Retiring Guy's Digest: Flipping the House and flipping off Trump: Democrat Manny Rutinel defeats freshman Republican incumbent Gabe Evans and flips Colorado 8th congressional district

Saturday, November 14, 2026

Flipping the House and flipping off Trump: Democrat Manny Rutinel defeats freshman Republican incumbent Gabe Evans and flips Colorado 8th congressional district

After the 2020 census, Colorado gained 1 additional seat in the House of Representatives. Democrat Yadira Caraveo won the seat in 2022 by less than a percentage point. (1,632 vote margin out of 236,501 cast.) She lost in 2024 to GOP challenger Gabe Evans, also by less than a percentage point. (2,459 vote margin out of 333,616 cast.)

In what was supposed to be a toss-up in 2026, Democrat Manny Rutinel crushed Gabe Evans by 15 percentage points.

Election results map: Ballotpedia

Headline: The Hill, 11/3/2026

Tara Suter reports:

With Rutinel’s defeat of Evans, who was considered one of the most vulnerable Republicans this election cycle, he has limited the Republican one House term. Cook Political Report rated the Evans-Rutinel match-up as a “toss-up” in mid-October.
During the Democratic primary, Rutinel was mostly aligned with his challenger, former state Rep. Shannon Bird, on most issues, but immigration became a key issue in the race. About 40 percent of the 8th District is Latino.

The 6/30/2026 Colorado primaries clearly indicated that Gabe Evans was one and done. Democrats tallied 80,274 votes with Rutinel receiving nearly 63% of them. Evans ran unopposed and received just 48,012 votes.

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