Hanks hammers Hurd on accountability, but both dodge issue of Iran War, skyrocketing fuel costs

Republican Ron Hanks, a former state lawmaker and U.S. Air Force intelligence officer, told the Vail Daily in a recent email interview that this year’s race for the 3^rd Congressional District seat that includes part of Eagle County is all about accountability — a quality he says incumbent Republican Jeff Hurd severely lacks.

“Hurd has not been responsive to the district, has taken unpopular positions, and has not stood up to take accountability for his actions,” said Hanks, who successfully landed on the June 30 primary ballot by virtue of a voice vote at the GOP Assembly in Pueblo last month.

Hanks, who unsuccessfully challenged Hurd in the 2024 primary, got the required 30% or more of the delegates at the assembly, while Hurd petitioned his way onto the ballot.

“We were nominated from the floor at the CD3 assembly,” Hanks said. “Hurd was there, took 11 minutes to give a three-minute speech, got booed a few times, and left without facing the delegates. I followed him into the hall and offered to nominate him, but he kept walking without saying a word. He is an odd and timid duck.”

The Hurd reelection campaign did not respond to calls and email requests seeking comment for this story.

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“He doesn’t respond to constituents, either,” Hanks said of Hurd. “He doesn’t hold town halls (Hurd just held a telephone town hall on April 30). He feebly calls the work of others his own. The voters are neither seen, nor heard. I am committed to changing that.”

Hanks, a J6 rally attendee, is a full-throated supporter of President Donald Trump, who first endorsed, then unendorsed, then reindorsed Hurd after the Grand Junction attorney voted against Trump’s tariffs. Hanks, on the other hand, is reliably in Trump’s camp to the point of Colorado Democrats trying to boost his candidacies to undermine moderates such as Hurd.

“My commitment to constituents is they will always know where I stand,” Hanks said. “I’ve never hidden my positions, and I won’t do so as the representative for CD3. Some may not agree with them, but I will commit to civilized discourse and listen to their arguments — and importantly, I want to hear their proposed solutions.”

Hurd’s campaign, according to Colorado Politics, said Hanks is getting into the race at the last minute to create “chaos as an agent of the Democrats.”

“We’ve been called an 11th-hour campaign, and we like the sound of that,” Hanks said. “In the short time we’ve been engaging voters, we have come to realize they are very, very pissed off at Hurd. They won’t show up for him this election cycle.”

A pair of Pitkin County Democrats are squaring off in their party’s June 30 primary: former investment banker and ski company co-founder Alex Kelloff and former U.S. Army engineer, Aspen City Council member and current property management company owner Dwayne Romero.

Kelloff’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment for this story, but a spokesperson for Romero’s campaign agreed the race for the sprawling 3^rd Congressional District, which includes most of southern and western Colorado, is all about accountability for Hurd — but also accountability for the rising costs brought on by Trump’s tariffs and ill-advised war in Iran.

“As a combat veteran who served in the Gulf War, it is easy for me to see how reckless and irresponsible Trump’s war in Iran is,” Romero said in an email statement. “There has been no justification, no plan, and no stated objectives from this administration. There’s been no international support outside of the region.

“And yet Congressman Hurd has still supported Trump’s war, despite the continued risk to American lives and as prices at the pump continue to rise. That’s why I’m running to replace him in November, because Colorado deserves a representative who will take on any D.C. politician to make basic necessities like gas and healthcare more affordable.”

Hanks did not respond to questions about the war in Iran and massive increases in gas and diesel prices that are economically hammering residents of the district, including resort areas where service station owners and managers are worried about spiking gas prices impacting drive-market tourism and air carriers are nervously eyeing big increases in jet fuel costs.

Former 3^rd Congressional District U.S. Rep. John Salazar, a so-called Blue Dog, moderate Democrat and longtime farmer and rancher in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado, said, “The main issue, of course, is affordability on everything (in CD3). Agriculture is suffering so bad from all the impacts from the federal government.”

Salazar, the last Democrat to represent CD3, points to Trump’s tariffs shutting down the Chinese soybean market and now the war in Iran causing diesel prices for tractors and trucking to surge to nearly $6 a gallon.

“People don’t understand where their food comes from. They think food comes from the grocery store, but it starts with agriculture,” said Salazar, a former Colorado Agriculture Commissioner under Gov. John Hickenlooper, who is running for reelection in the U.S. Senate and just landed Salazar’s endorsement.

“Last year alone, in 2025, here in Colorado, we lost 1,100 farms,” Salazar said. “And then with these tariffs that this administration has put on, I mean, costs are out of this world. My operating costs alone last year went up by 25%. And this year is going to be even worse with that diesel prices in Alamosa already at $5.70 a gallon.”

Salazar said most voters in CD3 are independent and don’t want either political extreme dominating politics and ignoring solutions. He points to Front Range lawmakers, mostly Democrats, making things worse for farmers and ranchers by reintroducing wolves. And he said he knows why both Hurd and Hanks won’t talk about Trump’s Iran war, tariffs and high prices.

“Well, I’m sure they’re afraid of the administration,” Salazar said.