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Rep. Jeff Hurd may be only a freshman member of Congress, but he doesn't need the Co-op 101 lesson that NRECA usually provides for new lawmakers.
Before his election to the House in 2024, Hurd practiced law in rural Colorado, and most of his clients were electric cooperatives.
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“I simply don't think there's anybody in Congress who understands co-ops the way Jeff does," says Tom Walch, executive director of the Colorado Rural Electric Association. “He could teach Co-op 101 to his peers."
Walch is the former CEO of Grand Valley Power in Grand Junction, where Hurd served as the co-op's attorney.
“It wasn't ivory tower legal work," Walch says. “Jeff was right there, with his sleeves rolled up, in co-op boardrooms and working with our staff and members."
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Hurd's background representing co-ops has helped inform his policy decisions, Walch says. The Republican congressman has supported three major NRECA-backed bills and sits on two committees with jurisdiction over crucial co-op issues: the House Natural Resources Committee and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Last December, he voted for the SPEED Act, a permitting reform bill that would help protect affordable power nationwide by reducing delays for electric co-ops making crucial improvements to their systems. The legislation passed the House but has not yet been taken up by the Senate.
Hurd is co-sponsoring the Fixing Emergency Management for Americans (FEMA) Act. The legislation, passed by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last fall, would streamline the Federal Emergency Management Agency and dramatically speed up delivery of crucial disaster relief funds to co-ops devastated by wildfires, hurricanes, ice storms and other natural disasters.
He is also a co-sponsor of the bipartisan Fix Our Forests Act, which would make it easier for co-ops to get federal permits to clear vegetation and strengthen their systems to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires like those that have ravaged Colorado and other Western states in recent years.
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The bill passed the House in 2025, and Hurd has vowed to work with the Senate to pass the legislation in that chamber.
“Together we are going to fight to ensure that our communities never face another preventable wildfire disaster again," he said at a press conference before the House vote.
When a devastating wildfire caused $25 million worth of damage to the transmission system at White River Electric Association in Meeker last year, Hurd reached out to the co-op to help facilitate communication between WREA and federal agencies, says Alan Michalewicz, the co-op's CEO and general manager.
“Having someone with Jeff's background and his desire to help us can never hurt us in dealing with federal agencies," says Michalewicz, whose co-op is also a former client of Hurd's. “He's a great asset to us."
Hurd also is helping the co-op push for FEMA funds to rebuild its system, Michalewicz says.
“Jeff and his staff were intimately involved in making sure we presented our FEMA application to the White House in the right way," he says. “Jeff is doing all he can for us. He's an enormous supporter of everything we do."
Hurd says electric co-ops are essential to Colorado's 3rd Congressional District.
“They power our farms and ranches, support small businesses and keep the lights on in communities that are too often overlooked by large investor-owned utilities," he says. “They are member-driven, locally governed and focused on service over profit, which makes them uniquely responsive to the people they serve.
“That is why I've been a strong advocate for co-op priorities in Congress—whether it is improving permitting, strengthening wildfire mitigation, or ensuring faster disaster response. When our co-ops succeed, our rural communities succeed, and I will continue fighting to make sure they have the tools they need to deliver for the people of Western and Southern Colorado."
The 46-year-old congressman is a native Coloradan with humble roots, Walch says.
“A lot of folks in Grand Junction remember when he was bagging groceries and bussing tables at the local pizza joint before he became a lawyer."
After graduating from the University of Notre Dame, Hurd earned law degrees from the University of Denver and Columbia Law School. He worked for a law firm in New York City before returning to Colorado to raise a family and build his own law practice.
“Anyone who has ever worked with Jeff knows how smart he is, how hard he works and how invested he is in doing the right thing," Walch says. “He's exactly the kind of person we need in Congress."
