Yadira Caraveo (D), Barbara Kirkmeyer (R), and three others are running in the general election for Colorado’s 8th Congressional District on November 8, 2022.
Caraveo is a pediatrician and a member of the Colorado House of Representatives, first elected in 2018. Caraveo, whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico, said, “Colorado families need a powerful partner fighting for them in Congress — not divisiveness and extremism. I am fighting so that our kids can achieve the same American Dream I was able to.”
Kirkmeyer is a member of the Colorado State Senate, first elected in 2020. Before entering the Senate, Kirkmeyer was a Weld County Commissioner from 1993 to 2000 and 2009 to 2020. Kirkmeyer said she will “lower the cost of living, restore order to the border, bring back energy independence, and stand up for law enforcement.”
The 8th District is one of seven new congressional districts created after the 2020 census and the first new congressional district in Colorado since 2001.
Bloomberg Government‘s Zach Cohen wrote, “The diversity and competitiveness of Colorado’s new 8th District has it primed to serve as a key House race in congressional this year and beyond.”
Twenty-eight percent of the district’s active registered voters are Democrats, 25% are Republicans, and 44% are unaffiliated.
Demographically, the 8th District has the state’s largest percentage of Hispanic or Latino residents, who make up 39% of the district’s population. Non-Hispanic white residents make up 52% of the district.
An analysis of eight statewide elections held between 2016 and 2020 found Democrats winning what is now the 8th District by an average of 1.3 percentage points.
At the presidential level specifically, Roll Call‘s Nathan Gonazlez reported that Donald Trump (R) won what is now the 8th District by two percentage points in 2016 and Joe Biden (D) won by four percentage points in 2020.
Richard Ward (L) and Steve Zorn (I) will also appear on the ballot, and Tim Long (I) is running as a write-in candidate.
The outcome of this race will affect the partisan balance of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 118th Congress. All 435 seats in the House are up for election. Democrats hold a 219-211 advantage in the U.S. House with five vacant seats. Republicans need to gain a net of seven seats to win a majority in the chamber.
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