And four months out from the November election, Laubacher, a Democrat, held an eye-popping cash advantage over Colorado’s most well-known member of Congress: $3.6 million to $247,000. That’s according to new federal campaign finance reports filed by their campaigns Wednesday night.

But all that money, which accounts for contributions to and expenditures from each’s campaign coffers as of June 30, may add up to a whole lot of nothing in a district as red as the 4th.

Political observers advise against reading too much into Boebert’s fundraising numbers, which are anemic compared to the state’s other Republican incumbents and to her past races. Two years ago at this time, when Boebert, now 39, was running in the 4th District for the first time, she in the bank after fending off several GOP primary challengers.

In 2022, when she was running for a second term in the more competitive 3rd Congressional District on the Western Slope — before she switched to the 4th — Boebert had in cash on hand entering July, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

Kyle Saunders, a political science professor at Colorado State University, pointed to the nonpartisan , which gives Republicans a massive 9-percentage-point advantage in the 4th District, which covers the state’s Eastern Plains and butts up against the Front Range, taking in Douglas County. Cook rates it solidly Republican this year.

“History shows money alone rarely overcomes a 9-point partisan lean in a midterm or general (election) without a perfect storm, like a national wave, a major scandal or a candidate collapse,” he said. “I’d rate the odds of a flip as quite low — Boebert starts as a strong favorite, barring major shifts.”

Political analyst Floyd Ciruli also cautioned that cash alone may not be able to overcome the reality of the district’s political makeup. Republicans have 100,000-plus more registered voters than Democrats.

“I’m not sure that money is the actual issue in this district,” Ciruli said.

But that doesn’t mean a change at the top can’t happen in Colorado’s sprawling eastern district —  because it has. Betsy Markey represented the district for a single term nearly 20 years ago — the only time a Democrat has won the seat in decades.

A ‘lack of enthusiasm’ for Boebert?

The that Laubacher, 57, has reeled in compared to Boebert’s this election cycle is a substantial spread.

Trying to divine why that fundraising discrepancy exists is tricky, Saunders said, though Laubacher’s haul has benefited from extensive online fundraising appeals asking for help taking on the conservative lightning rod. All that money will expand the opportunities to get her messages in front of voters, including through ads on TV and social media.

She ended up unopposed in the Democratic primary after Trisha Calvarese — who lost to Boebert by 11.6 percentage points in the 2024 race — dropped her repeat bid in late March. Boebert was unopposed in the June 30 primary.

“It may reflect some national GOP donor hesitation tied to her controversies, but in practice, it hasn’t hurt her electorally here,” Saunders said of Boebert, referring to unflattering headlines the congresswoman has generated over the years. “Lack of enthusiasm is possible among moderates, but the district’s partisan composition limits its impact.”

Boebert’s thinner campaign purse can also be explained in more innocuous ways, he said.

“Incumbents in safe seats often don’t need to max out (with each donor); they can rely on name recognition, partisan advantage in the electorate and party infrastructure,” Saunders said.

A spokesman for Boebert’s campaign didn’t respond Thursday to questions sent by The Denver Post.

In other federal races that could prove more competitive, this week’s FEC filings show differing relative money positions.

Fundraising in the El Paso County-based 5th Congressional District has favored Democrat Jessica Killin, who has collected nearly twice as much money as first-term Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank in this cycle. The former U.S. Army captain, who won the Democratic primary, had as of June 30 compared to Crank’s . While the district has long been a Republican stronghold, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added the 5th to its list of targeted seats in February.

In the 3rd District, Boebert’s successor, Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd, reported nearly $1.8 million in his account entering July compared to Democratic nominee Dwayne Romero’s $84,200 after Romero won a hard-fought primary.

In Colorado’s most competitive congressional district, U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans, a Republican, had more than six times the cash on hand as his Democratic opponent, Manny Rutinel, as of the end of June. Rutinel had to to spend through November in the race for the 8th Congressional District, which includes northern Denver suburbs and Greeley. But Rutinel had to fend off two Democratic opponents in a very expensive primary.

In Colorado’s U.S. Senate race, incumbent Democrat John Hickenlooper was crushing his Republican opponent, state Sen. Mark Baisley, in the fundraising game despite facing his own primary opponent. Colorado’s junior senator had in his bank account on June 30, compared to for Baisley, who was unopposed in the GOP primary.

In all, Hickenlooper has raised nearly $8.9 million in this election cycle to Baisley’s nearly $105,000. The Cook Political Report rates the Senate race as “solid Democrat.”

Laubacher’s strategy

In the 4th District, Taylor Gillespie, the campaign manager for Laubacher, said raising money was “only one part of building a winning campaign.”

Laubacher, she said, “has spent her entire career putting her life on the line for our country and is running to put a stop to the self-dealing in Washington by putting in place term limits and age limits, banning insider stock trading by politicians and putting a stop to reckless, out-of-control debt.”

Laubacher can pound themes on the campaign trail that are particularly salient to the largely agricultural district, Ciruli said, like high fuel and fertilizer prices in the midst of the U.S. war with Iran and added costs for farmers due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

“You have to convince the farmer in Sterling or in Fort Morgan that they’re not getting enough representation and they need to move to a Democrat,” he said.

Saunders said Laubacher would have to execute a “flawless ground game” and target unaffiliated and “soft GOP voters in suburban growth areas” (like Douglas County), “emphasizing her service, moderation and putting people over politics.”

Meanwhile, Trump’s unpopularity in the country on the November ballot. Boebert has created some distance between herself and the president in recent months, criticizing Trump for his veto of a water project that would benefit her district and calling on his administration to release files on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

But Saunders said Boebert can stray only so far from the White House.

“In a safe district of any partisan flavor, loyalty signals often matter more than policy nuance,” he said. “So, her survival will likely rest on keeping the base fired up without alienating enough suburban and independent voters.”

Romero had 55% of the vote when the Associated Press called the race just after 8 p.m. Tuesday. His opponent, Alex Kelloff, earned 45% of the vote. Approximately 66,700 votes had been tallied.

After his victory, Romero criticized Hurd for siding with President Donald Trump and pledged to fight to lower the cost of living.

“I am ready to take down Jeff Hurd and make sure the voices of Coloradans are heard in Congress,” he said in a statement.

Both Romero and Kelloff campaigned on similar policy platforms emphasizing that they’d address the rising cost of living, access to affordable health care, protection of public lands and opposition to Trump.

Kelloff, 53, is a political newcomer who entered the primary race more than a year ago after more than 30 years in the telecommunications industry. Romero, 61, is a U.S. Army veteran who leads a real estate company and has served on multiple local boards and governments in the Roaring Fork Valley. He entered the race in March.

Colorado’s 3rd District covers nearly half of the state, swooping from the desert and canyons of the Western Slope to the high mountains in southern Colorado and the southern end of the Front Range in Pueblo. Leaders from the Colorado Democratic Party on Tuesday said the district’s general election will be one of the most important for the party in November.

Hurd won the seat in 2024 after U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert moved across the state to run in a different district. A Republican, former state legislator Ron Hanks, challenged Hurd from within his party in Tuesday’s GOP primary.

Hurd defeated Hanks, earning 68% of the 60,785 votes counted by 7:45 p.m. The Associated Press called the race at 7:40 p.m.

A Democrat has not represented the 3rd District since 2011.

But in 2022, voters nearly elected Democrat Adam Frisch, an Aspen businessman. He lost to Boebert that year by 546 votes. In 2024, Frisch ran again and earned 46% of the votes to Hurd’s 51% — a difference of nearly 20,000 votes.

Trump’s presidential campaign won the district in 2024 by a 10-point margin.

The race on the Western Slope is one of several contested congressional primaries in Colorado on Tuesday, with the 1st and 8th congressional districts‘ primaries covered in separate stories by The Denver Post. Three other districts had no competition for either major party, with their major-party November matchups already set.

Colorado Springs-based seat

Two Democrats vied for the chance to flip the 5th Congressional District, which covers Colorado Springs and its suburbs. Voters in the district have never voted a Democrat into the position, but the national party has identified the race to unseat incumbent Republican Rep. Jeff Crank as one to watch as demographics change and Trump’s approval ratings fall.

Jessica Killin defeated Joe Reagan for the district’s Democratic nomination. The Associated Press called the race for Killin just before 8 p.m., when she held 63% of the 52,400 votes counted at the time. Reagan earned 37% of the vote.

Crank ran unopposed in the Republican primary.

2nd District Republican race

In the 2nd Congressional District, two Republicans ran for the chance to unseat Democrat Rep. Joe Neguse. Kelley Dennison defeated Christina Blunt, according to the Associated Press, which called the race at 8 p.m. Dennison had 58% of the vote at that time and Blunt had 42%.

Neguse has represented the district since 2019. It covers a broad swath of north-central Colorado, including Boulder, Fort Collins, Summit County and the rural ranchlands around Steamboat Springs. Voters have not elected a Republican to the seat since 1972.

is a Larimer County massage therapist who says her priority is addressing the cost of living. is a Fort Collins business owner who is also focused on affordability and who said she “stands on Christ and the Bible, the Constitution and Bullets.”

Rep. Lauren Boebert’s matchup

Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert will face Democrat Eileen Laubacher in the general election after an earlier Democratic contest fizzled; only a write-in candidate, Jenna Preston, filed primary paperwork. The district covers much of the Eastern Plains and small sections of the Front Range, including Castle Rock.

Aurora-based 6th District

Incumbent Democratic Rep. Jason Crow will face Republican Jason Clark in the general election for the district that includes Aurora and sections of Denver’s southern suburbs.

7th District in west metro, mountains

No Democrat challenged incumbent Rep. Brittany Pettersen. She will face Republican Tim Bennett in the general election for the district, which covers the western flank of the Front Range as well as much of the Arkansas River valley from Leadville to Cañon City.

Evans brought in more than $1.2 million during the first three months of 2026, according to federal campaign finance reports due Wednesday. He ended March with more than $3.4 million in the bank. That’s an eye-watering sum, easily surpassing the roughly $2 million that Evans’ Democratic predecessor, then-U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo, had gathered at the same point in early 2024.

Evans has no primary challenger, meaning he won’t need to start seriously spending his cash until after his Democratic opponent emerges from the June 30 primary.

In other federal races, U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper significantly outraised a state senator challenging him in the Democratic primary, while another incumbent — Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert — was outraised by an even greater factor by her only remaining Democratic challenger in the state’s most conservative-leaning district.

The race for Evans’ 8th Congressional District seat, which sits in a rural-suburban area north of Denver, will be among the most closely watched contests in the country this fall. Two of the Democrats hoping to topple Evans have started marshalling their own financial resources.

State Rep. Manny Rutinel posted a strong quarter, hauling in more than $952,000 to bring his cash-on-hand total to more than $1.76 million. He raised more — and has banked more — than his former state House colleague, Shannon Bird, who joined the race a few months after Rutinel last year.

Bird raised nearly $567,000 in early 2026, and she ended the quarter with just over $1 million to play with as the primary season entered its final three-month stretch.

The third Democrat in the race, Marine veteran Evan Munsing, has outlasted several more established candidates — including Caraveo, who mounted a brief comeback campaign last year. But his fundraising has slipped farther behind Rutinel’s and Bird’s: Munsing raked in $115,000 last quarter, and he spent almost double that.

As a consequence, his cash pile has been halved, from the $213,000 at the end of 2025 to $108,000 at the end of March.

Between the three Democrats and Evans, the CD8 candidates raised more than $2.8 million over the last three months. Between them, the four candidates have nearly $6.4 million on hand.

More than half of that pile lies, waiting, in Evans’ coffers.

“I’m grateful for the outpouring of support from Coloradans who are ready to keep fighting for safer communities, a stronger economy and a more secure future,” Evans said in a statement Wednesday.

Here’s what else was revealed by the latest federal campaign finance reports, which came out just after the major parties’ primary ballots were finalized through assembly votes and petitioning.

Hickenlooper’s haul grows for primary challenge

In his Senate reelection race, Hickenlooper raised nearly $1.4 million last quarter, the first full reporting period since his primary challenger, state Sen. Julie Gonzales, entered the race. That’s more than he raised in the prior quarter.

Though he spent more than $1.2 million in the early part of 2026, the incumbent Democrat will still enter primary season with a hefty $4 million in the bank.

Gonzales, meanwhile, has reported more anemic fundraising. She raised more than $264,000 this past quarter, compared with the nearly $180,000 she posted in her first month in late 2025, showing a slowing pace. Her most recent total in the bank sat at just over $114,000.

In a blog post Wednesday, Gonzales acknowledged that her campaign was “living paycheck to paycheck.” But she appeared undaunted and said she raised $130,000 in the first week of April, after the reporting period’s end.

DeGette’s balance grows as challenger picks up pace

A different primary challenge is brewing in Denver’s 1st Congressional District.

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Democrat who’s been in Congress for nearly 30 years, is facing two Democratic opponents: University of Colorado Regent Wanda James and Melat Kiros, a lawyer and doctoral student who last month beat DeGette in an assembly nominating vote.

Whether that victory translates to an incumbent-toppling result in June remains to be seen. DeGette raised more than $263,000 last quarter, a bit more than she’d raised at the end of 2025. Her cash-on-hand total ticked up, too, and now sits at $636,000.

Kiros also saw a boost, bringing in more than $174,000, double her prior quarter’s total. With $118,000 in the bank, she trailed DeGette’s total entering primary season.

James’ fundraising went the opposite way. The regent raised more than $72,000 last quarter, below her fourth-quarter total last year. Her spending also ticked up, bringing her cash on hand down to just more than $54,000.

Boebert challenger keeps raking in cash. Will it matter?

Among Colorado’s incumbents in Congress, Boebert has long been a fundraising lightning rod. That remains true, even as she settles into the comfortably conservative 4th Congressional District, which covers Colorado’s Eastern Plains as well as Douglas County, after a district switch in the last election.

Eileen Laubacher, a retired rear admiral in the U.S. Navy, raised more than $2 million for the second consecutive quarter. After a big spend of $1.5 million, she still ended the quarter with more than $3 million in her campaign’s pocket. Another Democratic candidate, Trisha Calvarese, also had raised big money in her second run against Boebert before she dropped out two weeks ago.

Boebert, in contrast, raised just under $90,000 in the last three months, and she reported $160,000 on hand in late March.

It’s important to remember that Boebert now represents a district where, in a 2021 analysis, by more than 26 percentage points. In 2024, Boebert’s win wasn’t even half that — and .

Hurd amasses cash to defend Western Slope seat

In Boebert’s old 3rd Congressional District, her erstwhile Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd, is looking to defend a seat that’s reliably, if not comfortably, red. Hurd raised more than $609,000 last quarter, bringing his war chest to just under $2 million.

He also picked up a primary opponent at the Colorado Republican Party assembly last week — former state Rep. Ron Hanks — but his fundraising advantage is hefty.

Two Democrats are jockeying to take on Hurd in November. Alex Kelloff, a Snowmass businessman, has been in the race longer. He raised $192,000 last quarter, adding a bit to his cash-on-hand total of $458,000.

Kelloff’s newcomer primary opponent, fellow businessman Dwayne Romero, raised more than $505,000 in his first month in the race, and, after expenses, had slighty more on hand than Kelloff.

Democrat brings in cash to flip Colorado Springs district

Colorado’s other Jeff among Republican congressmen — Hurd’s fellow freshman, U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank —  raised $345,000 last quarter as he looks to defend the conservative 5th Congressional District. Crank’s war chest now tops $1.1 million.

His likely opponent, Democrat Jessica Killin, brought in nearly $670,000, bringing her on-hand total to more than $1.5 million. Army veteran Joe Reagan, who is challenging Killin for the Democratic nomination, raised $86,000 and ended the first quarter with $33,000 in the bank.

Democrats have been targeting the district, which — after Boebert’s current seat — is the most conservative in the state.

Incumbents’ cash hauls

While DeGette looks to ward off her primary opponents, Colorado’s three other Democratic members of Congress are without well-known Republican challengers. But they’re still slowly building up their campaign bank accounts.

U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, of the Boulder-based 2nd Congressional District, brought his cash on hand to just under $3 million last quarter. U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, of Aurora’s 6th Congressional District, raked in nearly $940,000 to start 2026 (which, his campaign said, was his largest single-quarter haul), and he had more than $2.5 million under his campaign mattress.

U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen, whose 7th Congressional District covers the center of the state up through parts of metro Denver, had more than $915,000 on hand.

Those sums will allow the Democrats to support not only their own campaigns but others’ races and causes, too. Crow’s latest campaign finance report listed a nearly $60,000 contribution to the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, for instance, while Neguse gave $35,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Her Tuesday evening announcement came 48 hours before she and her Democratic rival were set to compete in the 4th District Democratic assembly Thursday night.

Calvarese threw her support to Navy veteran Eileen Laubacher, despite having sued the Colorado Democratic Party over her opponent’s eligibility to compete for a nomination to the June 30 primary ballot. Calvarese’s lawsuit last month.

“We’ve made the difficult decision to suspend my campaign to represent Colorado’s 4th Congressional District,” Calvarese’s campaign . “Congratulations to Eileen Laubacher and her team. I hope this carries through to a win in November.”

The two had competed for support in local caucuses and county assemblies ahead of the district assembly. Calvarese thanked her supporters and said only that “I’m sorry we fell short” in Tuesday. She also was trailing Laubacher in fundraising at the end of 2025.

In a statement Wednesday, Laubacher said Calvarese “has helped elevate the visibility of this race and engage people across the district in meaningful ways.”

“It¶¶Ňőap time to turn the corner and focus fully on what comes next and what matters most: defeating Lauren Boebert in November,” she said.

Laubacher, a longtime Republican and then unaffiliated voter, . She had the biggest haul of the final quarter of last year of any candidate running for Congress in Colorado, pulling down just over $2 million and bringing her contribution total in the election cycle to nearly $6.5 million.

She also had about five times the cash on hand that Calvarese had at year’s end.

Calvarese was chasing the Democratic nomination through the congressional assembly process only, while Laubacher had been competing both at the assembly and by submitting signatures to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office in March to get on the primary ballot through the petition process.

Laubacher’s petition has from state elections officials. But she stands as the only Democratic candidate left in the race after contenders John Padora and Jenna Preston neither petitioned their way onto the ballot nor were listed as contenders at Thursday’s district assembly on the website.

Laubacher will have a tough road ahead in the 4th District, given its makeup as the most Republican-leaning district in the state. Calvarese lost to Boebert in 2024 by over 10 percentage points after Boebert switched over from Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District.

If we’re serious about participation, fairness, and legitimacy, this must be the last time we rely on them — especially when the stakes are this high.

Let’s start with a simple, telling fact: the last time a competitive Democratic candidate who won the caucus and assembly process also went on to win the primary for U.S. Senate or governor was Ben Nighthorse Campbell in 1992 — 34 years ago. That’s not a system working. That’s a system deeply disconnected from voters.

Caucuses exclude the vast majority of voters. Even in a high-energy cycle like 2026, participation barely scratched the surface. Roughly 15,000 Democrats showed up statewide — out of more than a million eligible primary voters.

This small number of participants means a tiny, highly motivated slice of activists effectively determines which candidates advance. At the same time, the ordinary voters — those with jobs, childcare responsibilities, disabilities or scheduling conflicts — are largely excluded. The message to those voters is clear: you don’t get a voice.

A system that filters candidates based on a razor-thin fraction of the voting population cannot credibly claim to reflect the will of the party’s voters. That’s not representative democracy, it’s gatekeeping.

Caucuses impose unnecessary barriers to participate. Unlike primaries — where voters can cast ballots by mail or at convenient polling locations — caucuses demand hours of in-person or virtual participation at fixed times. For the Denver Democratic Assembly, check-in began at 9:30 a.m., and some participants were still there at 6 p.m. trying to support their candidates of choice. That’s not civic engagement—it’s a test of endurance with a high dose of disenfranchisement. A grassroots democratic form of government should encourage and lower barriers to participate.

The 2026 process didn’t just exclude — it broke down. Despite good-faith efforts to modernize through an app, the result was chaos. The system crashed under heavy use, causing confusion and potentially costing delegates their votes. Entire counties couldn’t complete voting on time.

In La Plata County, voting had to be pushed to Monday night — effectively disenfranchising anyone who couldn’t come back because of work obligations, child care issues or other obligations. In Arapahoe County, participants couldn’t even advocate for their preferred state House candidates, only elect delegates to the county.

News outlets reported that in some cases, party activists waited hours to vote, while others went home and could not participate. Across the state, people waited hours. Some left in frustration. Others weren’t sure if their votes were ever counted.

Fiona Boomer, campaign manager for Democrat Trisha Calvarese in the 4th Congressional District, expressed concern about whether their supporters were able to cast their ballots.

In Denver, delegates were given conflicting instructions; many told voting would be remote, causing many to leave before voting was finally done on site. A supporter of attorney general candidate Jena Griswold described her frustration in attending a Denver caucus and staying almost eight hours in hopes that the technology would work. Iris Halpern, a state house candidate, also expressed concern over caucus attendees leaving throughout the day. That’s not democracy, that’s dysfunction and shutting voters out.

And perhaps most concerning, the caucus system is easy to game. When outcomes depend on a small, insider-driven process, manipulation becomes easier — not harder. We’re already seeing bad actors openly discuss ways to exploit the system by misrepresenting support to sabotage candidates.

At its core, the caucus system concentrates power in the hands of a small group of insiders and activists. It’s a direct vote. It’s a multi-step delegate process that rewards those with the time, access, and familiarity to navigate party machinery. As a result, outcomes diverge sharply from actual voter preferences.

Consider 28-year-old Democratic Socialist candidate Melat Kiros, who is running for Congressional District 1. Kiros outperformed Rep. Diana DeGette in the Denver delegate vote by nearly a two-to-one margin.

Kiros posted an outrageous and offensive digital ad with an image saying centrist Democrats “fellate Israel” and “suck (expletive).” There is a difference between being anti-establishment and not supporting Israel as opposed to outrageous, radical views laced with antisemitism.

Kiros’s records speak for themselves and illustrate how extreme radical candidates are not only out of touch with Colorado Democrats but also with our state values, too. Yes, more and more extreme candidates in both parties have effectively used these caucuses to fly under the radar and effectively organized a small cadre of activists, like the Democratic Socialists, to show up at the caucus, leading to stunning results that make most voters shake their heads in extreme disbelief.

Caucuses may have made sense in another era. They do not today. And, they help explain the growth of the disgruntled unaffiliated voters — who, by the way, aren’t allowed to participate in caucuses — and make up 53% of Colorado voters.

If we believe in expanding participation and reflecting the will of voters — not just a tiny fraction of activists — then the conclusion is unavoidable: It’s time to retire the caucus system and let voters decide.

Doug Friednash is a partner with the law firm Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber and Schreck.

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

In a Friday, Trump announced that he was re-endorsing U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd to hold the Western Slope seat he won two years ago. Trump also said he was going to hire Hurd’s conservative primary challenger, Hope Scheppelman, whom the president had endorsed just last month after Hurd opposed some of Trump’s tariffs.

Trump said he would bring Scheppelman and her husband into his administration, “in a capacity to be determined.”

“Together with (Scheppleman and her husband), we decided that Congressman Jeff Hurd, of Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, should in no way, shape, or form, be impeded from winning the District in that the Democrat alternative is a DISASTER for our Country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Scheppelman, a former Colorado Republican Party official who had accused Hurd of being too liberal and siding with Democrats, said in a statement Friday afternoon that she was suspending her campaign after deciding to “put America First and do all I can to help ensure that the radical leaders in the Democrat Party do not take this seat.”

, Hurd thanked Trump for his support.

“I’m grateful for President Trump’s support and appreciate his efforts to unify Republicans in Colorado’s Third District,” he wrote. “The President and I share the same goals: securing the border, American energy dominance, and helping working families.”

Scheppelman included a dig at Hurd in her statement:  “Jeff Hurd now has the opportunity to correct his naive voting record and support President Trump, and our slim Republican majority in the U.S. House, in our shared battle to save the country we love. If he does not, I will run again in 2028 and defeat him in order to give the citizens of Colorado’s 3rd district, and all of America, the representation we deserve.”

The Republican president had Hurd in October, only to yank back his support in February.

Earlier that month, Hurd joined several other House Republicans in opposing tariffs on Canada in a floor vote, prompting Trump to throw his support behind Scheppelman and call Hurd a “RINO,” or Republican in name only.

The president had previously warned that any Republican who opposed his tariffs would “seriously suffer the consequences come Election time, and that includes Primaries.”

Trump’s re-endorsement comes as House Republicans cling to a bare majority, while polling ahead of November’s midterms show Democrats leading Republicans on a generic ballot by . Republicans are comfortably favored in the 3rd Congressional District, but the seat’s red hue is not guaranteed: Colorado Democrats put a scare into Western Slope Republicans in 2022, when Adam Frisch came fewer than 550 votes shy of beating U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert.

The close call prompted Boebert to switch to the even more conservative 4th Congressional District on the state’s Eastern Plains, making way for the more moderate Hurd to march to a 5-point win in 2024.

This time, with Scheppelman’s withdrawal, Hurd is set to win an uncontested Republican primary in June. Two Democrats — Alex Kelloff and Dwayne Romero — are set to compete in that election for the chance to face Hurd in November.

Re: “Trump: Iran’s supreme leader has been killed,” March 1 news story

President Donald Trump’s call for Iranians to take to their dangerous streets to express their rights, to gain free speech and to create a new government is beyond irony when his goons beat, jail and kill Americans expressing their right of free speech in Minneapolis and across the United States. When the time comes in America, let us hope our citizens have the courage that he calls for in Iran’s citizens.

Jerry Swedlund, Denver

Another Republican war. This is the third war perpetrated by a Republican administration. In spite of what many Americans may have thought about President Joe Biden, I felt safe under his administration. And one of those reasons is because of his respect for our military and the lives and safety of our soldiers. I no longer feel safe, and I’m willing to bet I’m not alone.

Nancy Rife, Wheat Ridge

Astounding! We’re at war with Iran! Our Congress, the only branch of government with the power to declare war, didn’t declare war?

President Trump spoke for a long, long time last week on national TV and “forgot” to mention he was locked and loaded the military for immediate action. You’d think somebody would have “suggested” to our diplomatic corps to send their families back to the U.S. of A. for an overdue vacation ASAP. Now many are trapped, and the last time that happened, there were hostages held in Iran for 444 days.

Pity those service members due for discharge this week to be told to fuhgeddaboudit. I got nailed with a” for the convenience of the military” enlistment freeze back in 1961 and didn’t appreciate the surprise one bit.

Now I suppose Trump will suspend our elections until after it¶¶Ňőap over there.

Harry Puncec, Lakewood

If anyone needed confirming evidence that America is spiraling downward into a fully fledged autocracy, President Trump’s war with Iran provides it.

After having announced in June that Iran’s nuclear program had been “completely and totally obliterated,” it seems that it is now necessary to attack Iran again to destroy its missile program. The reason for this is to prevent Iran from launching non-existent nuclear weapons against the U.S. on rockets that do not currently exist.

But then Donald Trump does what he wants, when he wants, regardless of the facts, which is the definition of an autocrat. And if you believe that the mid-term elections in November will be “free and fair,” you may want to think again.

Guy Wroble, Denver

Rep. Boebert demonstrates a new low at Hillary Clinton deposition

Re: “Boebert leaks photo of Clinton testifying, disrupting deposition,” Feb. 27 news story

Rep. Lauren Boebert¶¶Ňőap despicable behavior at the Epstein deposition of the Clintons is an astounding new low, even for her. She is an embarrassment to all of us in the 4th congressional district and, for that matter, to all Coloradans. If it isn’t apparent already, she needs to resign or be replaced, as she is incapable of functioning as a competent adult in the halls of Congress.

Ralph Roberts, Roxborough

Everything keeps getting interesting when it comes to Lauren Boebert. Everyone on the House Oversight Committee should have known the rules for this closed-door session, as they were read at the beginning. It included no photographs.

Either she wasn’t paying attention, or she didn’t care. She took a photo or photos and passed them on to right-winger Benny Johnson. I didn’t realize that Johnson was into fashion, but  Boebert’s excuse was that she liked Hillary Clinton’s outfit, so she decided to share it with Johnson. When she wants to lie, she does it big.

Rep. Boebert should be excluded from the committee. In addition, President Trump and his wife should also be heard from under oath if the committee wanted to appear that they were not hypocrites. But that won’t happen.

Wayne Wathen, Centennial

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

WASHINGTON — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told members of Congress on Thursday that she had no knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein’s or Ghislaine Maxwell’s crimes, starting two days of depositions that also will include former President Bill Clinton.

“I had no idea about their criminal activities. I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein,” Hillary Clinton said in an opening statement she shared on social media. The closed-door deposition concluded after over six hours of questioning.

Her testimony was disrupted briefly Thursday after U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado shared a photo of the closed-door proceeding that was posted online.

Boebert sent a photo to a conservative influencer who posted it on social media, violating the committee’s rules for depositions. The that Clinton halted her testimony after learning about the image, and her attorneys objected and asked to pause the proceedings.

Her testimony resumed about 30 minutes later, the Times reported.

The closed-door depositions in the Clintons’ hometown of Chappaqua, a typically quiet hamlet north of New York City, come after  between the former high-powered Democratic couple and the Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee. It will be the first time that a former president has been forced to testify before Congress.

Yet the demand for a reckoning over Epstein’s abuse of underage girls has become a near-unstoppable force on Capitol Hill and beyond.

, a Republican who has expressed regret that the Clintons are being forced to testify, bowed last year to pressure to release case files on Epstein, who killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial. The Clintons, too,  after their offers of sworn statements were rebuffed by the Oversight panel and its chairman, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., threatened  against them.

“Like every decent person,” Hillary Clinton added in her opening statement, “I have been horrified by what we have learned about their crimes.”

She had said that her husband had flown with Epstein for charitable trips but that she did not recall meeting Epstein. She had interacted with Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend and confidant, at conferences hosted by the Clinton Foundation.

˛Ń˛ąłć·É±đ±ô±ô,Ěý, also attended the 2010 wedding of their daughter, Chelsea Clinton. As she exited the event center where the deposition was held, Hillary Clinton told reporters that Maxwell had come to the wedding as a guest of someone else and that she had told the committee she only knew Maxwell “as an acquaintance.”

At the conclusion of the hearing, Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., said Hillary Clinton had answered every question posed to her.

Republicans relish chance to question Clintons

Bill Clinton, however, has emerged as a top target for Republicans amid the political struggle over who receives the most scrutiny for their ties to Epstein.  of the former president were included in the first tranche of Epstein files released by the Department of Justice in January, including a number of him with women whose faces were redacted. Clinton has not been accused of wrongdoing in his relationship with Epstein.

Comer also has pointed to Hillary Clinton’s work as secretary of state to address sex trafficking as another reason to insist on her deposition. Clinton defended her work to address sex trafficking around the world, saying that it remained important to help the millions of survivors of sex trafficking.

The committee’s investigation also has sought to understand why the Department of Justice under previous presidential administrations did not seek further charges against Epstein after a 2008 arrangement in which he pleaded guilty to state charges in Florida for soliciting prostitution from an underage girl but avoided federal charges.

Hillary Clinton accused Comer of running a one-sided investigation that has failed to hold Trump and other Republican officials to account. “This institutional failure is designed to protect one political party and one public official,” she said.

łŰ±đłŮĚý, especially on the right, have swirled for years around the Clintons and their connections to Epstein and Maxwell, who argues she was convicted wrongfully. Republicans have long wanted to press the Clintons for answers.

Hillary Clinton said that one Republican lawmaker asked her a line of questions about “vile, bogus conspiracy theories.”

Democrats said Thursday that the Boebert photo incident underscored how important it was for there to be a clear public record of the deposition. Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the Oversight panel, said Hillary Clinton, after the incident, repeated her longstanding demand that the deposition be made public, and Democrats called for a video and transcript of the complete proceedings to be released quickly.

Comer said that he would work quickly to release a video and transcript of the deposition.

“The purpose of the whole investigation is to try to understand many things about Epstein,” he told reporters outside the convention center where the depositions were being held. “How did he accumulate so much wealth? How was he able to surround himself with some of the most powerful men in the world?”

Comer described the deposition as a bipartisan effort and said Thursday that it was “very possible” the committee would question Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who was Epstein’s neighbor and had several interactions with him. Under questioning from Democrats this month, Lutnick  after the late financier’s 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a child, reversing his previous claim that he had cut ties with him after 2005.

Democrats call for Trump to testify

Democrats, now being led by a new generation of politicians, have prioritized transparency around Epstein over defending the former leaders of their party. Several Democratic lawmakers joined with Republicans on the Oversight panel to  against the Clintons last month. Several said they had no relationship with the Clintons and owed no loyalty to them.

Garcia also called on Trump to testify in the investigation. He argued that Bill Clinton’s appearance sets a precedent that should apply to Trump as well.

“Let¶¶Ňőap get President Trump in front of our committee to answer the questions that are being asked across this country from survivors,” Garcia said.

Comer previously said the committee can’t depose Trump because he is a sitting president.

Still, Democrats are also coming off an effort this week to confront Trump about his administration’s handling of the Epstein files by taking women who survived Epstein’s abuse as their guests to Trump’s State of the Union address.

Garcia and others also are challenging the Department of Justice’s assertion that it has met the requirements of a law passed by Congress last year that mandates the release of many of the case files on Epstein.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said his caucus in the coming days also would review unredacted versions of the Epstein case files at a Department of Justice office. Schumer, who demanded that the department release all of the files and preserve all materials, said they will “pull on every thread” until they “reveal this massive cover-up.”

Public affairs editor Jon Murray contributed to this story.

Follow the AP’s coverage of Jeffrey Epstein at .

Senators and members of Congress often bring guests to the president’s annual address. This year, the roster from Colorado includes guests who are on the front lines of President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda.

Among them is Caroline Dias Goncalves, a University of Utah student who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Mesa County last spring after a sheriff’s deputy who pulled her over in a traffic stop alerted federal authorities. Goncalves, who was released from detention in late June, will be a guest of U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat.

“Immigrants like me — we’re not asking for anything special. Just a fair chance to feel safe and to keep building the lives we’ve worked so hard for in the country we call home,” . “I hope no one else has to go through what I did, and I hope my story and presence can help inspire change for a better future.”

In a similar vein, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, also a Democrat, will bring Andrea Loya, the executive director of Casa De Paz. The nonprofit group works with people who are or were recently detained in Aurora’s ICE facility, as well as their families.

Caroline Dias Goncalves is our guest for tonight¶¶Ňőap State of the Union. Dreamers like Caroline have grown up here since they were young kids. They should not have to live in fear of violence from ICE.

— Senator John Hickenlooper (@SenatorHick)

Here are other Coloradans set to attend Tuesday’s speech in the nation’s Capitol. Trump’s address is set to begin shortly after 7 p.m. MST.

U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen, a Democrat from Lakewood, will bring Tyler Guyton, a survivor of the Evergreen High School shooting and the school’s student council president. Pettersen’s district includes the school.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican from Windsor, will bring state Sen. Byron Pelton, her office said. Pelton, who serves as the minority caucus chair in the state Senate, represents Sterling and northeastern Colorado, a district that overlaps with Boebert’s congressional district.

U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, a Democrat from Aurora, will host Jay Park, who owns bb.q Chicken, a restaurant franchise that has a location in Aurora.

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Denver Democrat, will bring … no one, including herself. Spokesman Jack Stelzner said the congresswoman wasn’t planning to attend the speech and “won’t force a constituent to sit through (President Donald Trump’s) lies and misstatements.”

U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans, a Fort Lupton Republican, will bring his wife, Anne, as his guest.

Messages sent to Republican U.S. Reps. Jeff Crank and Jeff Hurd and to Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse were not immediately returned Tuesday.

Trump wrote in a social media post Saturday that the freshman Republican’s recent vote to cancel the president’s tariffs on Canada left Hurd as “one of a small number of legislators who have let me and our country down.”

The president instead threw his weight behind the more politically conservative Hope Scheppelman in her June primary against Hurd. She is a former vice chair of the Colorado Republican Party and a hospital corpsman with the U.S. Navy.

Scheppelman, who lives in Bayfield, has worked in the healthcare field for 35 years and is a critical care nurse practitioner.

Trump, in his , said Scheppelman had his “complete and total endorsement to be the next representative from Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District.” He called Hurd a RINO — a Republican in name only — and said it was only the second time he had rescinded an endorsement.

Hurd was one of just six Republicans to join nearly all House Democrats earlier this month in — a rare instance of Congress trying to assert its authority over the Trump administration. The Feb. 11 vote came less than two weeks before the Supreme Court’s ruling Friday striking down many of the global tariffs Trump had imposed using emergency powers.

Without mentioning the president by name, Hurd late Saturday that “every vote I cast is guided by what is best for this district and the long-term strength of our country.”

“Leadership requires independent judgment and the willingness to stand on principle,” Hurd wrote. “My focus remains on delivering results for rural Colorado. That¶¶Ňőap the job I was elected to do — and I’ll keep doing it with conviction, optimism, and a deep gratitude for the people I serve.”

Hurd, who represents many farmers and ranchers on Colorado’s West Slope and beyond, has long questioned whether Trump was improperly stepping on congressional authority by imposing import taxes that he argued are the proper province of Congress — an argument the Supreme Court justices advanced in their 6-3 decision Friday.

Scheppelman on X , saying she was “honored to have the president¶¶Ňőap trust and support to be his partner in protecting jobs and creating economic opportunity for the American people.”

“I will not let the people of Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District down,” she wrote.

Neither Hurd nor Scheppelman could be reached for comment Monday. The Republican primary for the right-leaning district, Colorado’s largest by geography, is June 30.

Hurd, a Grand Junction attorney, has staked out in the fundraising game, collecting in this election cycle more than $2.3 million as of the end of last year. Scheppelman had raised just over $200,000 at the same point.

If Hurd prevails in the June primary, he will likely face Democrat Alex Kelloff in November. Kelloff, who helped found Armada Skis as part of a career in the financial industry, is unopposed on the Democratic side. He had raised $854,000 as of the end of 2025.

Hurd comfortably won the 2024 Colorado Republican primary against five opponents, a contest prompted by Rep. Lauren Boebert’s decision to abandon the district she had represented in Congress for more than three years to run in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District.

Hurd went on to defeat a heavily financed Democratic opponent in the general election that year.