Stephen Varela, Ron Hanks emerge as top CO-3 candidates at Colorado Republican assembly

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the date of the GOP primary, which will be in June, not November.

Democrats have known for a few months that Adam Frisch will again be their candidate to run for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District seat in the House of Representatives.

Republicans, on the other hand, will have at least a few candidates to choose from on primary ballots this June. Incumbent Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert moved over to Colorado's 4th Congressional District to run in the GOP primary for that district rather than participate in a rematch against Frisch.

At least two more candidates emerged from the CO-3 assembly, held Friday afternoon at the Southwest Motors Event Center in Pueblo. Here's what to know.

Who is going to be on the ballot in the CO-3 Republican primary?

Candidates can get onto the ballot solely by petitioning, solely at the assembly, or through a combination of both. Those who only go the assembly route require support from at least 30% of the delegates, while people who choose the hybrid method need at least 10% of the delegates to support them.

Stephen Varela got the most support at the assembly and will be the first one listed on the ballot. He received 34% of his party's support. Ron Hanks, a former state legislator, received 32% of the delegates' support.

Russ Andrews got 17% of the support, but he also filed signatures with the Colorado Secretary of State's Office.

Curtis McCraken, a businessman from Delta County, has been the only candidate to qualify for the ballot through the petitioning process.

Jeff Hurd, Joe Granado and Lew Webb are also actively seeking to make the primary ballot solely through the petitioning process. Hurd was present at the assembly but he did not make any speeches.

Three other candidates seeking to gain ballot access at the assembly failed to collect enough votes.

What some candidates had to say at the assembly

Varela is from Pueblo and currently serves as the representative from CO-3 on the Colorado Board of Education, though he is not seeking re-election in that race. He embraced his former affiliation with the Democratic Party — something that he said he has in common with Donald Trump, Ronald Reagan and Lauren Boebert.

“I’m tired of watching the far left create cancel culture within our party and destroy us from within. When are we going to wake up? Today is that day,” Varela said.

Hanks cast a gloomy view of the United States today and claimed that Donald Trump won in both 2016 and 2020, although no evidence of widespread voter fraud has been confirmed and Trump’s lawyers lost dozens of lawsuits litigating the matter in court.

Andrews, a businessman from Carbondale, rallied the crowd saying that people are coming for gas stoves, guns, Bibles and free speech.

Earlier in the day: Lauren Boebert named top candidate in race to replace Ken Buck at Colorado GOP assembly

Anna Lynn Winfrey covers politics at the Pueblo Chieftain. She can be reached at awinfrey@gannett.com. Please support local news at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Varela, Hanks top candidates at Colorado Republican assembly in Pueblo