Where Jeff Hurd and Dwayne Romero stand on the top issues in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District race

Dwayne Romero

DEMOCRAT

Romero believes it should be regulated “with good policy and good interaction from the industry itself, but also with input from common folk across the country.”

Jeff Hurd

REPUBLICAN

Hurd views artificial intelligence as posing both opportunities and challenges. He would like to see Congress provide “reasonable” safety guardrails that would ensure the potential for growth and innovation of AI.

Dwayne Romero

DEMOCRAT

Romero would first focus on trying to improve access and affordability of healthcare. He would attempt to repeal all the executive orders on tariffs that have increased costs. He advocates for a return to domestic policies that would get the United States out of “forever wars.” He believes those wars are destroying the country’s reputation and hurting local economies.

Jeff Hurd

REPUBLICAN

“We need to ensure we are permitting reform and get back to building things again, including roads, bridges, highways, power plants, and power transmission.” Hurd also advocates for lowering the cost of healthcare, improving its delivery, and reforming the system of prescription drugs.

Dwayne Romero

DEMOCRAT

“Absolutely no.”

Jeff Hurd

REPUBLICAN

Hurd does not support “broad, unpredictable tariffs.” He supports targeted trade enforcement to control unfair trade practices. He voted against the Canadian tariffs. And he helped introduce legislation to restore congressional review of tariffs.

Dwayne Romero

DEMOCRAT

No. He said he would like to see more innovation and more pathways for legal immigration. That would include safe immigration for potential employees of labor markets. He said recent restrictions on immigration have “pinched our local and our national economy in a way that no one ever desired.”

Jeff Hurd

REPUBLICAN

Hurd calls immigration “a cornerstone of our country.” He said he believes there are ways to improve the immigration system, such as speeding up the backlog of citizenship applications by making the immigration system more efficient.

Dwayne Romero

DEMOCRAT

Yes, but only if they qualify for some type of temporary or longer-lasting legal permission to remain in the country. Romero said there are many job-related permits that allow for extended stays. The workers with those permits should go through the legal permitting process again. If they don’t qualify to remain in the country, they should be deported. He recognizes there are many workers with work-related permits and visas in the 3rd District that help to sustain the economy.

Jeff Hurd

REPUBLICAN

Hurd would like to see expanded opportunities for those wanting to work in the U.S. legally. He doesn’t believe that needs to include a path to citizenship. He supports a pathway to citizenship for DACA individuals. He said he would be willing to consider other proposals for “thoughtful improvements” to the problem of illegal immigration.

Dwayne Romero

DEMOCRAT

Romero’s top priority is to ensure that Colorado’s water rights are protected and preserved for the long term. He would support measures to ensure that resources are available to improve Colorado’s water infrastructure, including systems for distribution, collection, and storage. He said prioritizing these measures is the best way “to protect a precious resource in the face of climate change.”

Jeff Hurd

REPUBLICAN

“The first and most important thing is ensuring that we have the water rights that are essential.” He cited his help in securing funding for the Shoshone water rights, one of the most important water rights in the state. Hurd also sees a need to improve water storage and to aid watershed management. He views protecting Colorado’s rights under the Colorado River Compact of 1922 as having the utmost importance.

Dwayne Romero

DEMOCRAT

Romero supports aid for Israel “in a defensive posture.” He said that includes weapons that support Israel’s defense. He views that as “humanitarian aid.” He said humanitarian aid should be reinstated across the world, not just for Gaza.

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Jeff Hurd

REPUBLICAN

Hurd supports continued military assistance to Israel, but “I don’t believe that assistance should depend on unrelated political conditions or budgetary offsets.” He backs the continuation of humanitarian assistance for those living in Gaza, along with other innocent civilians “affected by the scourge of Hamas and by the Muslim Brotherhood.”

Dwayne Romero

DEMOCRAT

Romero opposes those regulations and requirements because he believes they overreach, overextend, and are not refined enough to improve the Medicaid program. “It’s a blunt force object that is being applied to a program that requires narrow improvements.”

Jeff Hurd

REPUBLICAN

Hurd stressed that he supports work requirements for able-bodied adults who are able to work, study, or volunteer. He advocates for reforms that will ensure Medicaid will continue for those who need it the most — children, pregnant women, the disabled, and low-income senior citizens. He believes the work requirements already passed are “reasonable.”

Dwayne Romero

DEMOCRAT

Romero’s magic wand would provide a healthcare system with preventive care and basic care for all. It would include a program very similar to Medicaid for individuals who are not able to access or afford care. He sees an opportunity for additional “advanced and refined services” that the general population could buy into.

Jeff Hurd

REPUBLICAN

Improvements in healthcare are a top priority. Hurd supports reforms that focus on “transparency and effectiveness of healthcare with patients, providers and insurance companies that would put patient care first and give patients more choice. Lowering the cost of prescription drugs is a key part of that.”

Dwayne Romero

DEMOCRAT

Romero believes Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran was “ill-advised, ill-thought-out, lacking strategy, and lacking conclusion.” Ending it is complicated by the additional troubles that now exist with U.S. assets, including military bases, that have been damaged or taken out of commission. He sees the need for a longer-term peaceful exit that will avoid more civilian deaths or injuries. An exit must include the restoration of some level of normal commerce through the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. And, he believes it requires an accord with Iran and any of the countries aligned with Iran to ensure the prevention of further development of nuclear arms.

Jeff Hurd

REPUBLICAN

Hurd supports military action targeting Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. He views those programs as “a clear threat to the national security of our country.” He believes that Congress should exercise oversight over that military action and over the spending needed to carry out the strategic objectives of the U.S. in Iran.

Dwayne Romero

DEMOCRAT

Romero said he would like to stop the use of carbon-emitting power sources. But he stresses there is also a need to be practical about the transition from legacy energies to renewable energy so that communities wouldn’t suffer in the switch. He cites his experience as a United States Military Academy West Point engineering graduate and a military engineering officer for his belief that rational objectives are needed “to ensure that we leave no one behind and we don’t destroy any particular economy where communities are reliant on these older energy sources.”

Jeff Hurd

REPUBLICAN

Hurd thinks the best way to address climate change is to increase domestic energy production, particularly in Colorado. “We do it better and more environmentally responsibly than anywhere else in the world.” He is a proponent of multiple energy sources such as carbon-based, renewable, geothermal, and nuclear energy. He said he would not like to see any energy sources taken off the table.

Dwayne Romero

DEMOCRAT

Romero does not support any additional sales or leasing of public lands for oil and gas extraction. He said that the United States, as the dominant energy producer, has the ability to maintain its dominance with current oil and gas extractions. He said, at the same time, the country should be “running hard — running very hard — towards a renewable energy policy and practice across the nation.”

Jeff Hurd

REPUBLICAN

Hurd supports “responsible” energy and mining development on federal lands within Colorado’s 3rd District. He said it needs to be balanced with other uses such as outdoor recreation, agriculture, and conservation, and it needs to be done with local input. He opposes “massive” land sales and expansions of mining projects that threaten important assets.

Dwayne Romero

DEMOCRAT

“Absolutely not.”

Jeff Hurd

REPUBLICAN

Hurd is not in favor of unilateral executive action that affects large amounts of federal lands. He said Congress needs to have more input when it comes to federal lands decisions because they affect so many Americans. “It’s not good policy to have a president designating thousands of acres of land and then a subsequent president redesignating it.”

Dwayne Romero

DEMOCRAT

“Absolutely not,” he said. “We need to focus on the fact that we have 40-plus trillion dollars of debt that has been accumulated and is ticking away as we speak.” He said he fears it will explode for coming generations. He said Congress should be focused on stabilizing the debt before ultimately reducing and eliminating it. Stabilizing the debt would mean “being very strategic as to where we set our priorities for our budgets.”

Jeff Hurd

REPUBLICAN

Hurd believes the country is in a crisis when it comes to spending and to the growing deficit. He would like to see automatic spending that’s not part of the discretionary spending process reined in. He thinks the country needs to maintain stability and predictability in global markets so that other countries can depend on the United States. He would like to see spending go forward in a way that “won’t create an even worse crisis.”

Dwayne Romero

DEMOCRAT

“Being an old combat veteran, being an old military officers’ service academy graduate, I have a leaning towards (U.S. Sen.) Mark Kelly as a true American steward, a hero, a champion, and a leader.”

Jeff Hurd

REPUBLICAN

Hurd said he hasn’t thought about this while he is focused on his own election. He hopes the nominee would be someone who is “thoughtful, conservative, but pragmatic, and who is willing to help Congress take back some of the power that it has wrongfully given away.”

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