State Rep. Manny Rutinel ran away with the Democratic nomination in Colorado’s most competitive congressional district on Tuesday, defeating former state Rep. Shannon Bird in the primary in Colorado’s 8th CD, where he will face Republican U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans in what’s expected to be one of the most expensive and competitive House races in the country.

Rutinel jumped out of the gate with just under 60% of the vote to Bird’s 36%, setting a margin that held until The Associated Press called the race at about 7:40 p.m. Evan Munsing, who withdrew from the primary earlier this month, secured just under 5%, while Evans was unopposed for the GOP nomination.

The district, which stretches north of the Denver metro area from Adams County suburbs to Greeley, is the state’s newest and has been decided by margins of less than 1% of the vote both times it’s been on the ballot. It’s been ranked as a toss-up seat by election analysts since its creation following the 2020 census.

Evans, an Army veteran, former state lawmaker and Arvada police officer, won the district two years ago by unseating Democratic U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo, a former state lawmaker, by a little over 2,500 votes. Caraveo won the seat herself in 2022 by an even slimmer margin. Both national parties are targeting the seat this year as crucial to determining whether Republicans keep their House majority or Democrats take the gavel.

Rutinel, the son of an immigrant single mother from the Dominican Republican and a graduate of Yale Law School, is serving his first full term representing Adams County’s House District 32 after winning a vacancy appointment to the seat in late 2023.

Taking the stage at his election night watch party, Rutinel said his primary win demonstrated the power of the platform he ran on.

“Tonight it showed that the son of a single mom who grew up filling out food stamps and Medicaid forms and working at McDonald’s can go on to become an economist in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, serve in the state House and now become your nominee for Congress,” he told a cheering crowd. “This is a moment for all the kids out there who have the deck stacked against them.”

Added Rutinel: “I’m going to work with everything I have, so that those kids have the same opportunities to live out the American dream that I did, because we all know none of us do it alone. We succeeded tonight because we all came together to fight for something bigger than ourselves.”

Evans told Colorado Politics in an interview after Rutinel had been declared the winner that he relishes the chance to run against his freshly minted opponent.

“You know, 30 years ago, we had the ‘contract with America,’ and this is going to be the contrast for America, because we have the most radical, far left, out of touch, like outright socialist candidate ever presented to these voters in Colorado,” Evans said.

Evans said Rutinel’s record in Colorado’s General Assembly and positions articulated in interviews and on social media posts over the years will be out of step with the district, including moves to “ban oil and gas, ban natural gas stoves, ban natural gas furnaces, trying to ban meat.”

Evans said he looks forward to comparing his votes in Congress, such as lifting income tax on tips and overtime, with votes Rutinel cast in the legislature to keep those taxes in place on state income tax forms.

Bird, an attorney and former member of the Westminster City Council, was midway through her fourth term in the legislature and had served as vice chair of the powerful Joint Budget Committee when she stepped down in January to focus on campaigning full-time.

They’re the survivors of a primary field that at one time also included Caraveo, term-limited State Treasurer Dave Young, Marine veteran and investment adviser Evan Munsing and Amie Baca-Oehlert, a former president of the Colorado Education Association. Munsing qualified for the primary but announced his withdrawal from the race earlier this month, after ballots had gone out to voters.