‘We’re building momentum to beat Boebert’

ALAMOSA —The Adam Frisch campaign for Colorado’s Third Congressional District announced Monday that Frisch, Democratic candidate challenging Rep. Lauren Boebert in CO-3, raised close to $1.7 million in the third quarter fundraising period. That is nearly twice the $900,000 announced by Boebert for the same period.

Frisch also was the top-earning Congressional candidate in the state in the third quarter with an average donation of $73 coming from 23,000 individuals, according to his campaign. Frisch did not invest any personal funds during the third quarter nor will he during the fourth.

In what is further viewed by the campaign as a “sign of building momentum to beat Boebert,” the Western Slope businessman raised $400,000 last week alone, following the release of the Keating poll that has Frisch and Boebert statistically tied in the race.

“It’s clear that voters in CO-3 are ready to replace Boebert with someone who will focus on the district and be an independent voice for change in Washington,” Frisch said.

Frisch was in Alamosa over the weekend on day two of a nine-day tour across the district that includes 15 separate town halls.

“Since the primary, I’ve traveled over 10,000 miles,” Frisch said. “It’s tiring but invigorating. Boebert and I are tied in the race because 40% of Republicans want their party back. I’m focused on those people who want to have serious conversations about serious issues — not the angertainment circus that Boebert and her mentor, Marjorie Taylor Green, are a part of.

“People want the circus to stop and to elect someone who will focus on the issues that matter in this district instead of traveling around the country helping other candidates in places like Alaska or New Hampshire. It’s been like that for the last two years and people are tired of it.”

Frisch said that the greatest concerns he’s heard from voters are the issues that many people are facing — inflation and the economy. But, in CO-3, there is real concern about water.

All three of those issues tie into having a competent person in the position, he said.

“I always ask people the same question: who do you want in negotiations? The Bureau of Land Reclamation is suggesting they’ll take a red pen to the Colorado River issue if the eight states don’t find a resolution. Who do you want negotiating if Colorado, with only eight delegates, is sitting across the table from a state like California that has 52? Who do you trust to negotiate in a thoughtful, productive, serious way?”

When asked what he tells voters about inflation, Frisch, again, goes back to the importance of bipartisan negotiations, tying inflation to the issue of immigration and a shortage of workers hampering small businesses.

“For every two jobs that are open, there’s only one worker. Immigration impacts agriculture with farmers and ranchers. It also impacts the recreation industry and small businesses. I have a lot of conversations with small business owners who are talking to me about how to get workers,” he said.

“The conversation has been driven by extremes around who we are as a nation with those on the far right advocating for closing down the borders and cutting off people trying to immigrate and others on the far left - especially when horrible things were going on at the border — talking about compassion and making the borders more open. 

“If we start off by looking at immigration as an economic issue that isn’t so driven by emotion, we can find the beginning of a solution. And then, in the course of that economic conversation, those very important, emotionally driven questions can be discussed.

Frisch would like to revisit the compromise legislation written in 2013 by the bipartisan gang of eight.

“Both Senators Bennet and Lindsey Graham were involved in that and it had special provisions for agriculture,” Frisch said. “But it was killed — I think by the far right in the House — and here we are, 10 years later, still talking about the problem.”

Frisch was asked about the relationship between climate change and water scarcity, something that 98% of scientists confirm and those in agriculture recognize as an ever-increasing threat.

“On the environment we need to do the math,” Frisch said. “We have to move electricity from where it is to where it’s used. The Washington Post ran a story last week that said, at the current rate we’re expanding, it won’t be until 2080 that we have sufficient transmission lines to move renewable electricity across the country.

“Right now, Republicans are saying deregulation at all costs. Democrats are saying we’re not going to budge on regulations. We need to have a bipartisan, common-sense conversation about where we are and where we need to be and address that gap and how quickly can we get that number of kilowatts moved to where it needs to be in a way that protects the environment, is economically feasible and respects state and local wishes.

“Again, the two extremes are driving the conversation.

“This district is a world class leader in developing clean gas and clean coal. We also have a lot of sun and wind. I would love to see that kind of focus on developing clean renewable energy. Let’s get some of the tax revenue we’re sending to D.C. back to the people in Colorado.”  

When asked about women’s reproductive rights, Frisch doesn’t hesitate.

“I fully support women’s reproductive health care freedom and keeping the government out of that conversation,” he said.

In a week, Colorado ballots will be mailed out with the general election taking place just three weeks after that. Frisch was asked if he can build enough momentum to win the race between now and then.

“The first four to five months of this conversation was about how do you defeat someone who is such an extremist, loud mouthed person?” Frisch said. “In politics, there’s this assumption that if you’re loud, you must be strong. Not so. Electorally, all the others in the angertainment crowd were elected by large margins. Not Boebert.

“She only won with 51% of the vote and didn’t even carry her home county. Voters see how she’s been in office. They see the polling numbers and – especially Republicans and Independents — are telling me, ‘I like what you say but do you really mean it? I don’t want you to go there and become part of the partisan machine.’”

Frisch’s answer to that harkens back to his intention, announced the first time he was campaigning in Alamosa: if elected, he’ll join the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, a strong contrast to Rep. Boebert who ranked 433 out of 435 in bipartisanship.

“I want us to be fighting over who gets credit for the success in Congress and not blaming who is responsible for things that don’t get done,” he said.