Former Rep. Yadira Caraveo launches bid to win back Colorado's 8th District seat
U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo, a Democrat from Thornton, speaks at a press conference in Brighton on Aug. 2, 2023. (Chase Woodruff/Colorado Newsline)
Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo is seeking a rematch in 2026 against Rep. Gabe Evans, the Republican who unseated her in Colorado's 8th Congressional District last year.
'The 8th District deserves a representative who's looking out for them but Gabe Evans has already shown that he will always put Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and his MAGA backers in Washington first,' Caraveo said in a press release Tuesday announcing her 2026 campaign. 'I can't stand by while Gabe Evans tries to rip away health care from tens of thousands of Coloradans, including the very families I served as a pediatrician, and make life harder for working families.'
Caraveo was elected in 2022 as the first-ever representative for the 8th District, drawn by an independent redistricting commission after Colorado was awarded an additional congressional seat following the 2020 census. The district encompasses parts of Denver's northern suburbs as well as more rural areas in southern Weld County.
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The district is the state's most diverse — about 40% of its residents are Latino — and most competitive House seat. Caraveo won election in 2022 by about 1,600 votes out of more than 236,000 ballots cast, then lost to Evans by about 2,500 votes last year.
During her time in Congress, Caraveo faced criticism from some progressive Democrats for her moderate voting record, which represented a move to the center relative to her tenure in the state Legislature, where she was a representative. She said during her 2024 reelection bid that her political shift reflected what she called a 'responsibility to portray the opinions of my constituents' in a 'very evenly divided' district.
By contrast, Evans, also former state representative, has been an unapologetic supporter of his party's agenda. He has affirmed his support for Trump's plans to carry out mass deportations of tens of millions of undocumented immigrants, and remained silent on the administration's effort to end birthright citizenship. Last month, Evans voted for House Republicans' sweeping budget resolution to cut taxes and slash social spending, and he has since falsely claimed that the plan would not force drastic cuts to Medicaid, as nonpartisan congressional budget analysts conclude that it would.
Caraveo's announcement sets up a primary contest with Democratic state Rep. Manny Rutinel, who previously announced he would challenge Evans and reported a strong first-quarter fundraising haul of over $1 million.
With Republicans holding just a three-vote majority in the House, the 8th District race could again prove crucial in determining control of Congress in the 2026 midterms. The National Republican Congressional Committee on Tuesday quickly slammed Caraveo as a 'radical' and predicted the Democratic primary would be a 'race to please the far left.'
'While Gabe Evans is delivering commonsense solutions, whoever emerges from the Democrats' radical rat race will be just another out-of-touch liberal ready to be rejected by Coloradans,' said NRCC spokesperson Zach Bannon.
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