January 29, 2024 11:22 AM UTC

Adam Frisch Makes DCCC's 2024 "Red To Blue" List

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• by: Colorado Pols

NBC News reports on the 2024 crop of Democratic congressional candidates being promoted as part of the “Red to Blue” program, of added interest this year with Democratic chances of retaking the U.S. House on the upswing as the nation witnesses Republicans stumble through the least productive Congress in our lifetimes so far:

House Democrats are officially announcing their first 17 candidates to take on Republicans in competitive districts Monday, launching the “red-to-blue” program as part of a quest to regain control of the chamber this fall.

The candidates hail from districts that were hotly contested in the 2022 election and are likely to decide the majority in November. Some, but not all, were carried by President Joe Biden in 2020.

The announcement, first reported by NBC News, gives these contenders the official stamp of approval from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, planting a flag with donors, activists and party loyalists about whom they see as best positioned to win in critical districts.

Once again making the 2024 Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “Red to Blue” list is CD-3 Democratic candidate Adam Frisch, whose razor-thin margin of defeat in 2022 against Rep. Lauren Boebert made this nominally Republican-leaning district a prime pickup opportunity in 2024. Boebert’s unrecoverable freefall following the “Beetlebert” incident and subsequent flight to even dicier prospects in the large pool of candidates running for retiring Rep. Ken Buck’s open CD-4 seat hundreds of miles away left Frisch without his vulnerable rematch opponent, and raised the question: does Frisch still have a shot against Barbora Hurd’s husband, “Raging” Ron Hanks, or whoever else emerges from the June 25th Republican primary?

The DCCC has determined that the answer is yes:

CO-03 – Adam Frisch: Adam Frisch is a local businessman who will stand up to DC politicians and fight for rural Colorado. He’s running for Congress to promote local energy production, protect Colorado’s water, expand access to health care, create jobs and defend reproductive freedom. After building a strong coalition and showing up for Coloradans in every corner of the district last cycle, Adam came within 546 votes of flipping this seat and restoring moderate, common-sense leadership for Colorado.

Frisch may not have Boebert to kick around anymore, but the millions Frisch raised since barely losing in 2022 for his 2024 showdown against Boebert remains one of the most formidable war chests for any Democrat on this year’s “Red to Blue” list. Frisch’s centrist positioning on the issues annoys some on the left, but also arguably makes him more competitive for swing voters in this district than unapologetically left-leaning Democratic candidates who preceded him and lost to Boebert and her predecessor Rep. Scott Tipton.

Contrasting well against Boebert’s shallow and vitriolic attacks, Frisch is in reality closer to the John Salazar brand of rural Colorado Democrat than other recent Democratic candidates for this district, and it helped make him competitive enough in 2022 to almost flip the seat in addition to Boebert’s weakness. Frisch gets personal credit for his persistence in 2022 when few on either side seriously believed Boebert was as vulnerable as Frisch proved she was, and deserves continued support for his run even after Boebert was driven from the race. Even as damaged as Boebert was, she was still broadly expected to survive the primary albeit by a smaller margin–meaning it’s Frisch that Boebert was ultimately running from, not her fellow Republicans.

For all of these reasons, D.C. Democrats are in no way writing off Frisch in a Boebertless CD-3–and you shouldn’t either.