By admin 
Given the chance to question his opponent in the Democratic primary for the 8th Congressional District in public, state Rep. Manny Rutinel zeroed in on something he has and she doesn’t: Latino heritage.
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“Why is it that you don’t think Colorado deserves a Latino member of Congress?” he asked his opponent, former state Rep. Shannon Bird, at a 9News debate earlier this month.
With the two candidates now aligned on nearly every policy issue, Rutinel, 31, has made race a central focus in the race for Congress in one of the most hotly contested districts in the United States, stressing the Latino background he shares with about 40% of district residents.
Bird, 57, who is white, emphasizes her much deeper roots and her willingness to listen to the priorities of Latino voters in the fast-developing district, which stretches from Denver’s northern suburbs through Adams and Weld counties up U.S. 85 into Greeley.
The district has never been represented by someone who isn’t Latino since the U.S. House seat was created in 2021. It’s currently represented by Republican Gabe Evans, who is the grandson of Mexican immigrants on his mother’s side. He won the 8th District in 2024 by just about 2,000 votes.
Groups working to elect Latinos have spent $3 million to support Rutinel, who they believe can unseat Evans. Rutinel has raised more than $4 million in campaign contributions, nearly double what Bird has taken in.
Born in Los Angeles, Rutinel spent the first six years of his life living in the Dominican Republic, where his mother is from. He moved to Colorado four years ago.
He was appointed to his state House seat representing the Commerce City area in 2023 by a vacancy committee. He was elected to the seat the following year after running unopposed in both the primary and general elections.
Bird, meanwhile, has represented Westminster in the Colorado General Assembly since 2019.
“We have more Latinos than we have any other demographic,” said Deb Suniga, first chair of the 8th District’s Democratic committee, who has not taken a side in the primary race. “But I want the best person who is going to work for everyone. I want them to see the people and do the work for our constituents.”
“It’s going to be a wait and see I think,” she added.
Rutinel is new to Colorado
Rutinel first arrived in 2020 to work on John Hickenlooper’s first Senate campaign, when he said he fell in love with the state.
He became a permanent resident in 2022, fresh out of Yale Law School.
Rutinel wasn’t drawn to Denver or a mountain community but settled in Commerce City within the 8th District because he said it reminded him of the Latino, working class communities he grew up in California and Florida.
Rutinel says growing up as the son of a single, immigrant mother and the work ethic that she instilled in him makes him the best person to represent the heavily-Latino district. His candidacy comes amid an immigration crackdown and the weakening of the Voting Rights Act, which Democrats say endangers Black-majority districts across the South.
Rutinel rejects speculation that he moved to Commerce City to be able to run for Congress.
“A lot of lies have been spewed. No doubt about that,” he said in a short interview with The Colorado Sun.
On the campaign trail, Rutinel readily shares stories about his family’s struggles.
With the bank planning to foreclose on his family’s house when he was in high school in Florida, Rutinel said he began selling his plasma to bring in money. He worked at McDonald’s, turned the car engine off at red lights to save gas, got a job as a tutor and took courses at a community college so he could get a degree faster. Once enrolled in the University of Florida, Rutinel said he slept on friends’ couches and floors during his first semester.
“It’s a reminder to me that no one’s going to outwork me when it comes to taking back this seat and winning this seat back for the working people of this district,” Rutinel said of how his experience informs his run.
Bird’s longstanding presence is important to her supporters
For Bird supporters, her longstanding presence in the district is one of her biggest strengths.
Bird served on the Westminster City Council from 2015 to 2019 before being elected to the Colorado House of Representatives where she led the powerful Joint Budget Committee, the small group of bipartisan lawmakers tasked with the high stakes job of balancing the state’s budget. At the legislature, she was known as a more moderate Democrat who earned the respect of her Republican colleagues by working across the aisle.
She resigned from her seat this year in order to run for Congress.
She shares working class roots with Rutinel. She was raised by a single mother and her grandmother in a trailer park in Reno, Nevada, where her grandmother worked as a casino dealer.
Bird was the first person in her family to attend college. She moved to Colorado in 1987 to study economics at the University of Colorado and then earned a law degree from the University of Denver. She and her husband settled in the district in 2002 and raised their two children there.
When her kids were in preschool, she became a classroom volunteer at the school, and later became president of the parent teacher organization as her kids moved through the Adams 12 Five Star Schools system, which is 45% Latino, she said. She was asked to chair the school district’s education foundation, where she raised money for the career and technical education program, and then became the citizen chair for the district’s 2014 bond and mill levy campaign to upgrade existing buildings and construct new ones, which was ultimately unsuccessful.
“It was after that that I had people in the community asking me to run for public office, and that’s what led me to run for city council,” she said.
In response to Rutinel’s questions about her lack of Latino heritage last month, Bird countered with her deep roots in the district.
“I was a longtime, years-long community volunteer well before I ever considered running for office,” she said. “And during my campaign, I understand and recognize how crucial the Latino community is in Colorado’s 8th. It’s why I’ve prioritized community outreach to the Latino community, engaging with their small businesses, going to community events that I know are so important to Latinos in this district.”
She prided herself in visiting “all four corners” of the vast district and knowing the voters there well.
“It’s crucial that we know the people we want to represent,” she said. “I’m doing that work so that I can be ready on day one to be a representative who fights for you and is ready to go on day one.”
Marie Valenzuela, a 72-year-old retired state employee who lives in Westminster, remembers Bird’s husband knocking on her door during a campaign several years ago. When he couldn’t answer all of Valenzuela’s questions, she said, he called Bird and told her to come over. Soon, Bird herself was there on Valenzuela’s doorstep with answers.
“She takes time for people,” Valenzuela said. “She’s extremely responsive to her constituents.”
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Valenzuela finds Rutinel’s insistence on his Latino heritage as a qualification for Congress offensive, she said. Valenzuela’s family immigrated from Spain and she does not identify as Latino.
“I’m not sure that Manny is the person that can bring people together,” she said. “I heard him say Latinos need a voice and I will be that voice — but what about everyone else in the district? I think he needs to have broader appeal. Right now he’s saying he’s going to represent the 40% of people, but where does that leave the other 60%?”
Bird said she has endorsed many Latino candidates for office throughout her career, knocking on doors for them and supporting them financially. And she has delivered on priorities that the Latino community cares about, she said, including expanding Medicaid and the earned income tax credit.
“What people are looking for in this district is somebody who will fight back against the Trump administration, someone who knows this district, and when they get there, will actually do something and deliver for them,” she said. “I am the only candidate who has that track record.”
Colorado House Majority Leader Monica Duran, the highest ranking Latina in the statehouse, has endorsed Bird’s campaign.
“I am the daughter and granddaughter of migrant farmworkers,” Duran, who doesn’t live in the 8th District, says in an ad for Bird. “I understand the fight to have a seat at that table. We need a leader who will not only be at that table, but will also be a fighter for us. And that leader is Shannon Bird.”
Former state Senate Majority Leader Dominick Moreno, a Commerce City Democrat who now works for Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, said voters at least in the Adams County part of the district have traditionally favored candidates who grew up in the area or have lived there a long time.
But he also thinks there is a pretty strong desire in the district to have a Latino representative in Congress.
“It is a recurring theme that I’ve heard from many folks,” said Moreno, who hasn’t endorsed a candidate.
A shift to the middle on the campaign trail
Rutinel first got the attention of Thornton mayor pro tem Roberta Ayala after he brought a dish to share to a progressives’ meetup in Thornton: vegan sausage. She said Rutinel kept showing up at events, trying to learn more about the community.
Rutinel was a vegan who raised questions about the production and consumption of meat and dairy producers as a student activist and later as an attorney for the environmental legal group Earthjustice. Now, running to represent a district that is home to some of the nation’s biggest meat and dairy producers, Rutinel said he eats meat.
Rutinel, whose voting record in the statehouse has been firmly more progressive than Bird’s on issues like immigration, housing and drug policy, has moderated himself over the last year during the campaign, even reversing on earlier positions like a ban on fracking, canceling student debt and support for Medicare for All.
Suniga, first chair of the 8th District’s Democratic committee, said she has fielded questions from voters about Rutinel’s change in positions since they came to light over the last few weeks.
“It is a concern,” she said. “People have called and asked, ‘What is that going to do?’ I think we just have to have faith in educating the community and learning about both candidates. You can look at both of their websites and see. It’s unfortunate that that is happening. That’s something his campaign and his team are going to have to take responsibility for.”
Ayala said she hasn’t spoken to Rutinel about his policy shifts but she’s not concerned about them.
“I know Manny will stick by the community when it comes to making right decisions about clean water, clean air and good land use and represent the community,” said Ayala, who also thinks Latino voters connect with candidates who have experience with immigration and growing up without generational wealth.
Patricia Harry, a 75-year-old retired accountant from Westminster, supported Rutinel at a caucus meeting in March and is still supporting him. His Latino heritage is important to her, even though she is white, she said.
“I still think we need more Hispanic representation,” she said. “The minorities need to have a place in our government, and they don’t really seem to now. It’s all white men.”
Harry said she is concerned about Rutinel’s reversal on progressive issues, but not enough to change her vote. If he changed his stances to win votes, she said, she is OK with that.
“I hope it’s just because he wants to defeat Gabe Evans,” she said. “I believe he feels like he needs to be more moderate to get the votes, and I’m not sure if that’s where his true feelings are or not. I would hope he would vote in favor of those once elected.”
Jack Bohan, a 29-year-old data analyst in Westminster, is still leaning toward voting for Rutinel.
“The area I’m in has a lot of Hispanic people,” Bohan said. “Me, personally, I don’t really care about their race or gender, it’s really about policy for me. I know people like to see their own heritage represented and I’ve seen a million white men in positions of power so it’s not important to me but it matters to other voters.”
Bohan was concerned to learn about Rutinel’s reversal on some progressive priorities. He called Rutinel’s position on supporting military aid for Israel “a little disappointing.”
“I would say Rutinel is still in the lead for me,” he said. “I wish politicians would stick to what they believe in for once. You can’t have a Bernie Sanders in every district. Beating Gabe Evans is by far the most important thing. I still feel like Manny has a pretty good shot.”
At the Capitol, listening and fighting
At the state Capitol, some colleagues say Rutinel has shown a lot of energy, an ability to listen and willingness to fight but doesn’t seem concerned whether he gets credit for legislation.
This year, state Rep. Lorena Garcia, who lives in the district, said Rutinel agreed to fold his proposal to expand the tax credit to the elderly into another tax bill she was working on to help get the proposals passed.
Garcia said she endorsed Rutinel late, only after being convinced he would protect vulnerable members of the community. If he doesn’t follow through on his promises, she said voters can elect someone else in two years.
She doesn’t see Rutinel’s position shifts on issues like fracking as a problem but a sign that he’s learning and listening to his community.
“I think he’ll stay strong fighting for community and putting people first,” Garcia said.
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