Last election cycle, Adam Frisch’s campaign for the House of Representatives was written off as a non-starter. He was a Democrat running in a rural district where  less than 25% of voters were registered as Democrat and more than 35% were registered as Republican. On top of that, his opponent was the instantly-recognizable incumbent Lauren Boebert. And yet, expected to lose by a landslide, his bid fell short by only 500 votes. 

“After that, I got hundreds of emails saying how gracious it was that we conceded and that we actually told people, keep your money,” Frisch recalls. “And I’d say about 80% of the feedback actually came from republicans…It was really interesting, and again, it is heartbreaking to lose by that, [especially] when you add up how close the race was in the House and everything. We did put CD3 on the map, there’s no doubt about that.”

The San Miguel Democrats were gathered at the Liberty Bar in Telluride to get organized for 2024 and knock some housekeeping needs out of the way. Frisch offered remarks at the event. He says the democratic party has lost ground in rural America. 

“President Biden in 2020 won fewer than 10% of the rural counties in the country,” says Frisch.  “We have a very-urban centric party. And my joke that’s not much of a joke is the democratic party is 20 big cities, Aspen…Telluride, and Nantucket, and that’s pretty much all that’s left of the Democratic party. 

Colorado’s Third District makes up much of the Western Slope as well as parts of the Southern Front Range, and includes vast stretches of rural, traditionally Republican territory. In his remarks Frisch says he believes voters, even those from the opposite party, are at heart interested in good, pragmatic governance. 

“I’m just laser focused on CD3. It goes back to Colorado water, Colorado energy, Colorado jobs. And I tell people, we don’t care how you voted in 2016 or 2020. I just ask you to think about you and your family, and your business and your community as you fill out the ballot for CD3. Because there are a lot of rational republicans, frustrated republicans who want someone to focus on the district and not on themselves,” says Frisch.

Speaking with KOTO after his remarks, Frisch says the political moment is moving away from Trumpism, a transition which he saw in the run up to the 2022 midterms.

“One of the bets I made was that I think Trumpism has peaked,” says Frisch. “It’s not gonna crash the next day. But, fourteen months later, the biggest loser across the whole country on a macro-result level was all of Trump's candidates — or the vast majority of them — crashed and burned. The Republicans would have the Senate now if they’d run more traditional candidates, and they’d have a lot more of the House than they do.”

What comes next? Frisch says less of what calls the ‘political circus,’ and more humble, focused decision-making. 

“The momentum that should go forward in Southern Colorado is to focus on the nuts and bolts of the job, and put your head down and do the work rather than seek out as many cable news channels as possible, as the current representative does,” says Frisch. 

The question of whether Frisch will run again in 2024 hung in the air at the Saturday event. Eleni Constantine, chair of the San Miguel County Democrats, thanked Frisch for attending the meeting, and floated the possibility of 2024. 

“So, you might’ve gotten an email from Adam recently that asked ‘should I run again in 2024?’ Well, now’s your opportunity to tell him what you think,” Constantine says, to a roomful of cheers. 

At the time of the event, Frisch had not yet declared a 2024 run, but it seems he heard the cheers loud and clear. On the morning of Tuesday February 14th, Frisch announced that he would once again challenge Boebert to represent Colorado’s District 3.