Greeley Debate Pits Evans Against Rutinel In Colorado's Toughest House Race

The parking lot of the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley is quiet now, but on a recent afternoon, it hummed with the low-grade electricity of a midterm election that feels less like a ritual and more like a referendum on survival. Inside the auditorium, two men stood before a live audience, their voices competing for attention in a district that stretches from the industrial sprawl of Adams County to the open plains north of Greeley. This is Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, a corridor along Interstate 25 that has produced some of the tightest House races in the state since its creation after the 2020 census.

Gabe Evans, a Fort Lupton resident and former Arvada police officer, stands on one side of the aisle. He’s a Republican finishing his first term in Congress after serving two years in the state legislature, with a past life as an Army helicopter pilot. Across from him is Manny Rutinel, a Commerce City resident and former state representative who resigned in September to focus on this race. Rutinel brings a different résumé: an economist for the Army Corps of Engineers and a law degree. The Colorado Sun interviewed both candidates in person, capturing their positions on taxes, healthcare, immigration, and the war in Iran.

The stakes are not abstract. This district will likely tip the balance of power in the U.S. House for the next two years.

When it comes to taxes, the divergence is sharp. Evans pointed to the H.R. 1, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and said he would make permanent the provisions that exempt tips and overtime pay from federal income tax. He also wants to keep the new deduction for Social Security benefits included in that legislation. He did not mention any tax cut he would eliminate.

Rutinel took a different approach, skipping the specifics for a broader principle. “If there are tax cuts for people who earn less than $500,000 a year, I will make sure they don’t pay more taxes,” he told the crowd. But his stance on higher earners was cut off in the transcript, leaving a gap that voters will likely fill with their own assumptions.

The Human Cost of Policy

The interview touched on Medicaid, Social Security, and climate change, but the topics that drew the most immediate reaction from the audience were immigration and foreign policy. Evans and Rutinel clashed on legal and illegal immigration, as well as the conflicts in Ukraine, Israel, and Iran. For neighbors in this valley, these aren't distant geopolitical puzzles; they are questions about who their neighbors are and how much of their tax dollar goes to foreign wars versus local infrastructure.

A third candidate, libertarian Dave Wood, a retired computer programmer who lives in Westminster and served time in federal prison for refusing his Vietnam draft, also runs in this district. His presence adds a layer of complexity to the binary choice most voters are being pushed toward.

The Colorado Sun’s reporting highlights a campaign defined by competing visions of stability. Evans leans on his law enforcement and military background to frame security issues, while Rutinel uses his economic training to argue for fiscal responsibility. Neither candidate offered a single, unifying slogan that resonated across the entire district’s diverse demographics.

Back in the parking lot, the cars start to move again. The debate is over, but the work of persuasion is just beginning. Evans will return to Fort Lupton; Rutinel to Commerce City. They will knock on doors, stand in the rain at trailheads and parking lots, and try to convince voters that their version of safety is the only one that matters. The district is split down the middle, literally and politically, and on November 3rd, that line will be drawn in ink.