Each week, we talk with our colleagues at The Colorado Sun about the stories they're following. This time, editor David Krause joined us to discuss the latest in Colorado’s Congressional District 8 race.
First-term Republican State Sen. Gabe Evans has jumped into the U.S. House race. He announced Wednesday that he's going to try to unseat first-term Democratic Representative Yadira Caraveo.
“The 8th district was formed a few years ago during the redistricting process,” Krause told KUNC. “It spans from the northeast Denver suburbs up into the Greeley area, and that's about 40% Latino.”
Evans lives in Fort Lupton. He is a former Arvada police officer and served in the army. He's also the grandson of Mexican immigrants.
Barbara Kirkmeyer announced in July she wasn't going to try to win re-election to the post. She lost by about 1,100 votes last year to Rep. Caraveo.
Weld County Commissioner Scott James has also joined the Republican side of the race.
“And then there are two other Republicans who have kicked around the idea - we haven't heard definitively yet on Weld County Commissioner Steve Moreno and former State Representative Dan Woog,” Krause said. “Paperwork will be due this fall. Their primary is at the end of June.”
National parties are also getting involved in this race.
“There’s 222 Republicans to 212 Democrats (in Congress) right now,” Krause said. “So a lot of the national committees are starting to look at the races even 14 months out - who's going to be competitive, where they might be able to flip something.”
National Republican groups collectively spent over $10 million supporting Barbara Kirkmeyer in 2022. The Democrats only spent about $6 million nationally supporting Caraveo, who eventually won by 1,100 votes.
District 3 in the southern part of the state is also expected to see money coming in this election season. Lauren Boebert is in her second term representing the large district. She won by only 546 votes against Adam Frisch, a former Aspen City Council member. Krause told KUNC national Democratic fundraisers are supporting Frisch for 2024 after offering virtually no support in 2022. In the first six months of 2023, Adam Frisch has raised nearly $4.4 million.
