Tonight in Greeley, residents of the Eigth Congressional District will gather on the University of Northern Colorado campus for a candidate town hall…without any candidates. Neither Congressman Gabe Evans (R-CO) nor former state Rep. Manny Rutinel agreed to attend the event, put on by 9News and moderated by evening anchor Kyle Clark.
Nevertheless, despite his absence, one of Evans’ official congressional office staffers, Adrienne Sandoval, has been trying to pack the room with his supporters.
On Sept. 16, Field Representative Adrienne Sandoval shared Clark’s post about the event to her Facebook page,
“We need to show up and support Gabe and not allow the activists to control the narrative here.”
Sandoval did not respond to an email request for comment as to whether the post, which she made at 2:44pm on a Wednesday, was made while she was working as a salaried, taxpayer-funded staffer.
Sandoval is also the newly appointed chair of the Weld County GOP, after the last Chairman was arrested in May. She also did not say if she herself was attending, nor which “activists” specifically she believes will “control the narrative” if Evans supporters aren’t there en masse.
The Rutinel campaign likewise did not respond to an email request for comment. This post will be updated with any responses received.
Registration is now closed for the town hall, which begins this evening at 6:00 PM in Campus Commons Performance Hall on the UNC Greeley campus. The program will feature a moderated panel discussion with voters, advocates and industry leaders from the district discussing issues important to their communities. Audience questions will also be included.
While neither Evans nor Rutinel will be at the event, Libertarian candidate Dave Wood announced today in via campaign email that he plans to attend, along with some of his campaign supporters, to protest not having been invited: “We will be waving his campaign signs and passing out his literature,” reads the email. “We want to make it known LOUDLY that the one candidate willing to attend was denied access to this ‘non-debate.'”
The Libertarian candidate played a significant role in the district first election back in 2022, when Dan Ward received nearly 10,000 votes, a total which far exceeded Democrat Yadira Caraveo’s margin of victory. Evans’ narrow win in 2024 was aided by not having a Libertarian in the race, which was result of a deal between the GOP and the Libertarian parties. The LPCO was then under the direction of Republican-leaning officers who made deals with Evans and other GOP candidates to not run potential spoiler candidate in exchange for signed pledges to commit to certain policy promises during his time in office. Last year, newly elected LPCO leaders announced there would be no more inter-party deals, and subsequently acknowledged Evans’ dubious adherence to his pledge.
As of publication the only scheduled debate between the Eighth Congressional District candidates will take place next Thursday, Oct. 7, in Berthoud. Tickets are sold out.
