Grateful Web Endorses Manny Rutinel for Colorado’s 8th Congressional District

Photo: Looktothewesternsky / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

Grateful Web endorses Manny Rutinel for Colorado’s 8th Congressional District. We believe he offers a better direction than incumbent Gabe Evans: greater attention to the pressures facing working families and a stronger commitment to the public responsibilities that should guide Congress.

For a music publication, those concerns are close to home. Musicians and venue workers need affordable health care. Families need room in their budgets for more than rent and groceries. The communities that sustain independent music depend on economic security, a healthy environment and a government that takes their needs seriously.

Rutinel has made affordability central to his campaign. A former Colorado state legislator, attorney and economist, he brings experience in public policy alongside a personal understanding of financial hardship. On his campaign website, he describes growing up with a working-class single mother, relying on food assistance and Medicaid, and losing his family home during the Great Recession. His professional background includes work as an economist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

A difficult upbringing does not automatically make someone a good representative. What matters is how that experience informs the work. Rutinel’s emphasis on housing, groceries, health care and government accountability addresses the everyday concerns we want Congress to prioritize.

Evans’s environmental record is another reason we support a change. The League of Conservation Voters’ 2025 National Environmental Scorecard gave him a 6% score. That score reflects an environmental advocacy organization’s assessment of selected votes, rather than a comprehensive measure of his service. Even with that distinction, it is a troubling record.

In Colorado, protecting air, water and land is a practical obligation. Pollution affects public health. Water security affects agriculture and growing communities. Conservation supports recreation, tourism and the places where so many of us find renewal. Environmental responsibility belongs at the center of representing this state.

We also expect a member of Congress to exercise independent judgment. Party loyalty should never outweigh the obligation to examine legislation carefully, explain its consequences honestly and listen when constituents raise concerns.

Rutinel’s campaign offers an opportunity to move toward those standards. His stated priorities—lowering costs, confronting corruption and improving opportunities for working families—are priorities we share.

This endorsement comes with expectations. We want accessible representation, clear explanations of consequential votes and measurable work on the problems people face. If elected, Rutinel should expect scrutiny of his decisions and his ability to deliver.

For Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, Manny Rutinel is our choice.

Learn more at MannyForColorado.com. Visit GoVoteColorado.gov for official voter information.