Colorado Treasurer Dave Young launches bid for hotly contested 8th Congressional District

Nick Coltrain, The Denver Post on Jun 4, 2025

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DENVER — Colorado Treasurer Dave Young is joining the increasingly crowded Democratic primary for the 8th Congressional District.

Young, a Greeley Democrat, is a former member of the state legislature and its powerful Joint Budget Committee. He points to his deep roots in the district and five successful races — three specifically in the 8th District and two statewide — as evidence he’ll be able to flip the highly competitive seat blue once again in next year’s election.

U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans, a Republican, won the seat in 2024 after defeating freshman Democrat Yadira Caraveo. She was the first to represent the new seat, which was created after the 2020 census and stretches from Thornton to Greeley. Fewer than 2,500 votes have decided the victor in both elections for the seat.

The 2026 race is likely to be just as close. Three other Democrats have declared for it so far: Caraveo and state Reps. Shannon Bird and Manny Rutinel. The primary election will be next summer.

Young, who has served as state treasurer since 2019 and is term-limited in 2026, said in an interview ahead of his Wednesday morning announcement that he was motivated to seek office once more by Evans’ recent yes vote on the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” the sweeping Republican spending and tax cut package supported by President Donald Trump.

In particular, Young is worried about proposed cuts to Medicaid in the bill. Evans, for his part, has argued that the bill has been the subject of “blatant fearmongering.”

Young’s sister has severe developmental disabilities and behavioral health issues, he said, and cuts to Medicaid two decades ago left her homeless. Cuts then spurred him to seek office in 2011, when he was appointed to the Colorado House of Representatives, and they’re spurring him now, Young said.

“I know I can compete and win races, and I know I can win this one,” Young said. “We’ve got to get Gabe Evans out of there, and people need to know that the services they depend on are going to be sustained and improved so they can move their lives forward.”

Young said he plans to run on “kitchen table economic issues” and on his experience. He pointed to a bill he ran to reform the state Medicaid program as a lawmaker and to his administration as treasurer of the small business CLIMBER loan fund and the unclaimed property trust fund.

He wants Congress to wrest back balance as a co-equal branch of government to the White House.

“Congress right now is giving away their power and authority,” Young said. “… We see it play out in tariffs right now, where the administration has far exceeded its authority and created economic ripples, but you also see it where they’re reluctant to push back on things like what Gave Evans voted on.”

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