Jeff Hurd

President Donald Trump over the weekend revoked his endorsement of U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd, a Republican congressman representing much of western and southern Colorado who is running this year for reelection, after Hurd recently voted against Trump’s tariff policy.

“Congressman Hurd is one of a small number of legislators who have let me and our country down,” Trump wrote in a Feb. 21 post on Truth Social, the social media app which he founded. “He is more interested in protecting foreign countries that have been ripping us off for decades than he is in the United States of America.”

Hurd was one of six Republicans in the House of Representatives who supported a resolution to rescind tariffs that Trump imposed on Canada last year, which passed on Feb. 11 with the help of nearly every House Democrat.

The vote came less than two weeks before the U.S. Supreme Court voted 6-3 to strike down Trump’s most sweeping tariffs .

Hurd represents Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, which includes resort communities like Aspen and Glenwood Springs as well as rural hubs like Grand Junction and Pueblo. Generally considered a more moderate Republican, he’s worked with Democrats on health care legislation and is a member of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus .

While he’s supported many of the policies of congressional Republicans and the Trump administration, including the president’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act, he’s been outspoken about tariffs that he has said are hurting industries in his district.

Trump has used executive authority to impose tariffs on much of the world without the consent of Congress since retaking office last January.

In a social media statement explaining his vote against Trump’s tariffs on Canada, Hurd said his vote was grounded in the Constitution, which gives Congress “the authority to regulate commerce with foreign nations and to levy tariffs.”

“If we normalize broad emergency trade powers today, we should expect that a future president — of either party — will rely on the same authority in ways many of us would strongly oppose,” Hurd wrote. “Institutional consistency matters. The Constitution does not shift depending on who occupies the White House. My responsibility is to defend the separation of powers regardless of political convenience.”

Hurd said that his constituents are “directly affected by these policies,” including agricultural and steel producers who must contend with retaliatory tariffs from other countries that can destabilize market conditions and supply chains and increase costs.

“I support the goal of strengthening American industry,” Hurd added. “Where I differ is on the method. My obligation is to defend both my district and the constitutional framework that protects us over the long term. This is not a partisan calculation; it is an economic and institutional one.”

Trump, in his Truth Social post, called Hurd a “RINO,” which stands for “Republican in name only” and has been used by conservatives to criticize more moderate Republicans who sometimes buck the party line.

Hurd is up for reelection to a second two-year term this November. His main Democratic challenger is Alex Kelloff, a business entrepreneur who co-founded Armada Skis and lives in the Aspen area.

In his post, Trump endorsed Hurd’s Republican primary challenger, Hope Scheppelman , a Navy veteran and critical care nurse practitioner who lives in southwest Colorado. In her statement announcing her candidacy last June, Scheppelman called Hurd a “another liberal elitist who is dead set against President Trump and the millions of MAGA citizens like me who demand that Congress does the will of voters.”

It’s unclear how much Trump’s endorsement could sway Republican voters in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, which leans conservative. Hurd won his seat to represent the district in 2024 by 5 percentage points, or 19,804 votes, while Trump won the district that same year by nearly 10 points.

Hurd could face a harder path to keeping his seat in 2028, however, if a redistricting proposal moves forward.

A Democratic-aligned group calling itself Coloradans for a Level Playing Field is seeking to place a measure on this year’s ballot that would override the state’s independently-drawn maps for the 2028 and 2030 elections, giving Democrats a greater advantage. The group believes the temporary maps could help Democrats net three more congressional seats, including Hurd’s.