Progressive state Rep. Manny Rutinel will take on GOP Rep. Gabe Evans this fall, setting up a contentious general election in one of Democrats’ top pickup targets — and giving Republicans the candidate they hoped to face.

Rutinel defeated the more-moderate former state Rep. Shannon Bird in Tuesday’s primary for Colorado’s 8th District, bolstered by big spending from his campaign and its allies, including prominent Latino groups that see Rutinel as the best candidate to court the key voting bloc back to Democrats. The district is 40 percent Latino.

But Republicans believe they have a better chance at beating Rutinel than they would have Bird in the battleground seat. They’ve boosted pictures of the progressive rallying alongside democratic socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and are quickly recycling statements from Bird’s allies who said Rutinel would be unable to win in November.

Rutinel has softened his positions on some of the left’s top issues, including his previous support for Medicare for All and opposition to fracking.

The primary was defined by the Democratic Party’s ongoing ideological civil war. While Bird racked up endorsements from moderate establishment Democratic groups, like EMILYs List and the centrist Blue Dogs, Rutinel was able to capitalize on a committee vote Bird took as a state legislator that he argued didn’t do enough to stand up to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

Democrats remain bullish they can flip the district, which President Donald Trump won by less than a 2-point margin in 2024. Democrats’ top House super PAC has already reserved millions of dollars in ads ahead of November.

Meanwhile, Evans, a freshman Republican who flipped the district for his party in 2024, has stockpiled $3.4 million for the general election as Democrats duked it out in the primary.

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