Puebloan Stephen Varela joining crowded primary for Lauren Boebert’s seat in CO-3
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Puebloan Stephen Varela is joining the Republican primary for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, following the announcement that incumbent U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert is moving to run in another district.
Varela filed with the Federal Elections Commission on Jan. 10 and announced his candidacy in a press release early Thursday morning.
He most recently ran for Pueblo’s state senate seat and lost to incumbent state Sen. Nick Hinrichsen in November 2022. Varela has been serving for a year on the Colorado Board of Education, after he was appointed in January 2023 to replace an outgoing Republican member. He also briefly was in the running to be the chair of the Colorado Republican Party early last year but decided to drop out of the race.
Varela, 39, said in the release he wanted to “contribute to a new generation of conservative leadership." His statement echoed several popular conservative talking points: he said that some Americans have lost hope amid “woke indoctrination in our schools” and “the complete chaos at our Southern border” but that voters in Colorado’s 3rd District are “ready for fundamental change.”
“These failures put the spotlight on the consequences of unbridled liberalism,” Varela said.
Varela emphasizes experience as veteran, Democrat
Varela in the release highlighted his experience as a veteran in Iraq. The word “battle” appears six times in his announcement.
Varela used to be a Democrat — the Chieftain previously reported that he has switched parties at least 18 times since 2011 — but has been affiliated with the GOP since early 2021.
He embraced his previous time on the other side of the aisle in the release — “I know first-hand how badly the Democratic party has abandoned America’s working-class values” — and explained that he switched to be a Republican “for good” after Joe Biden was elected president.
“In Congress, I will go to battle with the far left by working to secure America’s Southern border, reduce inflation and the cost of living, and defend rural voters against a Democrat Party who too often mocks rural America’s values and interests,” Varela said.
When registered as a Democrat, Varela was involved with setting up Rural Colorado United, a political organization formed to advocate against Boebert.
Some endorsements announced
Varela's campaign has already netted several endorsements from state and local conservative figures in Colorado’s 3rd District, including Christy “Chrissy Ruckus” Fidura, the leader of the Pueblo County Patriots.
“As someone who has worked closely with Stephen Varela in recent years, I can tell fellow conservatives Stephen works diligently for the best interests of CD 3 conservatives. He’s a true believer in our values and principles and possesses an optimistic, can-do attitude to make a difference for the conservative cause,” Fidura said in the release.
Brenda Dickhoner, the president of conservative education group Ready Colorado, also lauded Varela in an endorsement included in his announcement.
"What an opportunity Colorado Republicans have in Stephen Varela to bring fresh, new, can-do representation to Congress! I wholeheartedly support Stephen Varela for Congress,” Dickhoner wrote. “He's been a difference-maker for education reform advocates on the State Board of Education, and I have no doubt he will be a difference-maker in Congress, too."
Who else is running in Colorado’s 3rd District?
Varela is joining at least five others running in the Republican primary in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, which spans most of the Western Slope, the San Luis Valley and parts of the Pueblo region.
Jeff Hurd, an attorney from Grand Junction, has netted several high-profile GOP endorsements in recent weeks, including two former Republican congressmen who represented the district, Scott McInnis and Scott Tipton.
State Rep. Ron Hanks, who ran in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in 2022, lives outside of district boundaries in Cañon City but has also thrown his hat in the race.
Congressional representatives are not required to live within the boundaries of districts they represent. Hanks’ announcement came days after Boebert said she was leaving for another district.
Other Republican candidates in the race, according to federal data, also include David Karpas, Jason Bias and Carbondale businessman Russ Andrews.
Anna Lynn Winfrey covers politics for the Pueblo Chieftain. She can be reached at awinfrey@gannett.com. Please support local news at subscribe.chieftain.com.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Stephen Varela joining crowded primary for Boebert’s seat in CO-3
