratic primary ballot.
For information on other races, you can check out Aspen Public Radio's 2024 Election Guide.
