Kelloff and Romero Clash for Colorado 3rd District Nomination

The Democratic primary for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District comes down to two men who agree on the enemy but differ on the blueprint. Alex Kelloff and Dwayne Romero are locked in a June 30 battle to flip a seat that has stayed red since 2011. They both blame President Donald Trump for the district’s economic pain. They both want to unseat Grand Junction attorney Jeff Hurd.

Kelloff is a businessman. He co-founded Armada Skis in 2002. His family has been on the Western Slope for 130 years. He argues that locals already know who is to blame for their gas and grocery prices. He doesn’t need to explain the mechanism. He just needs voters to connect the dots.

Romero is a former U.S. Army Ranger. He has spent decades in local and state politics. He served on the Aspen City Council. He sat on the Aspen School District Board of Education. His pitch is simpler: Hurd failed to push back. He failed to represent constituents.

The district itself is a geographic anomaly. It stretches from the northwestern corner of the state all the way east to Pueblo. It covers most of the Western Slope. Roughly half the registered voters are unaffiliated. That sounds like an opening. It isn’t. The district favors Republicans. Democrats came close in 2022. Lauren Boebert won reelection by just 546 votes over Adam Frisch.

That margin widened in 2024. Boebert switched districts. Hurd beat Frisch by nearly 20,000 votes. That is not a close race. That is a mandate.

Both candidates were inspired to run after Trump’s reelection in 2024. They are tying Hurd to Trump’s agenda. They are attacking his vote on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The legislation passed last summer. It enacted much of Trump’s second-term agenda. It extended tax cuts. It increased the federal deficit. It reduced healthcare funding and eligibility.

Kelloff says voters understand the cost of living crisis. They see the numbers at the pump. They see them at the grocery store. He wants to weaponize that awareness.

Romero wants to weaponize Hurd’s perceived weakness. He says Hurd has not pushed back hard enough. He says Hurd has ignored the concerns of the people in the district.

The short version: this is a primary to determine who can best exploit the backlash against Trump. National polling shows Democrats have a slight edge over Republicans for control of Congress. That doesn’t mean much for a specific district that leans red. But it gives these two candidates hope.

Hurd is not running unopposed in the general election. He faces a primary against former state lawmaker Ron Hanks. So the Democratic nominee will eventually face either Hurd or Hanks. Or whoever survives that GOP contest.

The district swings east to include Pueblo. It includes the high country around Aspen. It includes the Grand Junction valley. It is a wide, varied place. But the political compass points north and east.

Kelloff and Romero are running on similar policy pitches. Reversing healthcare cuts. Protecting public lands. Standing up to White House corruption. They are distinct in background but identical in strategy. They are betting that the national mood will override the local history.

They have until June 30 to prove it.

Read that again. The margin of victory in 2024 was nearly 20,000 votes. That is a landslide in a swing district. It is a blowout. If the national tide doesn’t shift dramatically, the Democratic nominee will lose. The question is not who wins the primary. It is whether the primary winner can overcome a 20,000-vote deficit.

Hurd has the advantage of incumbency. He has the advantage of a party that has held the seat for over a decade. He has the advantage of a district that voted for him twice.

Kelloff and Romero have the advantage of a narrative. They are the outsiders. They are the ones who saw the writing on the wall. They are the ones who think Trump’s policies are hurting the region.

The voters will decide in June. The rest of us will wait in November.