When the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District to its list of top 2026 targets in early October, it was meant as a way to summon other liberal groups to start spending on the race.
The DCCC, the campaign arm for U.S. House Democrats, hoped an influx of money could help push former Aspen City Councilman Dwayne Romero across the finish line in his bid to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd.
After all, polling has shown the race is essentially tied despite the GOP tilt of the district, which spans the Western Slope and stretches into Pueblo and southeastern Colorado.
But so far, the DCCC’s call to action has gone unanswered. And there’s not much time left before the Nov. 3 election for that to change.
While the DCCC has spent some money in the 3rd District, other Democratic groups have mostly sat on the sidelines, dropping only about $15,000 in independent expenditures on Romero’s behalf through Monday morning, according to a Colorado Sun analysis and OpenSecrets, a website that tracks campaign spending.
Meanwhile, more than $3 million had been spent in the district as of Monday morning to benefit Hurd, much of it from a pair of super PACs tied to President Donald Trump that are primarily attacking Romero. The Trump-tied Safety & Affordability PAC reported spending about $1 million on Oct. 19 on TV ads attacking the Democrat.
The House Majority PAC, a Democratic group tied to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, will start running TV ads in the district Tuesday attacking Hurd over his connections to Trump, specifically on the war in Iran, before touting Romero’s military background.
But it plans to use only about $300,000 of the roughly $1 million in Colorado TV ad time it reserved long ago for the district, redirecting much of that to the 8th Congressional District, where Democrat Manny Rutinel, a former state representative, is trying to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans of Fort Lupton.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd meets with constituents at a library in Glenwood Springs, Colorado on Aug. 17, 2026. (Jesse Paul, The Colorado Sun)
Even with that $300,000 in House Majority PAC spending, which has yet to be reported to the Federal Election Commission, Romero will remain at a major outside spending disadvantage compared to Hurd.
“It’s just hard to get money to show up here,” said Democrat Adam Frisch, another Aspenite who ran unsuccessfully in the district in 2022 and 2024.
In some ways, the situation in the 3rd District underscores Democrats’ embarrassment of riches this election cycle: Trump is so unpopular and the electorate appears so poised to cast out Republicans in Congress that they almost have too many opportunities to win.
On the other side of the coin, national Democrats are also — to use a high-country idiom — facing pressure not to get over their skis.
“One of the weird things about the campaign finance environment this cycle is the Democratic Party is not particularly rich,” said Seth Masket, a political science professor at the University of Denver who tracks elections and political trends across the country. “They have more opportunities than they can afford to compete in. It’s kind of the flip side for Republicans.”
In a written statement, Romero’s campaign said that Trump and Republican groups are “trying to prop up Jeff Hurd’s flailing campaign.” But Romero’s aides didn’t address the lack of Democratic spending on his behalf.
With a week until Election Day, Romero — an Army veteran who owns and operates a property management and real estate development firm — may not ultimately need any help beating Hurd. But if he loses by a narrow margin, the 3rd District could end up being viewed as a wasted opportunity Democrats may not get again soon.
Former Aspen city councilman Dwayne Romero, a Democrat running in the 3rd Congressional District, stands outside of the Clifton Community Campus in Clifton, Colo., after a town hall on Aug. 20, 2026. (Kevin J. Beaty, Denverite via the Colorado Capitol News Alliance)
The last Democrat to represent the 3rd District was John Salazar, who held the seat from early 2005 to early 2011. He lost his 2010 reelection bid to Republican Scott Tipton, who comfortably held the seat until he lost to Lauren Boebert in the 2020 GOP primary.
Boebert beat Frisch in 2022 by about 550 votes in a race that was more about Boebert’s unpopularity than the district’s interest in electing a Democrat. The close contest prompted Boebert to seek reelection on the other side of the state, at which point Hurd became the district’s Republican nominee.
Frisch, running for a second straight time, lost to Hurd in 2024 by 5 percentage points, while Trump won the district that year by 10 percentage points.
“I don’t want to say it’s now or never,” said Frisch, who is supporting Romero’s campaign. “If he ends up losing by 4 or 5 points, no money was going to matter. If he ends up losing a very close race, I think we would go back and say ‘If Dwayne actually had the money to be able to get his message out more, that probably would have been the difference.’”
Even with time running out, the DCCC is still trying to bring attention to the race. On Friday, the group released a poll showing Romero up 1 percentage point over Hurd, which, given the survey’s margin of error, means the contest is essentially tied.
No independent polling on the race has been publicly released, but the fact that Republicans continue to spend money defending Hurd indicates they, too, think it’s close.
Jeff Hurd, 3rd Congressional District Republican candidate, middle, greets supporters before election results came in at an election watch party at the Warehouse 25sixty-five on Nov. 5, 2024. (Larry Robinson, Grand Junction Sentinel)
In terms of candidate fundraising and spending, Hurd has a clear advantage as well. He’s hauled in and spent about $4 million on his reelection bid — including about $1 million from PACs tied to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana — whereas Romero has raised and spent about $1.5 million, including $460,000 he loaned to his campaign.
Additionally, Romero had to use some of his campaign cash to win a contested primary in the district in June.
When it comes to building connections with voters, Romero has not been as visible in the district as Frisch was during his two campaigns. And some of his attacks on Hurd haven’t landed.
For instance, Romero ran a 30-second spot accusing Hurd of “only listening to his donors,” namely “Arizona special interests out to steal our water.”
That accusation was based on a single $1,500 campaign donation Hurd received in June from the Salt River Valley Water Users’ Association, a nonprofit utility cooperative that manages water in the Phoenix area. Other recent recipients of donations from the association include Democratic U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette of Denver and Joe Neguse of Lafayette.
But Frisch said he thinks Hurd is vulnerable because of his association with Trump, particularly his vote last year for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which reduced future Medicaid spending. Polling across the country shows Democrats are competitive this year, if not winning, in races that GOP incumbents won by much larger margins than Hurd did in 2024.
“But at some point you need to have a minimal amount of money to tell a story,” Frisch said.
The ads being run by Hurd and Republican super PACs have been labeling Romero as a liberal and calling him corrupt, highlighting how he resigned from his position leading a state economic development agency in 2011 after being arrested in Denver for driving while ability impaired, to which he pleaded guilty. (DWAI is a less serious offense than driving under the influence and carries lesser penalties.)
Hurd, who has gotten into spats with Trump and is considered a moderate, has been barnstorming the district. He’s made inroads with and won the respect of Democrats, including several members of the state’s congressional delegation. Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet even name-checked and praised Hurd during a debate as part of his failed gubernatorial bid this year.
Even Trump, who at one point unendorsed Hurd and called him a RINO — Republican in name only — because of the congressman’s refusal to support the president’s tariff policies, is again backing Hurd as it becomes increasingly clear Republicans are poised to lose bicameral control of Congress.
The Trump-aligned Safety & Affordability and No Going Back PACs had spent a combined $2.5 million in the 3rd District through Monday.
Type of Story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.