When thousands of Rep. Gabe Evans’ (R-CO) constituents went on a three-week strike earlier this year at the JBS meatpacking plant in Greeley, he stayed silent — making no public statements, ignoring multiple requests for comment from news media, and drawing criticism from political opponents on both sides of the aisle.
But before he chose the quiet approach, he was ready to take a stand alongside the workers — even reaching out to the union representing the striking workers to offer his support, according to Kim Cordova, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7.
“He had committed that he was going to stand with the workers who are actually the constituents in Greeley,” said Cordova, recalling a phone conversation she had with Evans on March 23, a week after the strike had begun. “We told him to come out on the picket line, we asked him to send a letter to JBS … to demand that [management] come to the table and stop their unfair labor practices.”
Despite what he had told Cordova, Evans never showed up to the picket, never sent a letter of support to JBS, and didn’t sit down with the organized workers until after he had met with management — a meeting the union only found out about when workers saw a graphic, displayed on screens in the plant’s lobby, welcoming Evans and one of his field representatives.
Evans, currently running for reelection in one of the country’s most competitive congressional districts, eventually did sit down with union members on April 2, just two days before negotiations resumed, but many of those he met with felt he was only using the visit to benefit his campaign.
“They wanted to do a photo op with our members, and I said, ‘No, we want to see what you’re going to do first, but you’re not here to take a photo op as if you stood side by side with us,’” said Cordova. “We told him about all of the human rights violations, the allegations of human trafficking, what was going on with wage theft. … He just never did anything about it; he stood on the side of the company.”
While Cordova and other union members were frustrated by how Evans had handled the strike, they weren’t surprised. During his 2024 campaign against then-incumbent Democrat Rep. Yadira Caraveo, he made no effort to garner the support of the union representing more than 3,800 workers at the district’s largest employer. Evans defeated Caraveo by just 2,449 votes, and political analysts predict a similarly tight race in Colorado’s 8th Congressional District (CD8) in this year’s general election.
Evans had previously made statements quoted in a JBS press release praising a planned expansion to the Greeley facility when it was announced in June 2025, and had posted photos of himself alongside company executives to his social media.
Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings also show that Evans had received a $5,000 contribution from JBS’s political action committee on Feb. 23, only a few weeks after workers at the plant voted to authorize a strike. Evans had received another $5,000 from the PAC in May of last year, and between 2024 and 2025 had received more than $10,000 from senior employees at the lobbying firm Cornerstone Government Affairs, which was registered to lobby for JBS at the time.
Evans did not reply to the Colorado Times Recorder’s questions regarding the contributions or the various meetings between Cordova, JBS management, and the union. JBS and Cornerstone Government Affairs also did not reply to CTR’s questions about the meetings or contributions.
For the Democrats currently competing in a primary to face Evans in the general election, the strike presented an opportunity to show how they would better represent the interests of the workers. Several candidates made appearances on the picket line, with some calling out the incumbent’s absence directly.
“I feel like Gabe Evans really missed an opportunity to use his role to be a convener and pull people together and keep them talking,” said Bird. “I fully intend to use my position to stand up for the workers and help create and keep good-paying jobs here in the 8th District, which would include working with JBS, who I’ve met with during the campaign, and of course, always standing up for the workers.”
In a written response to the Colorado Times Recorder, Manny Rutinel, another Democratic primary candidate, wrote, “JBS is a cornerstone of our regional economy, and JBS workers deserve dignity, safety, and a company that engages with them honestly. I will work with JBS and their workers to achieve those goals.”
“[Gabe Evans] is bought and sold by JBS, and all of his decisions are gonna be biased in favor of them, and that’s frankly unfair,” said Evan Munsing, also a primary candidate. “Any time you take a large amount of money from a particular donor or donor group, it does put you into a system of obligation to those people that influences how you think. I think that’s certainly true in this case.”
When asked by CTR, all three Democratic candidates said they had not taken contributions from JBS or its lobbyists.
While Cordova and her fellow union members were happy to have candidates join them on the picket line during the strike, they hope that whoever wins in November will show the same support for workers while in office as they did on the campaign trail.
“I don’t like any politician to just show up at a picket line for a photo op. We really want to see real advocacy for workers, for human beings,” said Cordova. “We don’t want to hear from you every four years, right? We need to see you every day. We don’t want ‘windwalkers,’ people that we hear exist, but never see.”
