By less than a percentage point difference in votes, Democratic U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo on Sunday conceded her bid to continue representing Colorado’s 8th Congressional District to Republican state Rep. Gabe Evans.
“It has been the honor of my life to serve the people of Colorado’s 8th District,” Caraveo said in a statement. “I came to Congress to get things done, and have spent the past two years finding common and bipartisan solutions to the most pressing issues facing our community. … While this is not the outcome we had hoped for, the work is not over.”
All three counties that make up Colorado’s 8th Congressional District had completed vote counting by late Saturday evening, election officials said.
Larimer and Weld counties both reported completing their first vote counts Saturday afternoon, and Adams County’s count was completed just before midnight.
Evans won 48.98% of the final count with 162,022 votes, compared to Caraveo’s 159,426 votes, or 48.19% of the final count, according to the The Office of the Colorado Secretary of State. On Sunday he had a lead of 2,596 votes.
“I am incredibly humbled to be selected as the next Colorado Congressman for the 8th,” Evans said in a speech written statement on Sunday. “It is an honor to be tasked with representing you and your families, and I am ready to fight back for a better direction for all Coloradans.”
The Republican candidate edged incumbent Caraveo on Friday for the first time since election night, but both candidates were unsure whether the remaining votes yet to be counted in Adams County would swing the race back in Caraveo’s favor.
While thousands of votes remain reserved for cures — with voters providing identification, adding a missing signature to their ballot or correcting other critical errors — Caraveo conceded the race on Sunday and the National Republican Congressional Committee issued a statement declaring victory for Evans.
“Gabe Evans is a fighter for the American Dream who will work tirelessly on their behalf in Congress, and we look forward to the valuable results Congressman-elect Evans will deliver for Coloradans,” NRCC spokeswoman Delanie Bomar said in the statement.
Evans’ victory gives Republicans 214 seats in the House of Representatives as of Sunday afternoon. according to the Associated Press. They need 218 to maintain their majority.
The final vote count, including approved ballots from all three counties, likely won’t be released until Thursday.
The deadline for voters to recover their ballots is Wednesday — the eighth day after Election Day — and county clerks have until Thursday to finish counting cast ballots for the 2024 election. according to state officials.
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