Alex Kelloff, a fourth-generation Coloradan and entrepreneur, announced his candidacy for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District last spring. Drawing on a career in telecommunications, and his role as co-founder for Armada Skis, Kelloff’s campaign centers around job creation and public land protection. He hopes to win the democratic nomination and challenge Jeff Hurd for the CD3 seat. Democrat Kyle Doster has also announced his candidacy. The filing deadline for others to announce is in March 2026.
This month, Kelloff has received endorsements from a number of Colorado leaders, including State Sen. Dylan Roberts, State Rep. Katie Stewart, former State Rep. Diane Mitsch Busch and former State Sen. Gail Schwartz. Kelloff sat down with the Times to discuss his views on Gunnison County issues.
(Editor’s note: The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.)
Tell me about your background and what inspired you to run for congress?
I'm running because I care about the district. I care about the state and I care about our country and the direction we're going in, or lack thereof.
I've never been involved in politics. My whole, 30-plus year career has been in business, specifically in the telecommunications industry and building telecommunications infrastructure. But after the elections in November, I was concerned about the direction of the country. I knew at that point I had to get involved.
My family roots go back in the district over 130 years. My dad's family settled in Trinidad, Colorado, our family moved west over time and they were small business people. Specifically, my grandfather started Kelloff’s Food Markets, a chain of grocery stores throughout the south and west of Colorado, mostly in the San Luis Valley where my dad grew up.
My whole history and roots in the district [go back] generations. I think my values are informed by the roots and those roots are typically of small business people. I'm running to restore those values and espouse those values in the district and I'm very focused on creating good jobs by building the critical infrastructure that I think we need. That's not just with respect to telecommunications, but obviously transportation, housing, ensuring that our public lands are secure and our water is secure, with respect to shoring up our dams and reservoirs. I think by doing that and focusing on those things, it will also reduce the cost of living. It'll protect our communities and allow them to thrive over time.
What do you think can and should be done at the federal level to help solve a perceived housing crisis in Gunnison County?
Most housing is dictated by local issues and maybe some level at the state, but I do think that we can help Gunnison housing at the federal level by having smarter tax policies. I think also we could serve at the national level to demonstrate best practices, like what works across the U.S.? Where are communities able to build affordable housing and do it in a way that demonstrates best practices? So I think we can serve as that template and be the leader at the federal level and help communities and states carry out more affordable housing. I've been involved substantially in public private partnerships that allow us to build critical infrastructure by partnering with communities, by bringing in private capital to help offset taxpayer funds to fund this type of development. So I think we can do that at the federal level as well — demonstrate best practices and share those across Colorado and the district.
Regarding public lands, what is your position on the GORP act?
I'm supportive of GORP. I'm still educating myself, but from what I know of it, I'm fully supportive with respect to the public lands issue overall. I'm an avid outdoorsman myself. I grew up hunting with my grandfather. I’m a fisherman, a big skier, biker and snowmobiler. So public lands are extraordinarily important to me. The public lands issue got extracted out of the One Big Beautiful Bill, and in my view, Jeff Hurd was trying to take credit for some of that.
There are multiple fronts of attack that are rolling back all of the protection of our public lands. Whether it's a repeal of the roadless rule, or whether it's the Bureau of Land Management — I think this month BLM leases will be the largest in over 20 years with respect to the acreage they're looking to sell and lease off. Notwithstanding that this issue is quieted down because it got taken out of the One Big Beautiful Bill, I think those of us that are paying attention [can see] it moving ahead full steam. We need to do everything possible to continue to ensure our public lands are safe and there for generations to come.
The Interim Guidelines that have governed water management in the Colorado River basin since 2007, in response to shrinking supply, are set to expire at the end of 2025. In your opinion, what is the federal government’s role in crafting an updated agreement between upper and lower basin states?
I would like to see this solved amongst the states themselves. I would hate to see the federal government, which they've threatened to do, step in and say, “We'll force a decision.” I do think there needs to be a concerted push by all of the states to come to a reasonable agreement and settlement as to how we're going to divide up this dwindling resource.
What is your pitch to Republican and independent voters within CD3?
When you look at the polling numbers, [the district] is trending to the middle. I think this district is very pragmatic. I think people care about putting a roof over their head, affording to put food on the table, ensuring that their kids get a good education and grow up to have good jobs. So we need to create those jobs. I'm very focused on business formation and job creation. When you look at this district in particular, there’s not a lot of large employers. The Western Slope is primarily comprised of small businesses that are owner-run. That's where my family came from and I think I understand small business. Those are the things I'm very focused on. I think that speaks to both sides. I think that's a non-partisan issue, and my family was well known across the San Luis Valley in Southern Colorado as being good neighbors. That's what I'm hoping to run on.
I'm very focused and I'm running to restore the rule of law — to restore Congress as a co-equal branch of government. When Jeff Hurd ran, he didn't have a [voting] record. Now he has a legislative record, and people know who he is and there's a lot of disappointment in the way his legislative record is standing up. In fact, it's worse than Lauren Boebert’s. We want to focus on the things that people care about, but we also want to ensure that people understand what Jeff Hurd stands for, how his votes have hurt his constituents and the voters that put him in office.
(Alex McCrindle can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or alex@gunnisontimes.com.)
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