Living up to its reputation as one of the biggest battleground battlegrounds for Congress, the race for Colorado’s 8th Congressional District remained deadlocked Thursday as Democratic incumbent Yadira Caraveo held on to a slim lead over her Republican opponent, state Rep. Gabe Evans.
Nearly 48 hours after polls closed, both campaigns waited to see if the new vote totals released by election officials would take the race in a more definitive direction. As of 2:05 p.m., Caraveo had 49.1% of the vote, compared to Evans’ 48.3%, of the 274,882 votes tallied.
The race is separated by just over 2,000 votes.
Alan Philp, Evans’ campaign adviser who also managed Secretary of State Barb Kirkmeyer’s 2022 race against Caraveo, said the campaign believed up to 75,000 ballots remained to be counted in the three 8th District counties — Weld, Adams and Larimer — but that is not the case. these all include the CD8 race.
“So it’s probably very close,” Philp wrote in an email Thursday afternoon.
A spokesperson for Caraveo’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A new batch of ballots from the two counties that comprise most of the district — Adams and Weld — are expected to be reported to the Secretary of State’s office later this afternoon.
The race to represent the district, which stretches from Denver’s northern suburbs to Greeley and Berthoud, is one of the most watched congressional contests in the country. Cook Political Report considers it a toss-upone of the few congressional districts in the country with Democratic incumbents that fall into that category.
Caraveo won it two years ago by fewer than 2,000 votes.
The race has drawn big spending from outside groups, much of which has fueled a seemingly endless series of campaign ads leading up to Election Day.
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