GRAND JUNCTION — Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd will vie for a second term representing the 3rd Congressional District after easily beating challenger Ron Hanks, a former state representative, in the GOP primary.
The Associated Press called the race for Hurd at 7:28 p.m. when Hurd was leading Hanks by 68.6 percentage points in a district that encompasses 29 counties.
Hurd will now face the winner of the Democratic primary race in a district that hasn’t been won by a Democrat since 2013.
Hurd has been finding his way in his first term during a volatile time in Congress. The 46-year-old attorney and father of five from Grand Junction has tried to toe the line as a bipartisan politician in a Congress with increasingly fewer moderates.
In a statement following his win, Hurd declared that his campaign has been focused on “fighting for Colorado rather than conforming to Washington and that the upcoming election offers a clear contrast in leadership.”
Hurd promised to continue prioritizing the needs of his district which he listed as agriculture, water and energy.
Even though Hurd voted with the Republican House majority most of the time during his first term, his “constitutional conservative” pragmatism has made him an occasional target of President Donald Trump. Trump supported him when Hurd voted for H.R. 1, the Trump-backed One Big Beautiful Bill Act, then rescinded that support when Hurd voted against Trump’s proposed 25% tariffs on Canada. Hurd was one of six House Republicans who joined Democrats in voting to rescind the tariffs despite of Trump’s threats to Republicans who might resist his tariff policies.
Trump threw his support briefly behind a short-lived challenger to Hurd, Hope Scheppelman, a far-right former vice chair of the Colorado GOP. Scheppelman exited the race at Trump’s urging.
Trump restored his endorsement of Hurd earlier this year, although Hanks is more closely aligned with Trump on the issues of election fraud and immigration enforcement.
Hanks, an Air Force veteran, jumped into the primary race against Hurd late after Scheppleman withdrew. It was his second run in the 3rd District, after Hurd beat him in the last election by about 14 percentage points in a crowded primary field.
Hanks has often called Hurd “a fake conservative.” He has said that Trump’s endorsement of Hurd doesn’t bother him because constituents in the 3rd District have told him they don’t care; they simply want a true conservative like Hanks.
On some issues, Hurd distances himself from MAGA Republicans. He has said he is willing to vote against expansions of the executive branch power, saying he believes Congress has ceded its authority to the executive branch for decades — not just since Trump’s second term.
Hurd said he is proud of the work he and other Republicans have done on border security. At the same time, he believes law enforcement should be held accountable for their actions in enforcing federal immigration law.
Hurd has shown an independent streak and broken with his Republican colleagues by voting to restore subsidies for health insurance plans and to keep Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar on her committee seats. He has also been knocked for not holding town hall meetings in his district.
The loss is the third major defeat in four years for Hanks, who lost a bid to be the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2022, then lost the nomination for District 3 against Hurd in 2024.
Hanks handily won a Colorado House District seat in southern Colorado in 2020. During that tenure, he sponsored bills to expand concealed carry rights, called for tax credits for private education and changes to voting laws. None of those measures passed.
Hanks registered his candidacy as a resident of Grand Junction, but the address is listed to Tom Bjorkland, who has been called a “veteran campaign numbers guy” for the Colorado GOP.