It was a small group that met with Jeff Hurd this week. Their objective was to educate the Republican running in the 3rd Congressional District on the agriculture economy that is tied intrinsically to the Upper Rio Grande Basin. 

And to get his commitment that he would oppose any effort to pump water away from the San Luis Valley.

“That’s why I was here, to see if that water was headed over the mountain,” Greg Higel, board chair of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District, said to Hurd as the nearly two-hour huddle wrapped up.

Higel; Bob Mattive, a Rio Grande County farmer and incoming president of the National Potato Council; Mark Lounsbury, general manager of Grower Shipper Potato Company; and a few others sat around a table inside The Pivot Public House in Monte Vista to help Hurd understand water, agriculture and how the two bind the San Luis Valley no matter the political stripe.

“When it comes to the issue of water, I’m very parochial and very focused on the area and I would not support any solution or any movement of water period that wouldn’t have the complete buy-in of the communities here in the San Luis Valley,” Hurd told the group.

Pressed on the endorsement and campaign contributions he’s received from Bill Owens and others tied to Renewable Water Resources, which has plans to pump and sell water from the Rio Grande Basin, Hurd said the endorsements aren’t a signal that he’s in Owens’ corner on RWR.

“An endorsement to me doesn’t get anything in return other than appreciation and gratitude. I make my own decisions. I’m my own candidate. I don’t owe anything to anybody,” he said.

It was a get-to-know session of a candidate few knew much about, but one who has a legitimate shot at representing the six-county San Luis Valley in Congress because of the R tied to his name.

Republicans hold a 34,000-voter registration advantage over Democrats in the 3rd Congressional, according to 2022 voter registrations. Voter registration gives the November GOP nominee in the 3rd Congressional a built-in cushion over the Democratic opponent on party affiliation, if voters punch their ballots along party lines and the 208,375 unaffiliated voters in the congressional district break evenly.

In the 2024 general election where Donald Trump is the Republican Party’s face, there is no certainty of Colorado Republicans supporting all Republican candidates on the ballot. Hurd understood that as well, which was another reason he showed up in Monte Vista, to convince local Republicans who don’t support and won’t vote for Trump that he is one of them, not a MAGA Republican as the Trump wing of the party has become known.

Endorsements from a variety of Republicans, said Hurd, help him build a broader coalition of support. “Particularly as Republicans, we’re better adding rather than subtracting, not dividing and subtracting,” he said.

Two other Republicans, Russ Andrews and Jason Bias, are also campaigning for the nomination. Andrews is Hurd’s strongest Republican challenger based on campaign contributions each has secured so far. Hurd shows $355,906 in the bank compared to $263,599 for Andrews, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

The GOP winner will likely face either Adam Frisch or Anna Stout as the Democratic nominee. Of all the candidates in the 3rd Congressional District race, Frisch has a humongous advantage on the money side with $4.3 million in campaign funds, and in name recognition based on his near-win over Lauren Boebert in 2020.

For first-time candidates like Hurd it’s starting from zero, traveling a congressional district that stretches from Pueblo to Grand Junction, and meeting with small groups so they can hear from him and he can learn from them.

Mattive, the incoming president of the National Potato Council, walked Hurd through the federal Farm Bill, another current hot potato in Congress, to help him understand how it comes together and the importance the Farm Bill holds to local farmers and ranchers.

“The people that I will listen to, to guide me are the people that live here and work here and are raising their families here,” Hurd said.

On this particular afternoon, he got the earful he was hoping to get. For the rest at the table it was a chance to influence someone who may end up representing them.