Colorado State Board of Education member Stephen Varela on Thursday announced that he’s entering the Republican primary for the congressional seat represented by U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, who switched late last year to run in another district.

An Army combat veteran and former Democrat from Pueblo, Varela said he believes voters in the 3rd Congressional District are “ready for fundamental change.”

“I believe we are on the verge of a conservative renaissance in America,” he said in a statement. “So many Americans look at the woke indoctrination in our schools, unimaginable debt and deficits, Biden’s overseas failures, and the complete chaos at our Southern border, and they’ve given up hope. But these failures put the spotlight on the consequences of unbridled liberalism. Western and Southern Colorado voters are ready for fundamental change. I’m excited by the opportunity to contribute to a new generation of conservative leadership.”

Added Varela: “As a battle-tested conservative and former Democrat, I’m ready to shake up Washington on day one and effectively advocate for rural Colorado’s jobs and conservative values, heritage, and way of life. I know how to go toe-to-toe with the far-left political leadership.”

He joins a growing field of Republicans vying to replace Boebert, who announced in late December that she’s moving across the state to run in the more solidly Republican 4th Congressional District, which covers the state’s Eastern Plains.

In addition to Varela, declared GOP candidates in the Western Slope-based 3rd CD include Grand Junction attorney Jeff Hurd, former state Rep. Ron Hanks and financial advisor Russ Andrews.

Democrat Adam Frisch, the former Aspen City Council member who came within fewer than 600 votes of unseating Boebert in the last election, is seeking a rematch and is facing a primary against Grand Junction Mayor Anna Stout.

Election forecasters at the Cook Political Report reclassified the district from a toss-up to “lean Republican” after Boebert’s move, saying its voters could revert to their habit of electing GOP candidates by a comfortable margin without the flamboyant incumbent on the ballot.

A former charter school board member, Varela was appointed by a Republican vacancy committee to represent the 3rd CD on the state schools board in late 2022, shortly after losing a targeted state Senate race to the incumbent Democrat. Varela, who earlier ran unsuccessfully for the Pueblo County Commission and Pueblo City Council, mounted a brief run for state GOP chair a year ago but withdrew before the party election.

Varela co-founded Rural Colorado United, an aggressive political action committee that spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking Boebert in 2020, the year the Silt Republican ousted five-term U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton in the GOP primary before winning election to the first of her two terms.

Tipton and Republican Scott McInnis, a former Mesa County commissioner who represented the 3rd CD for six terms, endorsed Hurd in the GOP primary for their former seat earlier this week.

For more than a decade, Varela regularly changed his party affiliation, switching from Republican to Democrat to unaffiliated and back a total of 18 times since 2011, including twice in one day, Colorado Politics news partner 9News reported.

Varela told Colorado Politics last year that he often switched parties in order to vote in primaries. The Democratic party left him, he said, adding: “I am and will continue to be a Republican.”

According to state records, over the past dozen years, Varela has been registered as a Republican nine times, as a Democrat eight times and was unaffiliated twice.

Announcing his congressional candidacy, Varela said his past as a Democrat gives him insight into problems confronting the district.

“I know first-hand how badly the Democrat Party has abandoned America’s working-class values and interests,” Varela said in a statement. “It’s why I decided to become a Republican for good after Joe Biden won the Presidency. In Congress, I will go to battle with the far left by working to secure America’s Southern border, reduce inflation and the cost of living, and defend rural voters against a Democrat Party who too often mocks rural America’s values and interests.”

His primary opponents acknowledged Varela’s entry in the race in statements to Colorado Politics.

Declaring that the 3rd CD’s voters “deserve a representative who’s principled and consistent,” a Hurd campaign spokesman noted that his boss “has been a Republican through thick and thin.”

“He will fight for the district and common-sense conservative values without switching positions or parties just to advance a political career,” Hurd’s spokesman continued. “Jeff has been in this race since the beginning, not waiting until it was politically convenient to tell voters why he’s the best to protect Colorado’s water, to secure our borders, to stand up for farmers and ranchers, and for fight for energy independence. The grassroots and elected leaders on Jeff’s team see that political courage – not political expediency – is what Colorado needs and deserves in its representative. These principles, plus Jeff’s financing and organization, make him the best candidate to keep this seat Republican.”

Hanks, who jumped in the primary days after Boebert’s announcement, offered a warmer welcome to his new primary rival.

“We have met and spoken a few times,” Hanks said in a text message. “I don’t know his positions or his reasons, but I have no reservations about anyone entering the race. I’ll look forward to seeing him on the trail.”

Said Andrews: “Steve is a friend, he did promise us on multiple occasions he wouldn’t enter the race but we welcome him. He has an interesting background that he will need to answer for. I’m focused though, on making sure we keep this seat in Republican hands and deliver for the priorities of the Western Slope.”