Tue. Nov 26th, 2024

Democratic U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo of Thornton, left, faces a challenge from Republican state Rep. Gabe Evans of Fort Lupton in Colorado’s tossup 8th Congressional District race. (Chase Woodruff/Colorado Newsline)

Democratic U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo of Thornton was ahead by 1.5 percentage points early Wednesday as she faced a Republican challenger in her bid to win a second term representing Colorado’s 8th Congressional District.

Caraveo won 49.5% of the vote to the 48% won by Republican state Rep. Gabe Evans of Fort Lupton, according to preliminary results.

Caraveo, a pediatrician and former state lawmaker, is the first Latina to represent Colorado in Congress. She was narrowly elected in 2022 to become the first representative of the state’s newest and most competitive congressional district.

Drawn by an independent redistricting commission in 2021, the 8th District encompasses Denver’s Democratic-leaning northern suburbs as well as more conservative rural areas in southern Weld County.

The 8th District was one of several toss-ups in the country, with both parties hoping to eke out a small majority in the House of Representatives. Republicans have held a razor-thin majority in the House for the last two years.

Both candidates benefited from millions of dollars in outside spending by partisan super PACs. Caraveo received support from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Environmental Defense Fund, the League of Conservation Voters and Fairshake, a group funded by the cryptocurrency industry.

Evans was aided by the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC with ties to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, along with the National Republican Congressional Committee and Americans For Prosperity, the group founded by right-wing billionaire Charles Koch.

Evans, a first-term state lawmaker from Fort Lupton, coasted to victory in the 8th District’s Republican primary in June thanks in part to an endorsement from former President Donald Trump. Throughout the campaign, he echoed Trump’s hard-line positions on crime and immigration, and appeared onstage earlier this month at a Trump campaign rally in Aurora, where the Republican nominee doubled down on false and exaggerated claims that the city had been “conquered” by Venezuelan gangs.

During her first term in Congress, Caraveo has frequently been among a group of moderate Democrats crossing the aisle to back legislation advanced by the U.S. House’s Republican majority. Her voting record in the 118th Congress has been by far the most conservative of Colorado’s five House Democrats, according to VoteView, a database of congressional roll call votes maintained by researchers at the University of California Los Angeles.

She said during an Oct. 8 debate that her record in Congress reflected what she called a “responsibility to portray the opinions of my constituents” in a “very evenly divided” district.

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