State Rep. Manny Rutinel defeated former lawmaker Shannon Bird Tuesday night in the Democratic primary to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans in November in Colorado’s battleground 8th Congressional District.
Bird conceded to Rutinel before 7:45 p.m., about the same time that the Associated Press called the race for Rutinel. Rutinel was leading nearly 62% to 34% over Bird, who herself formerly served in the Colorado House, as of early Wednesday afternoon.
“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much,” Rutinel, 31, said to an excited crowd of around 100 people gathered at Las Dos Americas Tortilleria in Commerce City. “Together we fought, and together we will flip this seat in November.”
He immediately targeted Evans, his opponent in November, in his speech to supporters, criticizing the Republican for backing Trump administration policies that resulted in cuts to social programs.
“In Congress, I will restore funding for Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act,” Rutinel said, before exchanging hugs with former U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar and former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb on a makeshift stage in the restaurant.
Evans sent out a press statement after Rutinel won, saying Democrats had chosen a “far-left, radical socialist, Mamdani-wanna-be extremist,” a reference to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Bird, 57, immediately threw her support to her Democratic opponent as she addressed supporters at the Legacy Ridge Grill in Westminster.
“This was never about any name on the ballot,” Bird told about 40 supporters Tuesday evening. “… We need more than anything to win this seat. Democrats must flip Congress.”
Evan Munsing, a Democratic candidate in the race who suspended his campaign in May, was garnering nearly 5% of the vote.
Colorado’s 8th District, a politically competitive swath of Weld, Adams and Larimer counties north of Denver, is listed by national election watchers, including the Cook Political Report, as among 18 congressional races in the country that .
Rutinel had positioned himself to the left of Bird, a former colleague in the legislature, in an election cycle that has proven . It became an exceedingly expensive affair as outside groups poured in more than $5.3 million on behalf of Rutinel or against Bird, plus around $3 million to help Bird or hurt Rutinel, according to Federal Election Commission data posted as of Friday.
The campaigns themselves have pulled in a ton of cash. Rutinel had the lead in the money game, with $4.1 million raised as of June 10. Bird collected $2.2 million through then. Both continued reporting significant donations throughout the final month.
Evans, 39, who was unopposed in the GOP primary, has raised the most money in the field, with nearly $4.9 million collected in this election cycle as of June 10. The first-term congressman had nearly $3.5 million in cash on hand -- nearly three times what his two Democratic opponents had combined on that date -- giving him a warchest for the fall.
Taylor Martinez, a volunteer for the Rutinel campaign who lives in Adams County, said at the watch party Tuesday that he thought Rutinel would "blow (Evans) out of the water" in November.
At age 32, Martinez said it was time for someone of his generation to take a seat in Congress.
"We need fresh new faces in Congress," he said.
But a complicating factor may be that Evans, a freshman lawmaker, is still relatively new and youthful.
Rutinel had repeatedly accused Bird of having gone soft on President Trump's mass-deportation agenda when she was in the state House. Bird, meanwhile, had slammed Rutinel for voting for a state budget that included cuts to Medicaid when he was in the state House this spring.
The 8th Congressional District, when drawn by a redistricting commission at its inception a few years ago, is Colorado's most Latino district. Nearly 39% of its 722,000 or so residents identify that way, according to data from the 2021 Colorado redistricting effort. Both Evans and Rutinel are Latino.
So far, it's been a true swing district. Democrat Yadira Caraveo won it in a close race in 2022, and Evans defeated her in 2024 by just under 1 percentage point.
