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Our View: Jeff Hurd, a good fit for CD3

Adam Frisch, a former Aspen city councilor who has spent two years getting to better know the expansive 3rd Congressional District, and Jeff Hurd, a Grand Junction attorney who has represented electric co-ops, a water district and a school district, are vying for the seat.

What a change from two years ago when Lauren Boebert was seeking a term, playing off being the center of attention with extremist positions and claims and with a pistol on her hip. Frisch, to his great credit, ran a rational here-are-the-issues campaign and came within a few hundred votes of defeating her.

Approaching this election, Boebert decamped to eastern Colorado for a larger welcoming constituency, opening up the 3rd CD’s seat. Immediately after his loss, Frish said he’d try again, and has covered 70,000 miles while visiting every county in the district since.

He has recognized the disparity in incomes and opportunities, and the contrasts between the agriculture of the San Luis Valley and the resort communities nestled in the Rocky Mountains. The son of a doctor who worked with the Indian Health Service caring for Native Americans in northern Minnesota, and an OB/GYN mother, he’s attuned to the needs of rural America, women and minorities.

It is Hurd’s legal work that the Herald’s editorial board finds appealing. After time on the East Coast, working in finance, Hurd returned to Colorado to represent water, school and fire districts and rural electric co-ops. That gave him close-up insights into local infrastructure challenges and needs, and a working understanding of community members who fill their governing boards.

He understands the need to strengthen rural health and maternity care and does not support eliminating the Affordable Care Act.

In a politician we favor signs of independence from party, especially at this time. Frisch has sounded tougher on the southern border than his party, and was early among known Democrats to call for Joe Biden to end his reelection efforts.

Hurd shows no signs of wanting to engage in social issues. While being pro-life, only supporting abortion in the cases of rape, incest and the life of the mother, he would leave decisions about abortion up to the states. He has said he does not support a national ban on abortion.

Interestingly, Hurd’s wife, Barbara, was a young person in a Communist-controlled country in Eastern Europe. Her experiences, he says, have made him especially attuned to the contrast between American freedoms and what limitations might exist in other countries.

The 3rd Congressional District would likely be well served by Adam Frisch, but the Herald’s editorial board urges a vote for Jeff Hurd. Hurd has deeper and wider roots in the District.