JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
It's Tuesday, which means time for more primaries that may offer clues about the path to November and which party will control the U.S. House next year. Colorado is up today, and one big question is who will win the Democratic nomination to face Republican Congressman Gabe Evans. Colorado's 8th Congressional District is home to one of the year's most competitive races, and as Colorado Public Radio's Rae Solomon reports, Hispanic voters there will play an important role in the outcome.
RAE SOLOMON, BYLINE: It's one of those startlingly bright Colorado days, and Angel Merlos is walking the streets of a pristine subdivision in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado, at the southern tip of the state's 8th Congressional District.
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SOLOMON: He's got an app on his phone pointing him to the homes of Hispanic voters.
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ANGEL MERLOS: Hello. Hi. My name is Angel. We're talking to voters here in the community.
SOLOMON: Merlos is with the Libre Initiative. That's a conservative Latino political advocacy group focused on limited government. He's canvassing to drum up Hispanic support for sitting Republican Congressman Gabe Evans, who's running for reelection in this very competitive, very purple district. The first door on his list belongs to independent voter Glenn Mommens, and it starts off with an awkward moment.
GLENN MOMMENS: I would probably not be voting for Gabe Evans.
MERLOS: OK.
MOMMENS: Yep.
SOLOMON: In November's election, Evans will face one of two Democrats who are now in the midst of a tight primary. The seat is considered a toss-up, and Democrats are eyeing it as a potential key pickup in their quest to retake the House. Mommens tells Merlos that he used to vote Republican when he was younger but started supporting more Democrats in recent years.
MOMMENS: The results I've heard about from Gabe Evans, and I'm not impressed with.
SOLOMON: Eighth Congressional District spans from these Denver suburbs deep into rural parts of the state. It's Colorado's newest district drawn up after the 2020 census, and it has the state's largest Hispanic population.
MIKE CORTES: It helps to be a Latino if you're trying to get Latino votes, but it's not enough.
SOLOMON: That's Mike Cortes, head of the Colorado Latino Leadership, Advocacy & Research Organization. In 2022, CD8 voters elected a Hispanic Democrat to Congress. Two years later, they voted for Gabe Evans, a Hispanic Republican. That shift mirrored presidential politics when many Latino voters swung for President Trump. Of course, Latino voters are hardly a monolithic voting bloc. That's why University of Denver political scientist Jesse Acevedo says groups from across the political spectrum are so eager to court Hispanic votes and boost turnout.
JESSE ACEVEDO: Given the makeup of the district and how competitive is, Latinos will have an important impact on who wins CD8.
SOLOMON: Jarrek Holmes agrees. He's director of Trust Brigade, a deep canvassing group working to flip CD8 to Democrats.
JARREK HOLMES: It's 40% of the district. I mean, it is such a huge proportion of the district that it is by and away the most important group.
SOLOMON: That's why Trust Brigade volunteer Caitlin Smith is out with her clipboard in a working-class Denver suburb on a mild Saturday morning. She approaches a corner house where the garage door is open.
CAITLIN SMITH: We're volunteers. We're out talking to people about voting and the state of the country. And we're curious on whether there's anything you're worried about.
JOHN DIPETRILLO: I wouldn't worry if I were you guys.
SOLOMON: That's John DiPetrillo, a Hispanic 8th Congressional District voter. He says he votes in every election, just not for any Democrats.
DIPETRILLO: Donald Trump's going to take care of it, so don't worry about it. He's going to take care of the unemployment rate. He's going to take care of the economics. He's going to get the fuel prices down.
SOLOMON: In fact, DiPetrillo says he sees his vote for the Republican congressional candidate in this district as a reflection for his support for the president. And no amount of Latino voter outreach can change his mind. For NPR News, I'm Rae Solomon in Thornton, Colorado.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARC DE SOLEIL'S "MUMBO SUGAR") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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