November 06, 2024 11:55 AM UTC

All Eyes On CO-08 As Rep. Yadira Caraveo Clings To Narrow Lead

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

As the Colorado Sun reports, one of the nation’s most competitive congressional races is neck-and-neck the morning after as ballots continue to be counted in two politically polar opposite counties in the swing CO-08 race, conservative Weld County versus the larger swing suburban Adams County, each breaking strongly for Republican Gabe Evans and incumbent Rep. Yadira Caraveo respectively:

Caraveo was leading Evans by fewer than 4,000 votes — or about 1.5 percentage points — at 3 a.m., when the last returns were posted. The Associated Press estimates that reflects the tally of about 74% of the votes cast in the race.

There are still thousands — possibly tens of thousands — of 8th District ballots to be counted in Weld and Adams counties. The question for Evans is whether there are enough votes for him in Republican-leaning Weld County to overcome his deficit, without too many Caraveo votes in Democratic-leaning Adams County to counteract those or widen the congresswoman’s lead.

“We absolutely have a path,” Evans told his supporters at a watch party in Brighton late Tuesday. “We’re feeling very, very optimistic.”

As of this morning, Weld County does have more total ballots outstanding, but an unknown number of those ballots are outside the boundaries of CO-08. Adams has a larger population in the district and is breaking for Caraveo by double digits. Adams County vote centers were reportedly overrun last night with many in line for two hours or more to cast a ballot, and it’s those late voters that could put Caraveo over the top to stay.

But it’s too soon to know for sure, and it’s going to be close either way. We’ll update when either county updates their count through the day and evening.