DENVER – Now that the primary is past, Colorado’s Republican representatives in Congress are preparing to fight to hang onto the only high-level conservative ground left, and those four seats are imperative to the GOP holding on to its majority in D.C.
All four incumbents cleared Tuesday’s vote without difficulty, two facing no opposition at all, but they are all now faced with defending their seats, in some case to the most radical Democrats Colorado voter have ever seen, a trend that is gaining speed nationwide.
With the primary election behind them, Democrats will focus resources on CD-8, a toss-up, and to a lesser extent CD-3, while CD-4 and CD-5 are considered to be “safe” Republican seats.
Congressional District 8 (portions of Adams, Weld and Larimer counties): This race, which features freshman Rep. Gabe Evans, a former police officer and state representative against Democrat Manny Rutinel, a current state legislator, is considered to be the among the most watched races in the nation.
Created after the 2020 Census, Evans won the district in 2024. From 2022-2024, the seat was held by a Democrat. And since its inception, many have called it Colorado’s premier swing district. Both parties are expected to invest heavily in what could be one of the closest House races in the country this fall.
Evans told Complete Colorado after the polls closed Tuesday and his opponent chosen that he’s ready, and he’s confident voters in CD-8 will see he’s the best man for the job based on his “bi-partisan” appeal.
“Colorado Democrats have lost touch with reality,” Evans said. “The nominee on the Democrat side in Colorado 8 and the presumptive nominee in Colorado 1 (Melat Kiros) are two peas in a pod. They are tied to the national socialists. They are tied to the New York socialists. My opponent is on record campaigning with (New York Mayor) Momdani, an outright socialist. The people who (won) on the Democrat ticket (Tuesday) are just indicative of how socialist, radical, far left out of touch the party is.”
Congressional District 3 (Western Slope): Rep. Jeff Hurd beat Ron Hanks by 36 points, 68% to 31.5%. Hanks is a former state representative who attended the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol protest and voted along a hard-right line when in office, argued Hurd wasn’t conservative enough despite his support for much of Trump’s agenda. Democrat Dwayne Romero, an Army veteran, beat businessman Alex Kelloff by 10 points in the primary. Although considered competitive, the district favors Republicans and hasn’t elected a Democrat since 2011. Current Rep. Lauren Boebert barely won re-election here by just 546 votes in 2022 before jumping ship and switching districts in favor of the safer seat in Congressional District 4, which she won in 2024.
Congressional District 4 (Douglas and Weld counties, along with the Eastern Plains): Boebert ran unopposed in the primary, seeking her first reelection here after switching from CD-3 and winning with 53.6% of the vote in 2024. She’ll face Democrat Eileen Laubacher, who won her primary despite a write-in challenge from psychologist Jenna Preston. Laubacher, a former Republican, is a retired two-star Navy admiral who also worked on the National Security Council under President Biden. CD-4 remains one of the most reliably Republican districts in the state.
Congressional District 5 (Colorado Springs): Rep. Jeff Crank ran unopposed in the primary and will face Democrat Jessica Killin, a former Army captain and paratrooper who served overseas as a military police officer, and later worked as an executive at USAA and as chief of staff to second gentleman Doug Emhoff. Killin has centered her campaign on affordability — housing, healthcare, childcare, and grocery costs — and last week signed onto “Promise to America,” a set of centrist principles. Like CD-4, this is safe Republican territory, making Crank a heavy favorite.
Evans said Colorado Democrats have lost touch with what voters really need and want, and he believes the unaffiliated voter sees that. He pointed to the recent Colorado Supreme Court decision to not allow a Democrat-backed gerrymandering initiative on the 2026 ballot.
“We just saw that,” Evans said about the attempt to redraw CD-8 and CD-4 so that Evans’ district was entirely in a heavily blue-voter area. CD-4—already reliably red—would have absorbed the conservative portion of the existing CD-8. “The entirely Democrat nominated state Supreme Courts struck down Democrats power grab to disenfranchise 51 percent of Colorado’s electorate. The independents like our independent redistricting commission.”
