President Trump yanked his endorsement of Rep. Jeff Hurd and threw his support behind a primary challenger, making the Colorado Republican the latest GOP member to pay a political price for breaking ranks on tariffs.
Trump announced the move on Truth Social, replacing Hurd with Hope Scheppelman, a Navy veteran and former Vice Chairwoman of the Colorado Republican Party, as his pick in Colorado's 3rd Congressional District.
"Based on a lack of support, in particular for the unbelievably successful TARIFFS imposed on Foreign Countries and Companies which has made America Richer, Stronger, Bigger, and Better than ever before, I am hereby WITHDRAWING my Endorsement of RINO Congressman Jeff Hurd, of Colorado's 3rd District."
The trigger was straightforward: According to the Washington Examiner, Hurd voted last week to repeal Trump's tariffs on Canada, which were imposed under a national emergency declaration. The measure passed, with Hurd joining a small number of Republicans who crossed the aisle to support it.
This wasn't an isolated act of displeasure. Trump had already warned that Republicans who voted against his tariff agenda would "seriously suffer the consequences come Election time, and that includes Primaries!" Hurd found out he meant it.
Trump made the stakes personal, framing Hurd's vote as something closer to disloyalty than disagreement:
"Congressman Hurd is one of a small number of Legislators who have let me and our Country down. He is more interested in protecting Foreign Countries that have been ripping us off for decades than he is the United States of America."
That language matters. This isn't a president expressing mild disappointment over a procedural disagreement. It's a sitting president telling a first-term congressman that his political future runs through the primary electorate, and that the primary electorate now has a name to rally behind.
Trump described Scheppelman as a "Highly Respected Patriot" who "knows the America First Policies required, and will do everything necessary to Defend our Country, Support our Military/Veterans, and Ensure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH."
Her biography fits the mold: military service, state party leadership, and now a clear lane as the Trump-endorsed challenger in a district where that endorsement carries significant weight. Trump left no ambiguity about where he stands:
"Hope Scheppelman has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next Representative from Colorado's 3rd Congressional District and, unlike RINO Jeff Hurd, HOPE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!"
Scheppelman hasn't made public statements in response as of this writing. She doesn't need to. The endorsement speaks at full volume on its own.
The Hurd episode lands in the middle of a broader confrontation over trade policy. The Supreme Court ruled on Friday against Trump's "Liberation Day" levies, a setback that Trump responded to by imposing a new global tariff under a different legal provision, raising the rate to 15%.
The pattern is clear: legal obstacles get routed around, and political obstacles get removed. Congressional Republicans who assumed they could cast a quiet vote to repeal the Canada tariffs and return to business as usual are learning that the political cost of that vote is neither quiet nor abstract.
There's a tendency in Washington to treat tariff votes as matters of economic philosophy, the kind of policy disagreement that gets resolved over lunch. Trump has made clear he sees them as something else entirely: tests of whether Republican members are willing to back his leverage strategy with foreign governments or whether they'd rather side with the status quo that let trade imbalances fester for decades.
For the small number of Republicans who joined Hurd in voting to repeal the Canada tariffs, this endorsement withdrawal isn't just about one Colorado district. It's a signal about what the 2026 primary landscape looks like for anyone who broke ranks.
The calculus is simple enough. A Republican incumbent in a red-leaning district can survive a lot of things. Surviving a Trump-endorsed primary challenger while carrying a vote that the president frames as choosing "Foreign Countries" over the United States is a different equation entirely.
Some of these members may have hoped the vote would be forgotten, buried under the daily avalanche of news. Trump's decision to act publicly, with a named alternative and a full-throated endorsement, ensures it won't be.
Jeff Hurd now faces a primary without presidential backing, running against a candidate who has it. In a district that Trump carried, that's not a minor obstacle. It's the obstacle.
The broader question is whether other Republicans who voted against the tariffs will face similar treatment, or whether Hurd serves as the example that makes further examples unnecessary. Trump's warning that they would "seriously suffer the consequences" suggests the former, but politics is often a game of selective enforcement. One high-profile defenestration can discipline an entire caucus.
Either way, the message from the White House to Capitol Hill is no longer subtext. It's posted on Truth Social for everyone to read.