Just over 100 days since she left Congress, Yadira Caraveo wants to head back to Washington, D.C.

On Tuesday, the Colorado Democrat announced her candidacy for the 8th Congressional District race in 2026. She’s seeking a return to the post she held for the first two years of the district’s existence, from 2023 until her loss by a whisker to Republican U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans in November.

Caraveo spoke to The Denver Post ahead of her announcement, the culmination of a decision she has been mulling for several weeks.

“I think that the district is always going to be incredibly competitive, right?” Caraveo said. “So I know this is going to be a tough race. But I think that that very narrow margin of loss is a testament to the fact that people saw that I was taking a moderate and middle-of-the-road path, really keeping in mind what the district wanted me to do.”

The 44-year-old pediatrician and daughter of Mexican immigrants acknowledged that her loss last year came in what “was not an ideal year for Democrats.” She’s staking hope on the likelihood that the political dynamic will be significantly different next year during midterm elections that historically have favored the party out of power.

Her main focus is on potential cuts to Medicaid that could come as part of a budget that President Donald Trump has made clear he wants to see slimmed down. At her former Thornton medical practice, 65% of her patients relied on the program.

“I know that those difficult conversations are taking place and that Gabe Evans doesn’t seem to have an interest in how deeply this is going to affect families,” Caraveo said.

But Caraveo won’t just have Evans to worry about next year.

She will first have to defeat at least one fellow Democrat, state Rep. Manny Rutinel, of Commerce City, in the primary election in June 2026. Rutinel, who launched his campaign in January, announced last week that he had raised more than $1 million since the beginning of the year.

Evans’ campaign responded to Caraveo’s announcement Tuesday morning by pointing to the contested primary.

“Democrats officially have a base problem and are in an all-out primary battle to the left,” spokeswoman Delanie Bomar said. “Meanwhile, Congressman Gabe Evans hit the ground running as he’s working to fix Colorado’s crime, immigration, and energy crises that Manny, Yadira, and their liberal friends created.”

The district has the heaviest concentration of Latinos among Colorado’s eight congressional districts. On immigration — where Caraveo’s position evolved from being heavily critical of federal immigration agencies when she was a state lawmaker to, last summer, lambasting the Biden administration for mismanaging the border — she says the Trump administration’s approach to the issue is wrong.

“They are not focusing on comprehensive reform,” she said. “They are looking at fear mongering and mass deportations, including of people who are here legally.”

During her 100 days out of office, Caraveo traveled to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. She also grappled with how mental health challenges might play among voters in a new bid for Congress.

Those challenges led to several dark episodes last year in which Caraveo almost took her life with a near-overdose of sleeping pills and pain medication. She spoke publicly about her struggles last summer in an attempt to destigmatize the issue of mental health, but she has provided more details in recent interviews.

After a stint at Walter Reed Army Medical Center early last year to get treatment, Caraveo said she is feeling much better and on track to devote herself to public service again.

“Now that I’m getting that proper treatment and that I’m on the right medications — that I’ve really taken care of issues that I had been ignoring for a long time because I was putting other people ahead of myself — I’m in an even better position to represent this district,” she said.

She also said: “As long as you seek help, you can get better — you can still do hard things. It shouldn’t be held against you that you have these struggles.”

The 8th District, which stretches from Denver’s northern suburbs to Berthoud and Greeley in the north, was drawn by the state’s redistricting commission after the 2020 census to be the most politically competitive in Colorado. In 2022, Caraveo barely edged out Republican state Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer by fewer than 2,000 votes out of more than 236,000 cast.

Fast-forward two years, and Evans took the contest against Caraveo by fewer than 2,500 votes out of more than 333,000 cast.

The Cook Political Report once again positions the 8th District race as a toss-up in 2026 — one of only 18 races nationwide with such a ranking — while the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia includes the race among 19 with toss-up status in its rankings.

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