Approximately 100 people packed Adam Frisch’s standing-room-only town hall meeting Tuesday at Edgewater Brewery in Grand Junction. Most in attendance were enthusiastic supporters of the Democratic candidate’s campaign to represent Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. The crowd also included a handful of people supporting his opponent, Republican incumbent Lauren Boebert.
Frisch’s statewide town hall tour kicked off October 7, in Pueblo, and included visits to 15 communities in the district.
Frisch referred to a recent Keating Research poll showing that he is “statistically tied” with Boebert. The poll, conducted from September 28 to October 2, showed Boebert with 47% support of voters, while Frisch has 45% support of voters. Seven percent of voters are undecided, according to the survey.
He also mentioned he will be releasing a list of Republicans – some of them lifelong – who have declared their support for Frisch – at republicansforfrisch.com.
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“People want the circus to stop,” Frisch said. “Lauren Boebert got 51% of the vote in 2020, but she did not win her own county or city.
“People are paying attention. My job is to represent everybody in a respectful manner, and bring back funds from D.C. to invest in the community” – something Boebert has not done,” he said.
Boebert shuns the use of earmarks in legislation, even when the bill includes provisions beneficial to her constituents.
“She’s turned down lots of money,” Frisch said. “She keeps on voting against bills.”
Frisch said he is a “pragmatic, moderate, pro-business, pro-energy” conservative Democrat who would join the “get stuff done” party if there was one.
“She’s (Boebert) turned in 39 bills – with zero of them even making it into committee,” he said.
In her campaign flyers, Boebert touts her “nine accomplishments” – taking credit for bills she actually voted against – a detail that Frisch often mentions.
Boebert voted against a bill to help veterans sick and dying from toxic exposure to burn pits, just days after she heckled President Joe Biden when he was speaking about the topic during his State of the Union address.
“It’s imperative that our veterans are protected,” Frisch said.
Two Boebert supporters defended the Congresswoman’s “no” vote, telling Frisch that she didn’t have time to read the 2,000-page bill before it was voted on.
Frisch acknowledged that “2,000-page bills are bad,” and that titles should be more transparent, but that members of congress should be studying the bill as its being crafted.
“I appreciate that it is hard to go through bills, but to move the country forward – that’s where compromise and trade-offs happen,” Frisch said. “A lot of big bills get dropped on people’s desks” – including from both parties.
“When congress members get a bill it’s not their first opportunity they’ve had to work on it. Our representatives need to look at rough drafts, start going through it – but that’s not her style,” according to people who work for her, Frisch said.
“A lot of Representatives get bills passed because of bipartisanship. Boebert did not run on policy; she’s focused on representing people who are upset about the system. I just wish she’d do it in a productive way.”
Frisch said Boebert is part of the “angertainment industry” along with extremists like Republican U.S. Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene (Georgia), Matt Gaetz (Florida), Paul Gosar (Arizona), and Jim Jordan (Ohio).
“The only way to get things done is by working with Republicans and Democrats,” Frisch said. “The current occupant is quite clear about what she thinks of those who are not part of her group.”
Frisch said he’s having the same conversations in “blue-collar, working-class” Pueblo as he’s having in “liberal resort” communities, where discussions about the economy, inflation, and water are taking place.
Frisch mentioned that his primary opponent Sol Sandoval, of Pueblo, whom he narrowly defeated by 290 votes out of 50,000, has joined his campaign team and is working to help elect Frisch.
Frisch declared his support of domestic energy production, including in Colorado. He disagrees with U.S. policy of buying energy resources from Iran and Saudi Arabia.
“We’re getting oil and natural gas from some really bad countries,” he said. “It’s bad for national security.”
He said it will take 80 years before wind and solar power will be sufficient to meet the country’s energy needs, thus, he said he supports an “all of the above” approach to energy production.
When asked about his stance on immigration, Frisch responded “we need a secure border, and we can also honor the Statute of Liberty.”
The crowd applauded when he said “locking up children and families is a disgrace,” and that people are fleeing violence and extreme poverty. Immigration reform would benefit farmers, ranchers, and other business owners struggling to find workers, he said.
Frisch said his opponent is not focused on the district, but instead is too busy traveling to Mar-a-Lago, and appearing on Cable news channels.
“I hear across the board about her lack of response to constituents,” he said. “I try to make myself incredibly accessible to everybody. I’m not going to look at voter rolls to see whether you’re a Democrat or Republican before I call you back.”
