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June 04, 2025 11:12 AM UTC

Everybody in the Pool! CO-08 Field of Democrats Getting Crowded

  • 8 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
State Treasurer Dave Young (D-Greeley)

As Nick Coltrain reports for The Denver Post, the field of Democratic candidates hoping to get a shot at incumbent Republican Rep. Gabe Evans in 2026 continues to grow:

Colorado Treasurer Dave Young is joining the increasingly crowded Democratic primary for the 8th Congressional District.

Young, a Greeley Democrat, is a former member of the state legislature and its powerful Joint Budget Committee. He points to his deep roots in the district and five successful races — three specifically in the 8th District and two statewide — as evidence he’ll be able to flip the highly competitive seat blue once again in next year’s election.

U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans, a Republican, won the seat in 2024 after defeating freshman Democrat Yadira Caraveo. She was the first to represent the new seat, which was created after the 2020 census and stretches from Thornton to Greeley. Fewer than 2,500 votes have decided the victor in both elections for the seat…

…Young, who has served as state treasurer since 2019 and is term-limited in 2026, said in an interview ahead of his Wednesday morning announcement that he was motivated to seek office once more by Evans’ recent yes vote on the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” the sweeping Republican spending and tax cut package supported by President Donald Trump.

In particular, Young is worried about proposed cuts to Medicaid in the bill. Evans, for his part, has argued that the bill has been the subject of “blatant fearmongering.”

Dave Young will be a formidable candidate in CO-08 because of his name ID from two terms as Colorado State Treasurer and a family history of service in the state legislature. Young served four terms in the State House before running for Treasurer in 2018; his wife, Mary Young, served three terms in the State House before narrowly losing her bid for a fourth term in 2024.

From left to right: Amie Baca-Oehlert, Manny Rutinel, Shannon Bird, Dave Young, and Yadira Caraveo

Young is technically the fourth Democrat to enter the race — joining former Congresswoman Yadira Caraveo, State Rep. Manny Rutinel, and State Rep. Shannon Bird. Former CEA President Amie Baca-Oehlert has not yet formally announced her intentions to run, but she already has a campaign website online that includes a number of endorsements.

It’s hard to say just how many voters these five Democrats will be hoping to court in next June’s Democratic Primary Election (assuming all five are able to get their names onto the ballot). We’ve only seen two CO-08 contests in that district’s history — the eighth congressional district was added after the 2020 census — and neither 2022 or 2024 featured a contested Democratic Primary Election. Caraveo earned 38,837 votes in the 2022 Democratic Primary, and 35,409 in 2024. The 2022 Republican Primary in CO-08 drew 58,222 votes; in 2024, that number dropped to 45,687.

With a total 2026 vote count in the range of 50,000-60,000, one of these five Democrats could advance to the General Election with somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 votes. To put that in perspective, that’s about the same number of votes cast in total when Caraveo was the unchallenged Democratic nominee for the State House of Representatives in June 2020 (HD-31).

In short, the Democratic Primary for CO-08 in 2026 could turn into a bare-knuckle brawl where every single vote might well prove critical. Incumbent Republican Rep. Gabe Evans can hope that the eventual winner emerges from the Democratic Primary battered and bruised, but there’s a flip side here: There will be at least five different Democrats talking every day for the next year about how Evans is trying to take away your health insurance.

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8 thoughts on “Everybody in the Pool! CO-08 Field of Democrats Getting Crowded”

  2. This is what I avoided posting on in Open Thread, in case anyone was in suspense (ha).

    Dave Young pros: deep experience, proven representative for part of this district, has won a statewide election (not just a state House district), well-known and from Weld County (the part of CD-8 in which Dems typically do worse), good with numbers such as what the big let-them-eat-cake bill will do to CD-8 and Colorado, and a genuinely likeable guy.

    Dave Young cons: old-ish male (relatively speaking for an experienced politician), definitely white in a district with a large percentage of Latinos, and depending on one's political perspective probably closer to center-left than far left.

    I'm not favoring or discounting anyone yet, but CD-8's a race Ds need to win so I hope the primary doesn't turn scorched-earth.

  3. Good synopsis.

    i do worry Young is not, and that may be a problem in 26 as Dems are starting to focus and favor "the next generation." Especially since Grandoa Hick will be on the ballot – maybe even Grandad Salazar. His strongest point in possibly running strong enough in Weld to swing the seat back. 
    Caraveo cost us the seat Biden -style. She was in no shape to run again and she should drop out. 
    Rutinel's $1m haul is impressive- he is the front runner now. Being Hispanic , good looking and young may be the ticket. Question is whether he has any Weld Co appeal . I dunno . 

    1. Interesting counterpoint in a poll that just came out.  

      Poll shows former incumbent Yadira Caraveo holds wide lead in Colorado's 8th CD Democratic primary

      Caraveo, who lost her bid for reelection to Evans last year by a narrow margin, was the choice of 36% of Democratic primary voters polled, with the four other declared and likely candidates in single digits, according to a Public Policy Polling survey conducted last week. Nearly four in 10 voters were undecided.

      Covering parts of Adams, Weld and Larimer counties north of the Denver metro area, the closely divided district has been a top target nationally since its creation after the 2020 census and is expected to help determine which party holds the House majority after next year's election.

      Among Caraveo's potential primary opponents, the poll found state Rep. Manny Rutinel, D-Commerce City, and State Treasurer Dave Young trailing with 8% apiece, followed by state Rep. Shannon Bird, D-Westminster, at 5% and former teachers union president Amie Baca-Oehlert at 4%, with 39% undecided.

      With most just jumping in and the campaign's end a year away, I don't think there is a great deal of predictive power.  But it shows relative name recognition and is a fuzzy snapshot of the state of the race.  

      1. Arguably, the top of the ticket lost us this seat. That should not be a problem in 2026 when Hick and Bennet should have no problem carrying CD-8.

  4. I got my first fundraising text from Amie Baca-Oehlert more or less at about the same time I learned she'd formally announced a candidacy. I think it was the first CD-8 fundraising text I've received, so good on her for snapping to it. I don't know enough about her as a candidate for Congress, save for her experience with CEA, so I'll shut up for now and see how her pitch plays in the district. 

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