{"id":40746,"date":"2022-05-05T12:52:45","date_gmt":"2022-05-05T18:52:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/meet-the-three-democrats-competing-to-flip-lauren-boeberts-seat-in-congress\/"},"modified":"2022-05-05T18:52:45","modified_gmt":"2022-05-05T18:52:45","slug":"meet-the-three-democrats-competing-to-flip-lauren-boeberts-seat-in-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/meet-the-three-democrats-competing-to-flip-lauren-boeberts-seat-in-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the three Democrats competing to flip Lauren Boebert\u2019s seat in Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Sol
Sol Sandoval, Adam Frisch and Alex Walker<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Sol Sandoval is getting into community activist mode, rearranging chairs in the rec center in Colorado City, so that she and about a dozen voters can talk about why she wants to represent Colorado\u2019s 3rd Congressional District.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been more than 10 years since a Democrat has held this seat and the redistricting process increased its Republican lean to a nine-point advantage. But Democrats think incumbent Rep. Lauren Boebert\u2019s controversy-filled first term could provide them with an opportunity this fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m choosing to sit down with people. I\u2019m choosing to listen,\u201d Sandoval said to the group who came to meet her in this small town on the southwestern end of Pueblo County. \u201cI\u2019m choosing to take the difficult questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite campaigning for almost a year and half, this meet-and-greet has the feel of a new campaign. The conversation ranges from Sandoval\u2019s biographic details \u2013 she\u2019s the daughter of immigrants, the first in her family to graduate from college, a single mother, a community organizer and a gun owner \u2013 before getting into her vision for the district.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m running because I want to help people. I want to serve people,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd the reason why I want to do it is because I know what it feels like to not be served, to not be represented, to not be listened to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sandoval doesn\u2019t have a canned stump speech. Instead, she takes questions and there is a back and forth with the group. They talk about health care, water, education and providing opportunities to keep young people in the district. She tells them about a rancher in the San Luis Valley who sends her a daily prayer.<\/p>\n

\"Democratic
Democratic candidate for Congress Sol Sandoval talks with voters at a meet-and-greet at Colorado City in Pueblo County. (Caitlyn Kim\/CPR News)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cHere is this man,\u201d she said, \u201chis hands are cracked and dry and, you know, he\u2019s a hardworking man, but I could see the pain in his eyes watching, you know, his child leaving his home because there are no opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

If there is a thread that runs through the conversation on this night, it is that she is willing to talk with everyone and anyone. And Rev. Kevin Olsen, who has worked with Sandoval and participated in the group, emphasized Sandoval\u2019s compassion, a value he wants in any representative, and which he believes, \u201cis just 180 degrees from somebody like Boebert.\u201d<\/p>\n

That pitch appeals to unaffiliated voter Donna Hambric of Rye, who also doesn\u2019t see that quality in Boebert.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we could have a more positive representative of both our liberal and our conservative points of view,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But in a district that\u2019s a hodgepodge of red rural communities, liberal mountain towns and purple working-class cities, some Democrats worry that Sandoval, who got onto the ballot by the district assembly \u2013 a grassroots process dominated by Party faithfuls \u2013 might be too liberal for the wider electorate.<\/p>\n

\"Democratic
Democratic candidate for Congress Adam Frisch at a meet-and-greet with voters in Montrose. (Caitlyn Kim\/CPR News)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Adam Frisch brings a centrist platform and a background in Aspen politics<\/div>\n

In contrast, the other two Democrats in the race are running as centrists and both collected signatures for the ballot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we need more moderate people on both sides of the aisle,\u201d said Adam Frisch, a former Aspen City Council member who entered the race a year after Sandoval. \u201cAnd I think the extremists, especially on the right, are not being helpful for our country\u2019s civility. And we need someone who\u2019s gonna focus on our district, not on their Twitter account.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frisch has a business background. And while he comes from the resort town of Aspen, he stresses his rural roots. He grew up on an American Indian reservation, where his father was a health provider, and his family still has agriculture ties.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really wanna make a stand that rural America should be fought over by two parties. Not just one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

And despite Pitkin County being known as a playground for the rich and famous, he said his part of the district faces the same challenges as the rest of it \u2013 from a lack of affordable housing to concerns about water supply. He thinks voters all across the Western Slope are motivated by kitchen table issues \u2013 like inflation.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything costs too darn much: The gas is out of control, health care,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd having a strong business background, I think I can add something to that conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

About a dozen people showed up for a recent meet-and-greet outside a coffee shop in Montrose. If he makes it to Congress, Frisch said he wants to be part of the Problem Solvers Caucus and work across the aisle. As if to make that point, he warmly greeted state Sen. Don Coram \u2013 who is running in the district\u2019s GOP primary<\/a> \u2013 when the two men ran into each other at the coffee shop before Frisch\u2019s event.<\/p>\n

\"Democratic
Democratic candidate Adam Frisch and Republican candidate state Sen. Don Coram cross paths in Montrose and greet each another. (Caitlyn Kim\/CPR News)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Republicans might have the advantage based on the district\u2019s past election results, but Frisch is optimistic. He thinks a moderate Democrat stands a fighting chance against Boebert.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of people that are really frustrated \u2013 moderate Republicans, unaffiliated \u2013 that have voted for her before; they wanted to try a fresh face and try to give it a shot,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think she\u2019s disappointed a tremendous amount of people, and upset a lot of people and embarrassed a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

But while many at Frisch\u2019s event liked his moderate stance, Democrat Michael Hoffman worries that in this political climate, it might take something more \u2013 especially against an incumbent who has shown she can energize the populist Republican base.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s gonna take somebody who is very charismatic and who comes across with a strong personality to go against Lauren (Boebert)\u2019s strong personality,\u201d Hoffman said. \u201cPeople are looking for a strong personality, more so than policy issues. And I don\u2019t think people think much beyond that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Walker made a splash with a scatological campaign video<\/div>\n

Enter the third Democrat in the primary \u2013 Alex Walker, who has taken a page from Boebert\u2019s social media playbook. When the political newcomer jumped in the race in early March, his launch video<\/a> went viral because of its scatological theme (think: lots of poop, raining from the sky on unsuspecting residents of the district).<\/p>\n

Walker said he\u2019s worried about the direction the country is headed and wants to help clean up the mess of the last few political years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m running because people in my generation aren\u2019t stepping up and we need somebody to make politics accessible to a new generation of change-makers,\u201d said the 31-year-old.<\/p>\n

The openly gay engineer is focusing on issues such as affordable housing, bringing better tech jobs to the district and making health care more accessible.<\/p>\n

Despite his late entry, Walker is upbeat, focusing on the number of unique impressions his social media offerings have reached. But he did not do much to publicize a recent in-person swing through the district. A campaign stop at a brewery in Telluride only appeared to attract a few people.<\/p>\n

\"Democratic
Democratic candidate for Congress Alex Walker meets voters in Telluride. (Caitlyn Kim\/CPR News)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

He said he\u2019s trying to pull in donations from young, disenfranchised voters nationally. But while his intro video might appeal to the TikTok generation, older voters, like Democrat Joel Ohlsen, had a different take.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m concerned about his initial introduction to his candidacy,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t seem to have been what most people would, uh, sort of take a shine to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walker argues that in order to be successful, the Democrat in this race needs to get his or her name out nationally to raise money. He has the least cash on hand of the Democratic candidates, with just under $70,000, according to the most recent campaign filings. Sandoval has just shy of $100,000, while Frish has the most in the bank, with just over $1.6 million, the vast bulk of which he has lent himself. They all lag behind Boebert, who has more than $2 million in campaign cash on hand.<\/p>\n

Walker is also taking another lesson from Boebert\u2019s first run for political office: holding lots of voter events.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe won by going physically everywhere,\u201d he said. \u201cJust about the only noble thing she did in pursuit of this seat was talking to voters. And that is exactly what we need to replicate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sandoval and Frisch are also logging miles in the district, which takes up almost half the state. And they\u2019re all staring down the clock: The primary is now less than two months away.<\/p>\n

To read more stories from Colorado Public Radio, visit www.cpr.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Candidates think incumbent\u2019s controversy-filled first term could provide them an opportunity<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[981,266,28,826,2972,367],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-40746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado-3rd-congressional-district","tag-election","tag-headlines","tag-political-campaigns","tag-primary","tag-u-s-rep-lauren-boebert"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40746"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=40746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}