A seventh Democrat on Thursday entered the race to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans next year in Colorado’s toss-up 8th Congressional District.
Evan Munsing, 37, is a Marine combat veteran who works in finance. He’s never held elected office before, but he thinks that’s an advantage in the crowded primary field and high-stakes contest to dislodge Evans and help Democrats try to take back a majority in the U.S. House.
“If the people who are in office could fix this, they already would have,” Munsing said in an interview with The Colorado Sun ahead of his campaign announcement. “We need new leaders.”
Munsing said he chose Congress as his first foray into politics because “the battle right now is in D.C. — and that’s an important fight to win.”
In terms of priorities, Munsing said he wants to reform Congress by banning stock trading by members. He also wants to impose term limits —18 years for House members and 24 for senators — and an age limit of 72, which is younger than Colorado’s U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper. He also wants to stabilize the economy by rolling back the Trump administration’s policies and uphold the Constitution by making Congress a better check on the White House.
He said Democratic U.S. Reps. Jason Crow of Centennial and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, both military veterans, are the members with whom he is most closely aligned politically. Munsing said his time in Afghanistan as a Marine formed his view of politics.
“I came back deeply frustrated by that experience, because what I saw, and what a lot of other men and women who went to Iraq and Afghanistan saw, was that we did not fight the war that we were resourced to win, that we had a strategy to win,” he said. “We fought a war so that people in office could kick the can down the road and not deal with hard decisions and hard conversations.”
Munsing grew up in Pennsylvania and moved to Colorado in 2019. He currently works at Corbel Capital Partners, where he is the director of portfolio operations, and previously did stints at Vista Equity Partners and McKinsey & Co. He’s also on the advisory board of Operation Equine, a nonprofit that offers mental health treatment to veterans and first responders.
Munsing and his fiancée moved to Thornton, which is in the 8th District, from Denver earlier this year.
The toss-up district spans Denver’s northern suburbs along U.S. 85 into Greeley. The outcome of the 2026 race could determine which party controls the U.S. House.
Evans ousted the Democratic incumbent, Yadira Caraveo, in November by about 2,500 votes, or less than a percentage point.
Caraveo, who also lives in Thornton, is running to reclaim her seat despite concerns from Democratic leaders about her mental health and allegations that she mistreated her congressional and campaign staff. Also running in the district’s Democratic primary are state Reps. Manny Rutinel of Commerce City and Shannon Bird of Westminster, as well as Colorado Treasurer Dave Young. Amie Baca-Oehlert, the former head of the Colorado Education Association, is also running in the primary.
Democrat Denis Abrate is another candidate in the primary, though he doesn’t have a campaign presence and hasn’t reported raising any money.
Evans has a clear campaign finance advantage over his Democratic challengers. He reported raising about $840,000 from April 1 through June 30. The Fort Lupton congressman had roughly $1.2 million in campaign cash to start July.
Rutinel had $810,000 in cash on hand to start the month, while Bird had $373,000; Caraveo had $92,000; Young had $72,000; and Baca-Oehlert had $29,000.
The Democratic primary in the 8th District will be held in June 2026. It’s unlikely, however, that all of the Democrats running will be on the primary ballot. Candidates must gather signatures or win party support through the caucus and assembly process to secure ballot access.