Three members of Colorado’s congressional delegation have been in the news in recent weeks for their high-profile interactions with the president – some favorable, some not. That is a lot of political visibility for the state.
Jeff Hurd, who represents the 3rd Congressional District that extends across the southern portion of the state and then north between the state line with Utah and the Western Slope, recently received the president’s endorsement for a second term (Herald, Nov. 16). The announcement came as a surprise to Hope Scheppelman, former vice president of the state’s Republican Party and a strong Trump supporter, who had been expected – and we believe still intends – to challenge Hurd for the party’s nomination.
Scheppelman accused the president’s staff of lying to him about Hurd’s anti-Trump actions in office, according to Colorado Politics. Hurd had faulted the president for pardoning Jan. 6 insurrectionists, argued Congress should approve any tariffs and defended public lands – positions not always aligned with the party. Should Scheppelman proceed, her challenge would likely come through a primary, as state law dictates, not through caucuses, which a strident group of party activists would like to see return.
Meanwhile, on the eastern side of the state, Rep. Lauren Boebert of the 4th Congressional District was called to the White House for what was described as a conversation about the Epstein files. Senior officials reportedly urged her to remove her name from a petition that would lead to a House vote on releasing those documents. Boebert has said little publicly about the conversation – nor has the administration – but she did not take her name off. The House then overwhelmingly voted to make the files public. Her resistance mattered in the final outcome.
Most recently, Rep. Jason Crow of the 6th District appeared in a video with five other military veterans or former intelligence officials, emphasizing that service members must be mindful of the legality of orders they may be given. Their caution appeared to grow out of the unexplained destruction of what were said to be drug-carrying speedboats in the Caribbean and Pacific, as well as concern about military involvement in urban immigration-ending assignments. The president reacted sharply, and the vice president echoed the criticism. “Sedition,” he said – “punishable by death,” expressed in characteristically emphatic all caps.
Yet the administration left itself open to the six Democrats’ warning by offering little justification for both using the military against the alleged drug boats and for the over-dramatizing of the need for troops in American cities – actions that occurred largely without the customary state or local request. Soldiers and sailors are trained in lawful and unlawful orders, and given the unusual nature of recent deployments, a reminder has its place even when it comes from the other party. And the president’s call for execution blatantly ignores constitutional protections and the law, and deepens – rather than eases – national tensions.
Colorado’s representatives are on the national stage – raising questions, drawing reaction, shaping debate. Whether through intraparty friction, independent defiance or caution rooted in military experience, they are in the news, working for Coloradans, the country, and for accountability.
