The two Democrats seeking to flip a western Colorado congressional seat from red to blue both hope to galvanize what they say is growing dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump. 

But as they make similar policy pitches — reversing healthcare cuts, protecting public lands and standing up to what they see as White House corruption — only one will be the Democratic nominee for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District this November.

One of those candidates is Alex Kelloff, a businessman who co-founded Armada Skis in 2002 and whose family roots on the Western Slope go back more than 130 years. The other is Dwayne Romero, a former U.S. Army Ranger with decades of local and state-level political experience, including positions on the Aspen City Council and the Aspen School District Board of Education. 

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They will face off in the June 30 Democratic primary, with the winner taking on the GOP nominee for the 3rd District, which is currently represented by Grand Junction attorney Jeff Hurd, a Republican who is facing his own primary against former state lawmaker Ron Hanks. 

The sweeping district stretches from the northwestern corner of Colorado throughout most of the Western Slope and also swings east to include Pueblo. While roughly half of its registered voters are unaffiliated, the district favors Republicans and hasn’t been represented by a Democrat since 2011. 

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Democrats came close to flipping the seat in 2022, when then-incumbent Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican, won reelection by just 546 votes against former Aspen City Council member Adam Frisch. Those margins widened, however, in 2024 after Boebert switched districts. Hurd beat Frisch, who launched a second campaign that year, by nearly 20,000 votes. 

Both Kelloff and Romero believe this year’s election season, in which national polling so far shows Democrats have a slight edge over Republicans for control of Congress, will make the seat competitive.

Kelloff said voters “understand what their gas prices are, they understand what their grocery prices are and they’re not unaware of who is responsible for that.” 

Romero said Hurd has “failed to push back” against Trump and has “failed to represent the needs, and frankly, the concerns, of constituents in his district.”

Healthcare, public lands and standing up to Trump

Both Kelloff and Romero said they were inspired to run for the seat after Trump’s reelection in 2024, and both are seeking to tie Hurd to Trump’s policies, which they say are hurting their district. 

They pummeled Hurd over his vote in the House last summer to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which enacted much of Trump’s second-term agenda. The sweeping legislation extended and expanded a suite of tax cuts for individuals and businesses while increasing the federal deficit and reducing funding and eligibility for Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. 

Kelloff said that while the tax cuts may have generated some relief for working-class families, the majority of the benefits went to wealthy individuals and corporations, and were paid for in part by increasing the federal deficit. 

If elected to Congress, Kelloff said he would not support legislation that further contributes to the deficit. He wants to protect social programs like Medicaid, which he said should be viewed as “critical investments that we’ve made in our communities that have a long-term benefit for everyone.” 

Kelloff also wants tax code reforms to close loopholes that he says allow the “very wealthy class” to avoid paying taxes, such as borrowing against their own assets at much lower interest rates. 

“We should be able to close those loopholes pretty easily and pretty fairly, and that should be broadly popular across the political spectrum,” Kelloff said. 

Other priorities for Kelloff include simplifying regulations to help build more housing and protecting public lands, an area where he says Hurd has not been consistent. While Hurd has opposed public lands sales and is a co-sponsor with Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet on a major conservation bill for western Colorado, he has also sponsored legislation to repeal Biden-era resource management plans. Those plans removed additional public lands from new oil and gas leases and extended wilderness protections and conservation areas. 

“Jeff Hurd would have you think that natural resource extraction is the largest economic industry in the district. It is not, it is outdoor recreation,” Kelloff said. “Our livelihoods and our economy depend on public lands and water, both for recreation (and) for farming and ranching.”

Romero said one of his top priorities, if elected to Congress, would be reversing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and restoring healthcare funding. Along with limiting Medicaid, the legislation did not include an extension of subsidies that lower insurance premiums for plans purchased through the Affordable Care Act, which was passed under Biden. Hurd later sponsored separate bills to renew those subsidies, but those efforts were unsuccessful. 

“(Hurd) promised during his campaign to protect healthcare and to provide security for the working-class families of our district,” Romero said, calling Hurd’s vote on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act a “huge failure.” 

Romero also said he would champion protections for public lands and make sure that “not one more square foot of public lands is bartered or sold away to private interests.” Public lands sales were proposed in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but were stripped before the legislation passed amid pushback from Democrats and Republicans, including Hurd. 

Kelloff and Romero also stressed the importance of Congress reasserting its role as a coequal branch of government. Kelloff said the cuts made under Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, are a prime example of how Congress has abdicated its power to the executive branch. 

Romero said Hurd has “ignored the outright corruption that this administration is pursuing,” such as Trump’s attempted $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, which he recently abandoned. 

Different backgrounds 

With the two Democratic candidates taking similar policy positions, Kelloff and Romero each point to their backgrounds to set themselves apart. 

Kelloff emphasises his family’s deep roots in western Colorado, which date back to 1893 when his family settled in Trinidad. His family has a history of starting small businesses in the region, including a chain of grocery stores and the Movie Manor in Monte Vista. 

Kelloff’s parents married in Aspen 60 years ago. While Kelloff grew up in northern Virginia, where he attended public school, he frequently visited family in Colorado and moved to the Aspen area permanently about six years ago. 

“I was raised on those values of being a good neighbor and a pillar and supporter of the community, and that’s what really resonates with the constituents whom I speak with,” Kelloff said. 

Along with founding Armada Skis, Kelloff has had a 30-year career in the telecommunications industry, with a focus on expanding infrastructure in rural communities. 

Kelloff launched his campaign for the 3rd Congressional District more than 13 months ago, which he said has given him time to travel the region and meet with voters. He said he’s visited all 27 counties in the district. Romero launched his campaign in early March, shortly before the deadline to file for the Democratic primary. 

“He talks about how he’s going to fight for this district,” Kelloff said of Romero, adding, “you don’t fight for the district when you get in” so close to the deadline

Romero said his late entrance into the race has no bearing on his quality as a candidate. Romero said he chose to run against Kelloff over concerns that Kelloff would not beat Hurd due to what Romero called a “lack of performance, a lack of experience.” 

While this year’s Democratic primary is the first time Kelloff has run for elected office, Romero said he has decades of elected and appointed political experience. 

Along with serving on the Aspen City Council and local school board, Romero held a seat on the local fire district board and currently serves on his local water and sanitation board. He also served for several months as economic development director under former Gov. John Hickenlooper and sat on the state’s economic development commission for three years. 

Romero served 11 years in the U.S. military. He’s lived in the Aspen area for 30 years, and his wife is a school teacher in Woody Creek. He also runs a real estate business, Romero Realty. 

“I have a lifetime of service,” Romero said. 

He also believes his upbringing will resonate with voters. Romero said he was raised by a single mom in southern Texas, where she worked a minimum wage job, and they relied on food stamps, now called SNAP. 

“I think that is very relatable to many, many, many working families and blue-collar families that are working hard here in our district,” Romero said. “They need to know that they have somebody that’s going to be a fighter that they can actually trust based on the experiences — the wins, the losses — and the skillsets of being able to meet with people and bring effective compromise.” 

Campaign finance reports as of the end of March show Kelloff has raised over $590,000 with a $450,000 loan to his campaign. He has spent more than $588,000. Romero has raised over $225,000 with a $280,000 loan to his campaign, and has spent more than $35,000. 

Registered voters will begin receiving their primary ballots in the mail starting on June 8. Voters will have until June 22 to return their ballot by mail to ensure it is counted, or until 7 p.m. on June 30 to drop their ballot off at a drop box or to vote in person. 

Information on how to register to vote or update voter information can be found at GoVoteColorado.com.