This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org.
On a recent Saturday morning at the farmer’s market in downtown Greeley, as people were listening to music, and looking at fruits, vegetables and tamales, for many, the upcoming primary election was on their minds. They talked about the struggle to keep up with daily living expenses, and how to deal with the ever-changing federal landscape.
“I guess the biggest issue is the kind of state of terror that a lot of Latinos are currently living in. So I mean, that affects a lot of my students,” said Democratic primary voter Dennis Aguirre, who teaches Latino history at the University of Northern Colorado. He said he hasn’t yet picked a candidate for the 8th congressional district primary race.
“For sure, there's a little bit more research,” he said.
Colorado's 8th Congressional District is one of the country's toss-up races and Republican incumbent Congressman Gabe Evans will face one of two Democrats in a race that could determine control of Congress. It’s Colorado’s most Latino district and spans areas as diverse as Commerce City to parts of Greeley and rural Weld County.
Democratic Rep. Manny Rutinel of Commerce City and former statehouse Rep. Shannon Bird of Westminster are locked in a heated primary race, vying to challenge Evans this fall. Rutinel is running as the more progressive candidate, better able to push back against ICE, while Bird is running as a voice to unite more moderate voters in the district.
Rutinel strolled through the market chatting with voters about his priorities and hearing their concerns.
Jaqueline Gonzales is 26 and recently moved with her family to Greeley from Wyoming. She read a card Rutinel passed out and said she liked his values. She’s worried about a lot of things.
“The cuts to Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, housing prices, housing, food costs for the everyday American,” Gonzales said.
Democratic voter Katie Carlson from Greeley said she wants to see federal cuts to food assistance and aid restored.
“I would like the aid stuff to come back. The hunger, the benefits that are being cut back. I would sure like to see 'em back because there's a lot of needy people in this area, country and world,” she said.
Carlson said she already voted for Rutinel after seeing him at community events and protests and said she feels like she knows him.
“I've been going to these in-person town halls that the current member of Congress refuses to go to because he's scared of his own constituents and people feel like they've been lied to because Donald Trump and Gabe Evans said that they were going to go after gas prices,” said Rutinel.
He kept the focus on Trump and Evans, not his primary opponent, Bird.
“They said they were going to go after grocery costs and instead they're starting a trade war through tariffs that are just corrupt and chaotic and just making all those prices go up and the prices of housing is involved in that. So I'm going to do what I have done in the Legislature, which is stand up to Donald Trump, focus on lowering costs and fighting for the people,” he said.
The winner of the Democratic primary will face one of the country’s most contested Republican seats. Evans is not facing a Republican primary challenge. He won the seat in 2024 by less than 3,000 votes. The district spans Denver suburban areas like Commerce City to parts of Greeley and rural Weld County.
Policy-wise, there’s not much daylight between Rutinel and Bird
They are both focused on affordability and reigning in the Trump administration. Although Bird has a more moderate reputation at the statehouse. It’s something she leaned into at a recent campaign stop, where a small crowd gathered at an optometrist’s office in Thornton.
“I have a track record of winning purple votes,” Bird told her audience. “That's exactly what we need in Colorado's 8th. You need somebody who can appeal not only to base Democrats but our independents and even moderate Republicans to win the race.”
Bird said healthcare would be the first issue she tackles. She said she wants to renew the health insurance affordability tax credits that Congress allowed to expire last year and reverse the Medicaid cuts passed in the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill.
Overhauling Immigration and Customs Enforcement is another top priority for Bird.
“Masked, undertrained agents coming and terrorizing communities,” she said. “That can't be allowed to happen at a federal level. We must ban face masks, mandate body cameras and ban ICE enforcement activity from our public schools, courthouses, hospitals, places of worship, and start holding ICE agents fully accountable when they break the law.”
It’s a topic she’s sensitive about because in ads and debates, Rutinel has been hammering her for voting against two Democratic bills seeking to limit state and local cooperation with ICE agents when she was in the statehouse. Both bills eventually passed and were signed into law.
“Shannon Bird was the only Democrat to vote with Republicans to allow ICE to raid our schools and hospitals to allow ICE to cooperate with police. We need someone who understands the struggle of Latino communities across this district,” said Rutinel during a debate hosted by 9News.
Bird takes issue with Rutinel’s characterization of her position on immigration. She said she voted against at least one of the bills in a House Appropriations committee because she objected to one provision, not the entire concept.
“There was one part of that bill that I wanted to see changed,” she said, adding that she would have voted for it on final passage in the House.
“Due to a family medical emergency, I wasn't able to be present for the final vote on passage, but I would have voted to pass that bill, notwithstanding the fact that the change wasn't made. We can't allow perfect to be the enemy of the good,” she said.
Bird is betting most voters in her district aren’t hyperpartisan and want a representative who leans more to the center.
“The person who will win this seat and the person who holds it ultimately will be the candidate who isn't a partisan themselves, is somebody who wants to solve problems and have authentic relationships and connections with the district,” she said. “People just want problems to be fixed and they want their voices heard.”
Voters are still undecided
It’s not yet clear how much that message is resonating. Recent polls from the two campaigns each show their own candidate in the lead. Rutinel has raised nearly twice as much money and nearly 20% of Democratic CD-8 primary voters are still undecided.
That includes Kathryn Lervick, a retired hospice nurse from Westminster who met Bird at the campaign event. She described herself as undecided, but curious.
“I vote for someone regarding their values, regarding health and safety for all human beings,” Lervick said. “Thinking of all human beings as the same.”
Though a few days later, after a little more research, Lervick was ready to decide for Bird. She said Bird has the knowledge, personality and perseverance for the job. “I just feel that she is the one who can beat Gabe Evans and that's what's really important to me,” she said.
For unaffiliated left-leaning voter Matt Ricke of Greeley, he’s torn between Rutinel and Bird and the television ads make it even tougher. He said he is looking for candidates who can push back against the Trump administration and protect vulnerable populations from the LGBTQ community to immigrants.
“I'm really ripped apart right now,” he said. “There's some mudslinging happening between the candidates. I'm not really a big fan of, so I really need to spend some more time digging into the platforms and discerning who I think is going to do the best job representing us.”
Like all primary voters, he has until June 30th to make up his mind.
