Jeff Hurd, the Republican from Grand Junction representing Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, has fallen out of favor with President Donald Trump. In mid-February, Trump rescinded the reelection endorsement he had given Hurd in the fall of 2025 (Herald, Feb. 26).
The break came after Hurd joined a handful of House Republicans opposing the president’s use of a “national emergency” declaration to impose a 25% tariff on much of Canada’s imports into the United States.
Hurd said Canada’s alleged failure to adequately prevent fentanyl from entering the U.S. was not sufficient justification for such a declaration.
Trump is now backing Hurd’s Republican primary challenger, Hope Scheppelman of Bayfield, a strong MAGA supporter and former vice chair of the Colorado Republican Party. Party primaries are scheduled for the end of June.
Responding to the loss of Trump’s support, Hurd said he favors domestic industry and fair trade but does not agree with the way tariffs have been imposed. In this case, he told a Herald reporter, “If I wouldn’t want a future Democratic president using broad emergency powers this way, I shouldn’t support it now.”
Tariffs were also an issue earlier in the president’s term when policy frequently shifted. Hurd gave the president some room at the time, saying tariffs could initially be imposed by the president but should be affirmed by Congress after a period of time. The Constitution, of course, assigns the authority to set tariffs to Congress, not the nation’s chief executive.
Hurd has also criticized pardons for Jan. 6 offenders and joined Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper in advocating for certain public lands protections. With those positions, his independence was likely already approaching the president’s tolerance threshold. The Canada tariff dispute pushed him past it.
Here’s hoping Hurd can continue, at least occasionally, to push back against the ideological lockstep demanded by Donald Trump and largely unchallenged by most Republicans. Doing so means supporting what makes sense for Americans and what the Constitution requires.
Such independence cannot be routine without risking standing with the party’s House leadership. But moments like this matter. History will remember those who did not always follow Donald Trump when the Constitution and common sense pointed another way.
