Former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo this week formally endorsed Hope Scheppelman, a former vice chair of the Colorado Republican Party who is challenging first-term Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd in next year’s 3rd Congressional District GOP primary.

In his endorsement, Tancredo, whose hardline anti-immigration rhetoric routinely put him at odds with GOP leaders during his five terms in Congress, took multiple swings at the incumbent, calling Scheppelman an authentic conservative who can be counted on to “expose the anti-Trump radicals like Jeff Hurd.”

“Too many say-anything, lawyer-politicians like Jeff Hurd get elected by tricking voters with millions in fake ads, then go to Congress and betray the very voters they are supposed to represent,” Tancredo said in a statement released by Scheppelman’s campaign. “Jeff Hurd is clearly the problem with Congress, while Hope Scheppelman is the solution.”

Hurd, a Grand Junction attorney and first-time candidate, won election last year in the Republican-leaning district after its previous representative, Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, moved across the state to run for a third term from a safer seat. The 3rd CD covers most of the Western Slope and parts of Southern Colorado, including Pueblo County and the San Luis Valley.

“With Hope Scheppelman,” Tancredo said, “we get a proven conservative fighter who will expose the anti-Trump radicals like Jeff Hurd in BOTH political parties who refuse to abide by the will of voters to stop illegals who skip the line, refuse to stand up against the entrenched federal bureaucrats, and who refuse to get tough on the shameful waste, fraud, and abuse of our tax dollars.”

A spokesman for the Hurd campaign told Colorado Politics that the lawmaker plans to stay the course.

“Rep. Hurd is focused on delivering results for Colorados 3rd, securing our border, strengthening water infrastructure and unleashing American energy. Jeff is working hard everyday for the families, farmers and communities he represents,” Hurd’s campaign said.

A former state lawmaker and civics teacher, Tancredo ran for governor three times, including once on a third-party ticket, and briefly sought the 2008 GOP presidential nomination. He represented the 6th Congressional District from 1999-2009, when the seat was a Republican stronghold covering suburbs south and southwest of Denver. Earlier in his career, Tancredo served as regional director for the U.S. Department of Education under presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

A senior advisor to Hurd’s Democratic challenger, Snowmass resident Alex Kelloff, a former financial executive and co-founder of Armada Skis, said in a statement to Colorado Politics that the candidate was focused on his own campaign, not the GOP’s internal spats.

“While Republicans fight among themselves, Alex Kelloff is fighting to lower costs, create good-paying jobs, protect our public lands, and build a brighter future for everyone in Colorado’s 3rd District,” said Eric Lodal, Kelloff’s campaign chair.

Tancredo was one of Boebert’s earliest endorsers when the political neophyte mounted a successful challenge against a five-term Republican incumbent in the 3rd CD in 2020. Since then, however, the candidates Tancredo has endorsed haven’t fared as well, including U.S. Senate candidates Gino Campana and Ron Hanks and congressional hopefuls Laurel Imer, Lori Saine and Dave Williams, none of whom won their respective primaries.