Colorado’s 8th Congressional District (CD8) is one of the most competitive races in the nation. Rep. Gabe Evans, a Republican, won the seat by just 2,449 votes in 2024, and in 2022, the Democratic candidate won by an even slimmer margin. This year, organizers are hoping to give Evans the boot with a canvassing strategy that might sound obvious: sitting down with voters and asking them what matters most.
“Our goal with these conversations is to make these voters think about the people in their lives that they love and what they would do to ensure their freedom, safety, and opportunity,” said Jarrek Holmes, director and lead organizer with Trust Brigade, the group behind the initiative. “When we do that, we turn voting into a gift that they give to the people in their life that they love.”
Deep canvassing, as Trust Brigade’s approach is commonly referred to, involves having five- to ten-minute conversations with voters that focus on their values and developing an empathetic relationship, which canvassers then try to connect to the political movement or cause they are advocating for. Trust Brigade particularly tries to reach low-frequency voters, who don’t track the details of politics, as getting just a few people to vote who wouldn’t have otherwise could make all the difference in a race this tight come November.
Although a relatively new approach, research suggests deep canvassing has a significantly greater impact on voter turnout than other commonly used outreach methods. In one study, traditional door-to-door canvassing, which often focuses on quickly delivering a carefully crafted message to as many people as possible, was shown to have almost no lasting impact on opinions.
In contrast, deep canvassing was found to have a measurable and sustained effect in a later study conducted by the same researchers.
“We piloted this work in 2024 in the district on a much smaller scale, and we increased voter turnout among the folks that we talked to by over 14 percentage points, which is crazy,” said Holmes. “Congressional District 8 was decided by less than 1% of the vote, so this is a huge difference, and really quite meaningful for both the folks we talk to and our volunteers.”
The district, created following the 2020 census, includes parts of Weld, Adams, and Larimer counties and has a population of just over 750,000. It is one of only 18 districts in the nation that have been labeled as a tossup by the Cook Political Report’s House Race Ratings, and has been pointed to as a bellwether for broader national sentiments ahead of previous elections. With a mix of both urban and rural areas, it also has the largest Hispanic population of any district in the state at 38.5%.
The conversations that canvassers have with voters vary greatly, often closely following the national dialogue. When the government was shut down, SNAP benefits were the biggest concern for many, while U.S. involvement in Venezuela took the spotlight during early January.
Many voters reached by the Trust Brigade get their news primarily from social media, and Holmes says he doesn’t think he’s ever talked to a voter who frequently reads The New York Times or The Washington Post.
A perennial concern of CD8 voters has been rising prices, and in conversations with Hispanics — who are a focus of Trust Brigade’s program — immigration policy and ICE activity also receive plenty of attention.
“I’m hearing a lot from folks about how they think Donald Trump has gone too far with the immigration crackdown, feeling afraid for themselves and for their neighbors because of ICE presence in the district and across the country,” said Holmes. “We’re talking about folks who are keeping their passport with them 100% of the time, because they’re worried that even if they’re American citizens, they’re still going to be imprisoned or deported.”
With the primaries still a few months away, it’s not yet clear which Democrat Evans — or his long-shot GOP primary challenger, Adam DeRito — will be facing in November’s general election. Trust Brigade isn’t planning on endorsing either of the frontrunners for the Democratic nomination at this point, and will support whoever the nominee is come June, with Holmes having no question that they will be “leaps and bounds better” than Evans.
Trust Brigade volunteers so far are a diverse mix, with both CD8 residents and Coloradans from across the state turning out, according to Holmes, but they are all united behind a few shared ideals.
“It’s a group of people who really care about the country, who really care about democracy, and who are angry or upset about what’s going on with Donald Trump,” said Holmes.
Having already raised hundreds of thousands from individual donors and larger grants, the organization hopes to dispatch more than 1,000 volunteers to knock on doors before November. Five canvassing events have already been held, with several more planned for March.
CLARIFICATION 2/13: The 2024 deep-canvassing pilot program, which led to the creation of The Trust Brigade, was developed by the Colorado Democratic Party. It was called The Horizon Project.
