State, local Democrats unveil new efforts to reach rural citizens

Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District is traditionally, and deeply, red and has been for a while. But last November, Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican and the incumbent at the time, only beat challenger Adam Frisch, a Democrat, by 546 votes. And this slim margin caught the attention of the state Democratic Party, which is now vowing to invest in reaching rural Colorado voters.

Earlier this week, Colorado Democratic Party Chair Shad Murib announced the launch of The 546 Project, a 17-month campaign aimed at reconnecting with rural voters, winning local elections, and unseating Boebert in 2024.

On a local level, the Montrose County Democratic Party plans to participate in the state party’s campaign and continue its own efforts to reach unaffiliated voters and voters of all party affiliations.

Montrose County Democratic Party Chair Kevin Kuns hangs out of the group’s 4th of July float at last year’s parade. (Photo courtesy Kevin Kuns.)

Murib said the state campaign will target roughly 10,000 voters who are registered Democrats but who didn’t vote in last year’s election. He said while rural areas are often considered Republican strongholds, he believes Democrats can win if they develop a presence in these parts of the state. The chair, who runs a ranch in Edwards, said he’s excited to see the party focus on outreach beyond the Front Range.

“We’ve all seen what happens when the party infrastructure writes off rural seats as unwinnable.,” he said. “Naturally, we lose. But when we fight, we win.”

He said the effort is not just focused on Boebert but on building momentum and infrastructure in rural areas that will also help party candidates in state and local races.

However, it’s clear the party has a strong interest in unseating the congressional representative, who Murib believes is “singularly focused on being famous and causing chaos.”

He pointed out Boebert’s vocal opposition to the debt ceiling deal, which recently passed in Washington D.C., noting that after vocally opposing the bill, she missed the vote last Wednesday without providing a reason as to why.

“I certainly wasn’t afraid to vote against the bill, as I have been advocating against it all week,” she said in a statement. In a Twitter video, she said she missed the vote in protest, while other videos surfaced of the representative running up the stairs to Congress, seemingly surprised when alerted that the vote had already closed.

Kevin Kuns, chair of the Montrose County Democratic Party, said he wanted to get away from the divisiveness and have CD3 represented by someone who is focused on helping the district.

“We need people that are going to be the adults in the room,” he said.

On the state level, Murib said the campaign will be broken down into phases that include calling and canvassing to reach lapsed voters, listening to their issues and questions, and encouraging participation in local, state, and national races. The state party is looking for local representatives to help with the outreach efforts.

On a local level, Kuns said he isn’t just focused on reaching Democrats, though he said the Montrose party will participate in The 546 Project. He plans on starting outreach with registered Democratic voters, testing the messaging and learning about their concerns, and broadening the efforts to include unaffiliated voters and those affiliated with other parties.

He noted some disagreement between parties and candidates is healthy in a democracy. But, he wants to see an end to the divisiveness and partisanship that has become commonplace in politics.

“When you cut away the politics, we just need representatives that actually care about everybody that they represent,” he said.

Murib echoed that he would be happy to see races between well-meaning candidates from the two major parties that focus on the issues.

Kuns said he believes at a national level, the Democratic Party has moved away from representing rural America, and that was a great mistake only bolstered by “talking heads” from large media outlets that profit from divisiveness. He said he doesn’t always agree with the national party, or even Democrats from cities like Denver, but believes the party still has a place for rural voters.

After all, he said, voters on both sides of the aisle care about a lot of the same issues, and when he sits down with Republican friends, they agree on significantly more than they disagree on.

“It’s time to get back to caring about our neighbors,” he said.

Kuns and Murib both identified water resources as one of the most important issues impacting rural Colorado and noted a national representative needs to be able to work with others to make deals that protect the Colorado River.

Kuns said other issues he believes are important to many rural voters are mental health, education funding, and affordable housing.

He believes while Montrose is still reliably Republican, the needle has moved over the past decade. And he wants to keep having discussions with voters — many of whom may be frustrated with the current political climate — to convince them of the importance of getting to the polls.