With Trump’s honeymoon “very likely over,” Colorado’s Gabe Evans, Jeff Hurd navigate tough political terrain

Two of Colorado s newly seated Republican congressmen have been forced to bob and weave across an increasingly tricky political minefield amid a flurry of Trump administration executive orders and strategy shifts that could complicate their midterm elections next year President Donald Trump s actions so far have spooked global financial markets and sparked street protests For U S Rep Gabe Evans who represents Colorado s newest congressional district north of Denver and Rep Jeff Hurd the congressman for a sprawling -county Western Slope-anchored district the president s aggressive tariff and immigration policies have put pressure on sectors of the financial sector agriculture ranching and manufacturing that play outsized roles in their districts In March both legislators were put on notice by Emily s List as top targets for defeat in the midterm elections The political advocacy group supports Democratic women candidates who favor abortion rights in their bids for office across the country The hazards for Evans a freshman representative from Fort Lupton are greater than for Hurd because his th Congressional District was created four years ago to be Colorado s greater part politically competitive a promise it s lived up to in two electoral process cycles Hurd has a bit more wiggle room than Evans does reported Colorado State University political science professor Kyle Saunders who has been closely watching both districts Evans who narrowly beat incumbent Rep Yadira Caraveo in the November ballot was the only Republican House member in Colorado to make this month s Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee s list of districts in play That means his eventual Democratic opponent will be getting a targeted splash of national money in next year s ballot There is a long way to go yet Saunders explained but Evans will have to be very careful with how he plays his cards over the next year-plus both in how closely he stands with Trump as well as with any votes that can be used against him in the campaign While both congressmen have largely toed Trump s line at the start of the Republican s second administration there are signs they are willing to push back albeit cautiously In early March they were among Republicans who signed a letter to Rep Jason Smith the GOP chair of the powerful House Options and Means Committee They urged their party to keep clean force tax credits from the Democrats Inflation Reduction Act surroundings law that fund progress of traditional and renewable potential sources alike The appeal came in the face of efforts by Trump to make it easier for companies to produce oil and gas and to empower population personnel to halt already approved clean-energy projects Meanwhile Hurd this month took a masses swipe at the president by introducing a bipartisan bill that would require that unilateral tariffs proposed by the executive branch undergo congressional review and be limited in duration I think it s pretty clear under Article I Section of the Constitution that Congress has authority with respect to tariffs Hurd a Grand Junction attorney recounted The Denver Post in an interview I thought it was an essential thing for me to be part of the statute that would reassert Congress authority Former Colorado Republican Party chair Dick Wadhams commented both Hurd and Evans have done really well in their first days pledging fealty to Trump s agenda They ve done so without attaching themselves too closely to particular of its harder edges he disclosed like supporting false suggests of a stolen referendum Gabe is first and foremost a congressman for the th District Wadhams reported And I think Jeff Hurd is in the tradition of what rd District voters are looking for They ve set themselves up as strong incumbents U S Speaker of the House Mike Johnson R-LA followed by Rep Jeff Hurd R-CO Rep Lisa McClain R-MI and Rep Tom Emmer R-MN prepare to depart a news conference on Capitol Hill on Jan in Washington D C Photo by Kent Nishimura Getty Images Tying them to Trump But the voting process is still more than months away A lot can happen between now and then Saunders reported Trump s polling numbers have fallen since he took office on Jan according to a CBS News-YouGov survey taken a week ago His approval rating has flipped from in favor of his overall performance in February to disapproval now Similar declines were recorded in the poll on Trump s handling of the commercial sector What we can say is that President Trump s honeymoon is very likely over Saunders declared Does that mean that his favorability will decline further from here What we do know is that economic uncertainty rising prices and other fundamentals do not usually help the sitting president we saw that as in recent months as President Biden s struggles with inflation in and The danger of an unpopular president is that unaffiliated voters may break towards Democrats next year Saunders commented In Evans episode his prospects are complicated by the fact that the th District which covers portions of Weld Adams and Larimer counties has an -voter registration advantage for Democrats he revealed In a district where Evans only won by approximately votes those factors alone could easily turn the tide the other way Saunders declared Hal Bidlack a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who unsuccessfully ran in Colorado s th Congressional District nearly years ago advises the Democrats running in the rd and th districts in to burden their opponents with Trump and the task of trying to explain Trump He also taught political science at the Air Force Academy for nearly years I would have the attitude of tying them to Trump as tightly as I can the Democrat disclosed I would make them defend Trump and Trumpism utterly Hurd who beat Democratic challenger Adam Frisch by percentage points last year hasn t drawn a Democratic challenger yet But Evans has two of note already Caraveo who on Tuesday revealed a bid to retake the seat she lost nearly six months ago stated The Post that Evans is falling in line absolutely with Donald Trump and Elon Musk He s not really taking into account that this is a very middle-of-the-road district that doesn t fit into the right MAGA extremism that he s voting for and I haven t seen him veer at all from the path that Donald Trump wants him to be on she announced in an interview Her Democratic primary opponent state Rep Manny Rutinel voiced a similar criticism of Evans He publicized his candidacy less than a month after Evans took office Jan Even though Congressman Evans was elected to represent the people of CD- his only focus has been representing the interests of the ultrawealthy and defending President Trump s disastrous policies against working people Rutinel wrote in an email to The Post Evans a U S Army veteran and former Arvada cop dismisses the criticism I ve done over in-person meetings roundtables town halls things of that nature he stated My staff has done over other meetings and so we re committed to being out ongoing and engaged in the district While Evans strongly backs the administration s efforts to secure the edge and deport criminals and gang members who are in the country illegally he often tells the story of his grandfather who immigrated to the United States from Mexico the right way The th District is Colorado s the bulk heavily Latino district We have to recognize their key contributions he noted of immigrants and we have to make sure that we are moving the ball forward to get certain sort of meaningful immigration restructuring so that the people who are trying to do it the right way and are bringing so a large number of positive contributions to our communities don t get left behind U S Rep Gabe Evans R-CO speaks at a news conference at the Republican National Committee after a meeting of the House Republican Conference on March in Washington D C Republicans discussed their party s priorities ahead of President Trump s first joint address to Congress since returning to the White House Photo by Tierney L Cross Getty Images Tariffs and farming In the meantime the political winds have already started blowing ahead of Earlier this week Colorado Gov Jared Polis a Democrat met with about northern Colorado manufacturers in Loveland right on the doorstep of Evans district The discussion focused on the devastating impacts of Trump s tariff taxes on the industry and business sector according to a news release from the governor s office But manufacturers are hardly the only sector impacted by tariffs Business duties are especially challenging for farmers and ranchers in Colorado They need to remain competitive on price to sell their products overseas and need the costs of imported equipment and parts to remain reasonable Chad Franke the president of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union mentioned plenty of farmers in Colorado desire a more level playing field in global business but would rather not incur financial damage trying to get there The broad-ranging tariffs are going to be harmful to family farmers and ranchers because of reciprocal tariffs which will be levied by foreign countries against commodities he mentioned We re hopeful they can put pressure on Washington D C to lessen the impact of broad tariffs on the ag financial market Hurd s bill calling for congressional review of tariffs could be an effective check on their impacts Franke explained But any effects from Trump s deal policies on Colorado farmers Franke explained won t come into view until closer to harvest season If there is going to be a dilemma we ll hear about it through the summer and into the fall when it s that much closer to the November electoral process Evans acknowledges that tariffs aren t popular among producers in his district But he says farmers and ranchers are also tired of being taken advantage of by other countries Nobody loves the chaos but they re really pretty excited about the prospective for the playing field to be level he stated Evans who as a state lawmaker represented particular of the same area north of Denver that s now in his congressional district declared farmers tell him they want nothing more than to crack markets like Spain Italy Thailand and Vietnam They ve had willing buyers We ve had willing producers here but they couldn t get through with the lack of exchange deals in the last five years he reported And so I think what we re seeing with this administration is that through tariffs they re using that as a mechanism to get those bargain deals done Related Articles Gabe Evans flips th Congressional District for Republicans as Rep Yadira Caraveo concedes race Jeff Hurd wins tight race to replace Lauren Boebert in Colorado s rd Congressional District Colorado didn t follow the big national rightward swing toward Donald Trump Here s why Hurd sees tariffs as a tool in the toolbox to creating a fairer global trading system But they must be administered judiciously with an eye toward limiting their breadth and scope I do believe that tariffs can have a strategic role when it comes to approaching these issues but I just think we need to be thoughtful in how we approach it Hurd stated He added that broad-based tariffs cause me more concern than tariffs that are targeted towards a specific end Despite his assistance for Trump s goals of bringing manufacturing back to the United States Hurd mentioned it can t be done at the expense of Congress power Thus the bill he introduced earlier this month We just need to make sure that we do that the right way and that we comport with the requirements under the Constitution he mentioned From left Rep -elect Jeff Hurd R-Colo Rep -elect Kelly Morrison D-Minn Rep -elect Julie Johnson D-Texas Rep -elect April McClain Delaney D-Md and Rep -elect Gabe Evans R-Colo walk down the policies of the Capitol Friday Nov in Washington D C AP Photo Mark Schiefelbein Trump s checkered Colorado history Bidlack the retired lieutenant colonel and political scientist lauded Hurd for signing on to the bill despite its dim prospects for passage in a Republican-majority Congress with deep allegiances to Trump It is remarkable to me that a freshman Republican would thumb his nose at Trump so dramatically in what is a doomed effort Bidlack announced of Hurd who has never publicly revealed whether he has voted for the president But it s smart to distance himself from Trump That s especially true in Colorado where Trump was beaten by Hillary Clinton in Joe Biden four years ago and Kamala Harris last year Wadhams stated Hurd has taken a principled stand guarding the separation of powers at the top of American ruling body Wadhams stated a position that should help him in a district that nearly ousted Republican Lauren Boebert in over concerns about her behavior and gravitas He s a truly constitutional conservative Wadhams stated Despite the strong Republican lean of the rd Congressional District which hugs the borders of Wyoming Utah and New Mexico and swoops from Rangely to Pueblo it was less than years ago that Democrat U S Rep John Salazar held the seat If residents opinion goes into a tailspin under the second Trump administration and Democrats find the right contender next year Wadhams mentioned the district has a chance of going blue again A Trump presidency is a surprise every day he reported Get more Colorado news by signing up for our daily Your Morning Dozen email newsletter