Scrutinel— 2026 midterms

UpdatedOct 10, 2026, 11:27 AM EDT
To election day24 days
Simulations200,000

Colorado 8th District

Currently held by a Republican · incumbent running

Democrat
Manny Rutinel
70%
Republican
Gabe Evans
30%
ForecastLean D
Projected margin
D+4.7
80% range
R+6.9 to D+16.2
Partisan lean
D+0.1
Tipping-point chance
1.38%
Uncertainty multiplier
1.80×

The 80% range comes from 200,000 simulations in which this race’s error is correlated with every other race through the national, state and demographic layers.

How the estimate is built
Fundamentals >99.9%
Polling average
no polls
Fundamentals
D+4.9
Blended
D+4.9
Similar-race shift
−0.3
Polling

No public polling of this matchup. The forecast rests on fundamentals plus the polling residuals of demographically and politically similar races — which is the normal case: most of the 435 House seats are never polled.

Fundamentals
Partisan lean
D+0.1
Elasticity
1.05
Incumbency
−3.4
Candidate experience
0.0
Fundraising
+1.4
National environment
D+7.1
Expected margin
D+5.2
How it voted for presidenttwo-party
2024 margin
R+1.9
2020 margin
D+4.7
Shift 2020 → 2024
R+6.6
Votes cast, 2024
344,500

Presidential results reaggregated onto the 2026 district lines. This is where the seat’s partisan lean comes from, and it carries most of the forecast in a race nobody has polled.

Who lives hereCensus ACS
Population
535,998
Median age
44.3
Median household income
$87,300
Bachelor’s degree or higher
28%
White
56%
Black
3%
Hispanic
35%
Asian
4%

Used to find demographically similar districts, so a race with no polling can borrow the polling error of races that look like it.

Campaign fundraisingFEC filings to Invalid Date
CandidatePartyRaisedCash on hand
Timothy Gabriel Joseph EvansREP$5.4M$3.9M
Manny RutinelDEM$4.3M$601k

Receipts across the cycle, from FEC bulk filings. The model uses the ratio between the two sides rather than either total, and weights it lightly — money follows a competitive race at least as much as it causes one.

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