GREELEY — Two Democrats vying to retake a Colorado swing district that Republican U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans won in 2024 took shots at each other on Medicaid funding and immigration enforcement — while bashing Evans and President Donald Trump — during a forum Thursday night at the University of Northern Colorado.
Manny Rutinel, a state representative from Commerce City, deployed an attack line that he has been using for months on the campaign trail — that his opponent, former state Rep. Shannon Bird, voted against a 2025 bill that would have further curtailed immigration authorities’ access to government buildings, libraries and public schools in Colorado.
“I can’t tell you how much that hurt me and my family,” said the 31-year-old Rutinel, whose mother immigrated to the United States. “We need leaders who will stand up to Donald Trump.”
Bird, 57, said her opponent repeatedly has mischaracterized her vote, saying it happened during a committee hearing on the bill, which she said needed improvement before advancing to the full House. She fired back at Rutinel for his vote this session to pass the state budget, which included cuts to Medicaid to address a gigantic shortfall.
“I would absolutely not have voted to cut Medicaid,” she said.
Thursday’s event was organized and conducted by the Colorado Sun.
The candidates will square off on June 30 in the Democratic primary, with the winner going on to face Evans in November. Control of Congress is at stake in the midterms, with Republicans now holding a , with one independent and five vacancies.
Conspicuously absent from the stage in Greeley on Thursday was Evan Munsing, a Marine veteran who quit the race the day before, citing the stark financial advantages his two opponents hold.
Rutinel had outraised Munsing by nearly a factor of six, while Bird has brought in nearly three times the $600,000 or so Munsing had raised as of the end of March, according to the most recent campaign finance numbers posted with the .
Evans outguns them all, having raised nearly $4.3 million to Rutinel’s nearly $3.5 million at the end of March.
Bird and Rutinel also traded barbs on Bird’s decision to step down from the legislature in January to run for the 8th District, with Rutinel saying “she quit the legislature when her constituents needed her most.” Bird said she stepped down to put “150%” into her congressional campaign.
“I did not want a tax-funded salary while I was running,” she said.
The two candidates agreed on a number of things, including opposition to a federal ban on hydraulic fracturing to extract oil, support for a ban on oil and gas leases on federal land and support for a boost in the federal minimum wage.
The 8th Congressional District is home to many oil and gas operations.
On the subject of data centers, a hot topic, Bird and Rutinel said more guardrails are needed on the tech facilities, especially when it comes to their use of water and electric power. Bird said companies that build data centers have to account for their water use “so they are never competing with our limited water supply.”
Rutinel said data centers “should be using renewable energy as much as possible.”
Both candidates were in favor of exploring the idea of raising taxes on people making $400,000 to $500,000 a year to help pay for social programs. Bird said money being spent on the war in Iran, which she opposes, could be redirected to social programs in this country.
“We can afford so many programs, and don’t let the billionaires tell you otherwise,” Rutinel said.
The 8th Congressional District covers Greeley and a small chunk of Larimer County and then heads south into Adams County, taking in several suburban communities north of Denver, including Commerce City, Thornton and Northglenn. The district was created after the 2020 census revealed that population growth in Colorado merited adding an additional representative from the state to the congressional delegation in Washington.
It was deliberately drawn to be Colorado’s most politically competitive district, and in its first four years, it has had both a Democrat and a Republican in the seat. The Cook Political Report rates the 8th District as one of in the country this year.
