Manny Rutinel

Manny Rutinel is the Democratic nominee for Colorado's 8th Congressional District, one of the most closely contested U.S. House races in the country. A Colorado state representative for House District 32 since 2023, Rutinel is challenging Republican incumbent Gabe Evans in a district that stretches from the northern Denver suburbs into Weld County and is roughly 40% Latino. His campaign centers on lowering costs for working families, protecting Social Security and Medicare, and pushing back on the Trump administration's immigration enforcement tactics.

Rutinel's path to public office grew out of a difficult childhood. Raised in Florida by a single mother who immigrated from the Dominican Republic, his family relied on food stamps and Medicaid, and lost their home to foreclosure during the Great Recession. He worked at McDonald's throughout high school and periodically sold plasma to help cover family expenses, earning an associate degree from a community college before finishing bachelor's degrees in economics and microbiology at the University of Florida. He then worked as an economist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, serving as a first responder in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, before earning a master's degree in applied economics from Johns Hopkins University and a law degree from Yale. He later worked as an environmental attorney and led Climate Refarm, a startup focused on sustainable food systems.

Appointed to the Colorado House in 2023 and elected to a full term in 2024, Rutinel has sponsored legislation expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit for working families, creating a state fund for affordable housing, banning toxic "forever chemicals," and expanding insulin affordability and telehealth access. His campaign has drawn endorsements from U.S. Senator Cory Booker, former Senator and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, former Social Security Commissioner Martin O'Malley, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus's BOLD PAC, and has raised more than $3.5 million from tens of thousands of small-dollar donors. He won the June 2026 Democratic primary against former state Rep. Shannon Bird to advance to the general election against Evans.

Manny Rutinel has fought to:

• Lower costs for working families by expanding tax credits, closing corporate tax loopholes, and capping the cost of insulin and other essential medications at $35 a month
• Protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare, opposing efforts to cut benefits, raise the retirement age, or slash agency staffing
• Lower health care costs by letting Medicare negotiate prescription drug prices, cracking down on surprise medical bills, and protecting access to reproductive health care
• Make housing more affordable for working families amid rising rents and home prices
• Expand VA cancer-treatment coverage and suicide-prevention programs for veterans
• Support union organizing, a higher minimum wage, paid family leave, and affordable child care
• Ban stock trading by members of Congress, close lobbyist loopholes, and reject corporate PAC money
• Reform immigration enforcement by requiring accountability standards for ICE agents, focusing enforcement on violent criminals, and creating a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and long-term residents

Rutinel frames his campaign around his own experience with economic hardship, arguing that Congress needs leaders who understand what it's like to struggle to pay for housing, health care, and groceries. He points to his background as an economist and attorney as the basis for a data-driven, affordability-focused approach in Congress.