Welcome to my diary series titled “Majority Savers”! I will run a new article every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday. The goal of this series is to highlight races that may make or break our current slender majorities in Congress. That means I will start more with incumbent Senators and House members until some primary elections are settled. If I have time, I will expand it to governors as well in critical swing states.
If you want to find my previous entries in this series, I recommend following me or searching for “Majority Savers” as a tag!
I have six ground rules behind the philosophy of this series. I’d ask you all to respect them as best you can, because these are taking me quite a long time to write. Here are my ground rules.
Today, I am focusing on a candidate that can go on the offensive for us and win a competitive district in Colorado. If she wins, she will become the first Latina to Congress from the entire state! Please go below the fold to read all about Yadira Caraveo of Colorado’s 8th district!
She is a pediatrician running for Congress!
Candidate Background
Since she is a new face, her biography is not 100% written out anywhere except her campaign website. I will try to pull out the highlights without copying everything down.
- She is a late Gen X/Early Millennial (born 1980) who is the daughter of undocumented immigrants from Mexico. Her parents instilled in her the value of hard work from an early age, and the importance of a decent education.
- Her dream was to become a doctor, which she went to college for. She decided to specialize in pediatrics and has a successful practice in Adams County, which she still works at when she can.
- She was elected to the Colorado House (31st district) in 2018, which gave her the springboard to jump and try to win this Congressional district in 2022!
Signature Issues
Since Caraveo isn’t in Congress, she does not have a DW Nominate score. Browsing through her issues page shows that she would likely be a solid progressive/liberal in Congress. I don’t see any particular red flags in her history on the issues.
Health Care: As a doctor, it would make sense that health care would be one of her signature issues. Her goals in Congress are to make sure the right to an abortion is protected and that health care costs come down from their exorbitant highs right now. She even helped undocumented immigrants secure contraceptives and reproductive care, citing high infant and maternal mortality rates.
Protecting Children: In her work in the Colorado House, she tackled issues such as toxic chemicals, preschool, family leave and sick leave policy, and many more. Her instinct to protect children even led her to cross the aisle and support a bill limiting children to THC cannabis exposure that most fellow Democrats opposed.
Health care reform is one of her huge priorities!
Elections History
Recent Elections —
2016 President: TFG (R) 46.4%, Hillary Clinton (D) 44.6%
2020 President: Joe Biden (D) 50.8%, TFG (R-inc) 46.2%
2022 Race Rating: Tossup
2022 PVI: R+1
This district has never hosted a representative, because Colorado earned its 8th seat after reapportionment in the 2020 Census. However, judging by the presidential results, this area will be a swing seat for the entire decade, as TFG won the district in 2016 and Joe Biden won it in 2020. There are parts of this district that are rural and ruby red, and there are other portions that are suburban and fairly blue as a balance. The area as a whole probably has been trending our way like most of the Denver metro area since Obama took office.
The notable thing about this district is that it has the highest proportion of Hispanic residents as a percentage of the population — more than anywhere else in Colorado. 38.5% of the adult population replied as Hispanic in the 2020 Census. This likely gave Caraveo a leg up in the convention where she secured the nomination, and it could prove decisive in November.
Political Tour of the District
The brand new 8th district of Colorado, beginning in 2022.
This district stretches along the Front Range of the Rockies, taking in both the northern suburbs of Denver and college town Greeley and the more rural turf in between. Most of the population can be found in Adams County, which consists of those Denver northern suburbs. Another major population center is Greeley, home to Northern Colorado University.
Here’s where the race will be won in the 8th district.
- Adams County closer to Denver: It is critical that Caraveo bring out her home base in her State House district at maximum turnout possible. It is the largest source of blue votes and if it doesn’t come through, we stand little chance of winning.
- Greeley and especially NCU: I realize that college campus turnout is usually flat out abysmal, but Caraveo must figure out a way to turn out the campus vote. Greeley is a large enough town outside of campus to help offset other portions of the district, but that campus is key to a win.
Here’s where we need to keep the margins down, or we lose.
- Weld County Outside of Greeley: This is fracking country, and where the Weld County secession from Colorado movement started. Caraveo isn’t going to pick up many votes outside of Greeley, and if they turn out at an unexpectedly high level, there could be issues winning on our end.
- Northern Adams County: As you creep close to the Weld County line, the politics creep rightwards and there are more MAGA supporters in the Denver exurbs. There are blue precincts according to Dave’s Redistricting App out this far, but there are a lot more red ones. It is important to turn out those blue precincts and hope the red ones don’t overwhelm them.
Activism — Help How You Can!
Caraveo could really use our help in fundraising. In quarter 1, she raised $290k and finished up with $327k cash on hand. While that is a respectable start, the Denver media market can be expensive and she will need to raise more. She still has outpaced her many challengers in the GOP, but once they settle their primary it will be crunch time for her.
DONATE TO YADIRA CARAVEO HERE
If social media is more your style, then follow her on Twitter (plus an introductory ad below). She has about 5700 followers, which means she could definitely use a few more of them.
Her campaign website is caraveoforcongress.com, which is right now the best way to volunteer to help her campaign!
Thank you for taking the time to read about our challenger for the 8th district of Colorado, State Rep. Yadira Caraveo! Hopefully this diary inspires you to help her in some way! It is one of the 15 or so districts where we can really go on the offensive and win over, providing us with a cushion if other districts fall!
