Republican state Rep. Gabe Evans maintained his lead over U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo as results continued to trickle in at the end of a close race to represent Colorado’s 8th Congressional District.
Evans’ lead shrank between Friday evening and Saturday evening, from 2,529 votes to 2,202 at 6:42 p.m., with Evans claiming about 48.9% of the 323,440 ballots so far, to Caraveo’s 48.3%.
The congressional district, which includes parts of Adams, Larimer and Weld counties, could play a crucial role in the partisan battle for control of the House of Representatives, where Republicans are trying to hold on to a slim majority.
Evans emerged ahead of Caraveo late Friday, but with an unknown number of ballots still to be counted in Adams County, where Caraveo led Evans by more than 20,000 votes, the Republican’s lead could shrink or disappear. Saturday afternoon, Larimer and Weld counties both reported completing their initial vote counts.
Alan Philp, a representative of Evans’ campaign, said the candidate was “optimal,” adding that they expected the initial counting of ballots to end Saturday evening. However, it was possible that not all votes had been counted yet – and the coming week will see the counting of ballots reserved for healing, which will also affect the final results.
Kevin Porter of Caraveo’s campaign also said the congressman remained optimistic.
“We obviously knew this was going to be a close race, too close to predict right now,” Porter said.
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