COLORADO — With no clear leader two weeks from Election Day, Latino voters could swing one of the nation's most competitive congressional races.
Colorado's 8th Congressional District spans from Commerce City to Greeley and includes rural agricultural communities and most of the north metro suburbs, combining into a diverse district where Latino and Hispanic residents make up nearly 40% of the population.
Republican incumbent Gabe Evans and Democratic challenger Manny Rutinel have flooded the airwaves with ads in a contest ranked among the most expensive in the country. CD8 is a key battleground seat that will help determine whether Democrats capture the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
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A September poll of CD8 voters from the conservative firm McLaughlin & Associates showed Evans at 48% and Rutinel at 46.3%, a margin within the poll's 4.9-point margin of error.
"We believe that the Hispanic Latino community is going to become the deciding factor in this race," said Angel Merlos, strategic director of the right-leaning group LIBRE Initiative Action, which has endorsed Evans. "We're trying to change any frustration into enthusiasm to go out and vote and feel encouraged that, you know, their voice, they actually have a voice here."
Merlos said issues like the economy, cost of living, and immigration are motivating Latino communities to vote in the midterms.
"I think that this issue of immigration has been a big one, and has just really highlighted the need for immigration reform," said Merlos.
In the McLaughlin & Associates poll, 60.5% of the 400 respondents in CD8 said the country is on the wrong track, while 33.6% said it is headed in the right direction. A 2026 survey from the Colorado Latino Policy Agenda shows 56% of Latino voters in Colorado approve of Democrats in Congress, while 39% said they do not approve them.
Mike Cortés, the president and CEO of the nonpartisan Colorado Latino Leadership, Advocacy, and Research Organization, said he believes the Trump administration's ramped up immigration enforcement actions could sway Latino voters to choose Democratic candidates in the midterms, if they show up to vote. He said immigration enforcement has seized voters' attention in a way it hadn't two years ago.
"Historically, an awful lot of Latinos say, 'Well, legislators ignore us. Why bother?' But this time, given the closeness of the election, it is a good idea to bother to vote," said Cortés. "The really obvious and very offensive problem is the problem of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement engaging in inhumane behavior, poor treatment of people that they suspect might not be citizens, and occasionally lawless behavior, and that has gotten people's attention."
He acknowledged Latino voters who are U.S. citizens remain split on immigration policy itself, but are more unified on enforcement.
"Latinos who are U.S. citizens are somewhat divided on immigration, on what immigration policy should be," Cortés said. "Regardless of what you think immigration laws should be, people are agreeing that enforcement should not look the way it is now. So, in that sense, I think immigration law enforcement has had a unifying effect on Latinos."
He said economic concerns, along with access to healthcare and equal educational opportunity, are also weighing on voters.
"Party loyalty, I do not think, is as strong among Latinos as it is among some other Coloradans. What really matters is: Do they look like somebody I could trust? Do they talk to me? Do they come around and knock on my door?" Cortés said.
Colorado's 8th Congressional District is the state's newest district, created in 2021 and built to be competitive.
