Rutinel Takes the Debate Stage Tonight With a Plan to Lower Costs for Colorado’s 8th District
Rutinel will continue to center Gabe Evans’ record voting 100% of the time with Trump to raise costs on Coloradans, including voting to gut Medicaid and food assistance programs
BERTHOUD, CO– Manny Rutinel takes the debate stage tonight at Grace Place Auditorium as the only candidate running in Colorado’s Eighth District who consistently puts Colorado families first. In sharp contrast to Gabe Evans, who votes with Trump and his reckless, cost-hiking agenda 100% of the time, Rutinel is running to lower health care, grocery, utility, and housing costs for Coloradans, fight for working families, and end corruption in Washington.
Tonight, Rutinel will focus on his plans to lower costs – including by ending Trump’s reckless tariffs that are hurting families and small businesses, restoring Medicaid and Affordable Care Act funding, and ending Trump’s war in Iran that’s raising prices here at home – while holding Evans accountable for failing Colorado families.
“I still remember being 10 years old, sitting at the kitchen table filling out Medicaid and food stamp forms. Those are the same programs Donald Trump and Gabe Evans are destroying to give their billionaire donors a tax break. Growing up, I worked multiple jobs to make ends meet. I’ve fought for working families like mine in the Colorado State House, and now I’m running for Congress in Colorado’s 8th District to lower costs and take on corruption,” said Rutinel.
HERE’S A REFRESH ON RUTINEL AND EVANS’ RECORDS:
In the Colorado House, Rutinel:
Led legislation to improve rural health care.
Voted to crack down on grocery price gouging when prices are raised more than 10% during a declared disaster emergency.
Voted to expand insulin access by streamlining availability and establishing strict manufacturing noncompliance rules under the Colorado Consumer Protection Act.
Voted to cut childhood poverty in half and make it easier for families with children to make ends meet.
Expanded housing families can afford by investing up to $50 million in starter homes for first-time buyers and co-sponsoring a law to build affordable housing near transit.
Protected Colorado farmers and ranchers land from foreign adversaries. In 2024, he was the only Democrat on the House State Affairs Committee to vote to advance a bill that would have barred entities tied to governments like China and Russia from buying Colorado farmland, mineral rights, and water rights.
Supported expanding Colorado's Agricultural Future Loan Program, addressed cattle theft, supported the Cottage Foods Act, and led the law cutting red tape for food trucks.
Prioritized public safety and led a bipartisan crackdown on human trafficking, giving local governments new tools to shut down illicit businesses tied to trafficking. The bill passed the House 63-0 and was signed into law.
Funded law enforcement, voting to deliver $2 billion in funding to state and local departments.
Has never taken corporate PAC money.
In the U.S. House, Evans:
Votes with Trump 100% of the time to raise costs on Coloradans.
Cast the deciding vote for the largest cuts to Medicaid in history, a program more than one in four Coloradans in the Eighth District rely on.
Voted to double health insurance premiums for working Coloradans.
Voted at least eight times for reckless tariffs that are driving up costs for families and small businesses.
Voted 7 times to greenlight another forever war in Iran, calling it “the best foreign policy in decades.”
Broke his promise to protect Colorado energy jobs.
