Colorados 8th Congressional District is shaping up to be one of the most competitive races in the nation, with both parties expected to pour major resources into the toss-up seat.State Rep. Manny Rutinel won Tuesday's Democratic primary election and will now face Republican incumbent Gabe Evans in November.The district was drawn in 2021 and stretches from Adams County to Weld County, spanning urban and rural parts of the state and encompassing a variety of political ideologies. There have been only two election cycles in the district's history.Democrat Yadira Caraveo was the first to assume office when she was elected in 2022. Evans defeated Caraveo in 2024.Sonny Subia, the Colorado state director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, lives in Greeley and recalled the role Latino voter outreach played during the 2024 election cycle."[Evans] ran a great race against Yadira. Yadira didn't do very well. She really didn't reach out to the Latino community. She reached out to the Latino community with only two months left in the race, and it was like, 'Hey, where have you been? We've been waiting to hear from you,' and they didn't," Subia said.WATCH Watch Adria Iraheta's report in the player below | Latino voters could decide Colorado's most competitive congressional raceLatino voters make up around 40% of the district's electorate and could be the deciding factor. Subia said he already saw targeted outreach play out during the primary and predicts more strategic campaigning from both candidates going forward."It's about the Hispanic population. How are they going to reach out to them? What are those, those red button issues that they're concerned about?" he said.Phillip Chen, an associate professor of political science at the University of Denver, said the path to victory runs through the middle."We're going to see how much sort of Democratic support consolidates around Rutinel, as well as whether he can win independents, moderates, people like that," Chen said.Issues like immigration are expected to take center stage. Evans has addressed the complexity of the current system."It's a convoluted, complex system that hasn't been updated in four decades," Evans said.Affordable housing is also expected to be a key issue. Rutinel framed his candidacy around economic concerns facing working families."We need someone who understands the struggles of working people and has a long track record of fighting for them to lower costs," Rutinel said.Chen said the race could get negative, with both candidates potentially being tied to national political figures on the far right and left."You're going to see the Rutinel campaign trying to tie Evans as close to President Trump as they can, and you're going to see the Evans campaign trying to tie Rutinel as close as they can to people like AOC and Zohran Mamdani, because those are kind of the standard bearers of that progressive movement at this right now, Chen said. ...read more read less