Representative Lauren Boebert’s Republican challenger Jeff Hurd is going after the hallmark that contributed to getting her elected in the first place—her ability to garner national attention.

Hurd, a political newcomer, is one of three GOP candidates running against Boebert in the June 2024 primary for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District. Soft-spoken and non-provocative, Hurd doesn’t share many traits with the conservative firebrand who rapidly rose to MAGA stardom five years ago.

Hurd told Newsweek that contrast is exactly what makes him the ideal Republican contender for voters in the district, who he says are tired of Boebert’s antics and want another House candidate that could help the party hold on to the right-leaning district.

“We need somebody who is sincere and hardworking, and who is focused on making local headlines, not national headlines,” he said in a Friday interview.

Boebert first made national headlines in 2019 when she confronted then-Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke at a local town hall about his gun safety proposals. She quickly emerged as a gun-rights activist who organized rallies that attracted the likes of the far-right Proud Boys before she announced her congressional campaign against five-term incumbent Scott Tipton in the GOP primary. During her campaign, she drew media attention for protesting Colorado’s COVID restrictions, expressing sympathy for QAnon conspiracy theories and vowing to carry a gun to the Capitol if she was elected. In 2020, she won the Republican nomination in a political upset.

As a congresswoman, Boebert has been one of former President Donald Trump’s loyal allies and is widely considered one of the most conservative members of the Republican conference. She was among the GOP holdouts blocking Representative Kevin McCarthy from the speakership in January and has twice attempted to impeach President Joe Biden.

Newsweek has contacted Boebert’s campaign via email.

“There’s a large number of people who live in the third congressional district who recognize that we need somebody that is focused on the issues that matter to working families and businesses here in Colorado,” Hurd said. “Who maybe has a lower profile but is more effective in what they can deliver for the district.”

“The 3rd Congressional district does have a more Republican lean and it should be a natural district where Republicans can do well,” Hurd added. “But this last election showed us that voters of this district are certainly ready to move in a different direction from our incumbent.”

Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District has been held by a Republican for more than a decade since the GOP flipped the seat in 2010. When Boebert ran for reelection in the 2022 midterms, no one expected the race to be competitive. But a stronger-than-expected performance from Democrat Adam Frisch shocked politicos after Boebert’s narrow margin of victory triggered an automatic recount and turned the contest into the closest House race in the nation.

“I think there is an appetite for an alternative who is more consistent with the values that they hold us as Coloradans,” Hurd said.

The first thing Hurd will tell you about himself is that he’s a “local guy.” Born in Greeley and raised in Grand Junction, he’s spent much of his life on the western slope of Colorado, aside from the few years he spent at Notre Dame and in New York City as a lawyer. He and his wife moved back to Grand Junction in 2014 to raise their family. Now, he feels “called to serve this part of Colorado.”

That’s what he wants to do for Colorado—he wants to give other Coloradans a reason to come home.

“One of our greatest exports from Colorado is our talented youth,” Hurd said. “Folks leave, kids leave, and they don’t return because there aren’t as many opportunities. I’d love to be the candidate that helps create opportunities for families for kids like mine to either stay in the district or to return home because there are opportunities.”

As a candidate, Hurd is focused on creating jobs, protecting Colorado’s water and moving the state toward energy independence—a platform that bears similarity to Frisch’s. If Hurd can pull off the difficult task of defeating Boebert in the Republican primary, he is likely to go up against Frisch in the general.

Asked why, then, voters would pick him over Frisch, a candidate with greater name recognition and who has built a reputation as a more moderate alternative to Boebert, Hurd emphasized the “larger context” of national politics. He said the issues that matter the most to voters in his district—energy, agriculture and water—are all things that “will come through a Republican majority and keeping a Republican majority in Congress.”

“Frisch is focused on these issues as well, but voters recognize… being a Republican matters, particularly given the book balance of power in Washington,” Hurd said.

Although an underdog in one of the most closely watched races of 2024, Hurd has already attracted some big Republican names. Former Senator Hank Brown and former Colorado House of Representatives Majority Leader Tim Foster are co-chairing Hurd’s campaign. The attorney has also been backed by former University of Colorado President Bruce Benson, former Colorado Attorney General John Suthers and former University of Denver Chancellor Daniel Ritchie.

And donors are noticing. A Newsweek analysis found that at least 10 former Boebert donors have contributed to Hurd’s campaign, funneling $17,800 to the political newcomer. Despite announcing his campaign on August 16—six weeks into the third quarter—Hurd has pulled in $412,000, almost half of Boebert’s donations in roughly half the amount of time. From July through September, Boebert raised $854,000.

“I’m not a politician and I don’t have a high profile,” Hurd said. “I’m just a guy that grew up here that came back and felt called to serve Colorado. I haven’t been angling for the seat my whole life. I haven’t been plotting this and working to build a huge grassroots network.”

“But in order to develop that network, in order to reach out to those grassroots supporters, I need to have the resources to do that,” Hurd said. “My first quarter of fundraising shows that I have those resources and with those resources, I will expand that donor base to include people that may not have otherwise heard of me.”