Manny Rutinel, a radical leftist running in Colorado’s Eighth Congressional District, has consolidated his support in the Democrat Primary after former Rep. Yadira Caraveo (D) withdrew from the race, a Democrat polling memo reviewed by Breitbart News reveals.
Caraveo formally withdrew her candidacy in September after hoping for a rematch against Republican Rep. Gabe Evans (R-CO), who unseated her in the last election, winning the competitive district by a razor-thin margin.
But with Caraveo’s absence, all eyes are turning to Rutinel — a Democrat who has aligned himself with radical groups and causes.
Per the polling memo, Caraveo had positive favorability among voters, and she led her closest challenger by double digits, or 31 percentage points. Rutinel seems to benefit from her absence, as he now has an eight-point lead on the initial ballot and 13-point lead on the bio ballot, per the memo.
“Manny Rutinel gained the most support after Caraveo’s withdrawal is in line with results from a September survey, which found that 68 percent of voters were more likely to vote for Rutinel after reading his bio,” the memo explains.
It also found that Rutinel has a +16 favorability margin among voters. Ultimately, the survey suggests that Democrat voters are moving toward Rutinel in Caraveo’s absence.
The survey was taken October 21-24, 2025, among 381 likely Democrat primary voters in Colorado’s Eighth Congressional District.
The race in this district has been described as one of the 2026 midterm’s “most competitive races.” Rutinel has made it no secret either that he believes America needs new leaders specifically to fight President Donald Trump. He has also aligned with radical groups “which are openly hostile to U.S. immigration enforcement, including one that circulated a Google folder titled ‘F*CK ICE’ with resources to help illegal immigrants avoid arrest,” as reported by Town Hall.
He has also been endorsed by the BOLD PAC, which holds radical leftist positions. The congressional hopeful made headlines recently after a man who appeared to be Rutinel was spotted in one of Muslim socialist and NYC mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s social media videos.
As Breitbart News reported, social media posts from Rutinel’s account indicated that he was in New York at that time.
Colorado’s Eighth Congressional District is expected to be a tight race as Democrats desperately hope to gain ground and flip the Republican majority in the House — a result that would severely dampen President Trump’s ability to carry out his MAGA agenda in his final term as commander-in-chief.
For greater perspective, in the 2024 election, Evans only defeated Democrat Caraveo by less than one percentage point, or 2,449 votes.
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