Northern Colorado Republicans selected state Rep. Gabe Evans (R-Ft. Lupton) and former state lawmaker Janak Joshi today to advance to the GOP primary in Colorado’s most competitive congressional district.
The winner will take on U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo (D-CO) in November to represent the district, which is mostly north and east of Denver.
Both Evans and Joshi cleared the required threshold of winning at least 30% of the 191 delegates at Saturday’s Congressional District 8 (CD8) Republican Assembly, held at Northglenn High School in Greeley.
Evans got 61.78% (118 votes) and Joshi received 30.37% (58 votes). A third candidate, businessman Joe Andujo, garnered 7.85% (15 votes) and will not be part of the primary contest. A small number of provisional ballots didn’t affect the outcome, according to Sherri Peif, the chair of the Congressional District 8 Republican Party.
Both Evans and Andujo are also trying to gain access to the GOP primary ballot via the petition process, but because he didn’t receive more than 10% of the vote at today’s assembly, Andujo is barred from running in the primary election, even if he collects enough signatures to qualify. Andujo took the stage at the end of the event and endorsed Evans.
Today’s outcome sets off a battle between Joshi and Evans that could get heated. Americans for Prosperity, a deep-pocketed conservative group that backs Evans, launched an attack against Joshi prior to the assembly, raising questions about his medical licensing, according to podcaster Julie Hayden, who discussed the issue with Joshi on her and Chuck Boniwell’s March 27 show. Joshi surrendered his medical license but still calls himself a physician. Both Hayden and Bonniwell support Joshi.
All three candidates spoke to delegates before the vote at today’s assembly.
“Send This Indian to Washington D.C.”
Joshi, who was nominated by Weld County Commissioner Lori Saine, told delegates that he would be a loyal follower in Washington D.C., supporting Trump and sticking to his conservative values.
He joked about his Asian heritage to make his point.
“Folks, you know, everybody wants to be a chief in Washington D.C.!” exclaimed Joshi during his speech. “And nobody wants to be an Indian. I am that Indian! … Send this Indian to Washington D.C.”
Andujo told the audience that he’s running because he’s fearful about the future of America.
“Folks, at the rate we’re going, we don’t have another ten years,” said Andujo. “We may not have another five years, and that is exactly why I am running.”
“It’s not about me, folks,” said Andujo. “It’s about all of you and your children.”
In his speech to the crowd, Evans warned that the “radical left is coming for our way of life; they want to control your house, your job, your guns, your health, how you travel to your job, what you eat, what you wear, what your children wear, what your children’s gender is.”
“I’ve been fighting for what I believe since I was six years old,” said Evans. “I just didn’t know it at the time, because you see my parents made the decision to home school me, all 12 years here in Colorado, born and raised. And they wanted to do that so I could learn how to think, not what to think. As Thomas Jefferson said, they wanted me to appreciate dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.”
“And with the 47th president of the United States, Donald Trump, who I support, we can start to drain the swamp,” stated Evans at the end of his speech.
The Republican delegates at the assembly came from Adams, Weld, and Larimer Counties, and the number of delegates from each county was based on the number of registered Republicans from the areas of those three counties that are located in CD8, according to a letter to delegates.
The assembly got off to a rocky start over a dispute about credentialing delegates. Peif tangled with Bonniwell on stage, and there was shouting from the audience. But once the issue was settled, the assembly moved along in a civil and efficient manner.
Colorado’s 8th Congressional District is expected to be the battleground for one of the most competitive U.S. House races in the country. Caraveo, a physician, won the seat, which was created in Colorado after the 2020 U.S. Census, in 2022 by 1,632 votes. A Libertarian candidate in the race had 9,280 votes.
