Trump Withdraws Endorsement of Rep. Jeff Hurd Over Tariff Dissent

President Donald Trump has publicly withdrawn his 'complete and total' endorsement of Rep. Jeff Hurd, a Republican incumbent in Colorado’s 3rd District, and is now backing primary challenger Hope Scheppelman after Hurd broke with the administration over Trump’s global tariff agenda. In a weekend post on his social‑media platform, Trump called Hurd a 'RINO,' accused him of siding with foreign countries against the United States, and said the congressman’s lack of support for what he described as 'unbelievably successful tariffs' justified the reversal. The move puts Hurd, a GOP member in a competitive district where the tariffs are unpopular, in a bind between appealing to general‑election voters and surviving a primary in a party where Trump demands strict loyalty on trade. Scheppelman, a nurse practitioner, is described by Colorado Republicans as a polarizing, divisive figure closely aligned with state party chair Dave Williams and deeply invested in 2020 election conspiracies, raising Democratic hopes that a Scheppelman nomination would weaken the GOP hold on the seat. Strategists in the state say the episode underscores Trump’s readiness to punish even mostly loyal Republicans who cross him on core economic policy and could reshape the battlefield in one of Colorado’s few genuinely competitive House districts.