Republican Gabe Evans won Tuesday’s GOP primary to pick a challenger for Democratic U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo in Colorado’s most closely divided congressional district.

Evans, a first-term state lawmaker from Fort Lupton, held a commanding lead from the start over former state Rep. Janak Joshi, who moved into the 8th Congressional District from Colorado Springs earlier this year.

The Associated Press called the race for Evans at 7:23 p.m., shortly after initial results posted.

Evans was leading with 34,427 votes, or 78% of those tallied, in results posted by 11 p.m. to the Colorado secretary of state’s website. Joshi trailed with 9,966 votes, or 22%.

Shortly after declaring victory, Evans told The Denver Gazette that he valued the endorsements he’d received from 14 of the district’s 22 mayors, calling it a sign of their confidence that he can go to Washington to turn things around for constituents.

“It just really shows that my roots in the district, the work that I’ve done for the district and, really, the message of getting crime under control, getting the cost of living under control, getting our border secure, making sure that we can get our kids a good education, is really resonating with the folks in the 8th Congressional District,” Evans said.

The former Arvada police officer said his experience in law enforcement has prepared him to tackle more than crime.

“It also ties directly to housing, ties to cost of living, because people never call you to tell you they’re having a great day, they call to tell you they’re having a rough day,” Evans said.

“And one of the things that causes just a lot of tension in our society is cost of living, financial stress, financial woes, housing problems,” he said.

“These are all things that I worked on as police officer, and so I’m looking forward to being able to bring that boots-on-the-ground experience solving these issues, working with community partners, knowing where the friction points in society are, and being able to make good decisions at the national level all the way down, so we can actually get these problems under control and make Colorado and America an affordable, safe place to live, work and raise families again.”

Caraveo reacted to Evans’ nomination on social media succinctly, noting that she is the first Latina doctor to serve in Congress.

“I’m running for reelection in one of the most competitive districts in the country, and my anti-abortion opponent was just endorsed by Donald Trump,” Caraveo tweeted along with a link to a campaign fundraising website.

Targeted by both national parties, the battleground seat — stretching north of the Denver metro area from Adams County suburbs to Greeley — is Colorado’s newest congressional district, created ahead of the 2022 election. Caraveo, a pediatrician and former state lawmaker from Thornton, won election two years ago by fewer than 2,000 votes in one of the closest congressional contests in the country.

The district has already attracted more than $10 million in fall ad reservations by the Democratic and Republican congressional campaign committees, who call the seat crucial to determining which party wields the gavel in the chamber after the November election.

Evans won endorsements from across the Republican Party’s spectrum, including from former President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Americans for Prosperity Action, a conservative advocacy group funded by the Koch network, which spent heavily to support Evans.

Joshi, who immigrated to the United States from India more than 50 years ago, is a former physician who voluntarily surrendered his medical license in 2008, a year after the state suspended his license following an admission to “unprofessional conduct” in the care of a 76-year-old patient.

Caraveo, who was unopposed for her party’s nomination, holds a wide fundraising advantage over whichever Republican she faces in the fall. According to the most recent campaign finance reports, the Democrat reported more than $2.3 million on hand, compared to $225,000 in Evans’ bank account and just over $80,000 reported by Joshi.