Democrats attempt to influence GOP race for 3rd Congressional District

(The Center Square) – More than $500,000 is being spent by Colorado Democrats to help the campaign of Republican Ron Hanks in Tuesday’s primary for the 3rd Congressional District, according to multiple media reports.

Republican Lauren Boebert, currently representing the 3rd Congressional District, defeated Democrat Adam Frisch in the 2022 midterm election by less than a thousand votes. Frisch is running again and is unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Frisch and the Rocky Mountain Values super PAC are running advertisements promoting Hanks over Jeff Hurd in Tuesday’s primary with the strategy Hanks will be easier to defeat in the November general election, according to several campaign experts quoted.

A television ad paid for by the political action committee Congressional Leadership Fund, a conservative organization, described Hanks as “a bull’s-eye for liberals. A misfire for Colorado,” according to KCNC.

When Congressman Ken Buck resigned from the 4th Congressional District after six terms earlier this year, a special election was called to elect someone to finish his term. Boebert is running for the Republican nomination for Buck’s seat in the 4th District, but not for the interim term.

Hanks and six other Republicans – Russ Andrews, Hurd, Curtis McCrackin, Stephen Varela and Lew Webb – are candidates for the party’s nomination for the 3rd District seat, which is western and southern Colorado.

Multiple media outlets reported Hanks repeated claims the 2020 presidential election stolen, which court cases and elections officials have stated are untrue. Under the heading “election integrity” on Hanks’ campaign website, it states “We have serious issues to fix… eliminate corrupted voter rolls and start over, require photo ID, in-person voting…”

“I have no confidence in the 2020 election,” Hanks told Colorado Public Radio. “I have limited or no confidence in 2022. And frankly, I don’t think enough has changed in 2024 nationwide that I have confidence in it.”

Hanks, a former state representative who unsuccessfully ran for the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate in 2022, is a retired U.S. Air Force veteran.

“It’s no surprise that the Democrats desperately want Ron Hanks to be the nominee because he would be a certain loser to Adam Frisch, former Colorado Republican Chairman Dick Wadhams told The Hill. “There’s no doubt in my mind.”

However, if the strategy backfires, the Democrats would have contributed to helping Hanks in a district favoring Republicans.

“This has happened before; both parties employ this tactic,” Democrat Mike Dino told KCNC. “But it is… a gamble. And you know, possibly, the numbers don’t add up for Democrats over there. Frisch is getting a second shot at this race. And maybe that’ll help him out. But it really comes down to, you know, if you put a good Republican in there as a nominee, they probably have the best chance of getting elected.”