GREELEY, Colo. — Sean Carter had a question for one of his future U.S. House representatives. The problem was that nobody was there to answer it. 

The Front Range Community College student stood at the foot of a well-lit stage at the University of Northern Colorado’s Campus Commons on Oct. 1. Before him was 9News anchor Kyle Clark, moderating the station’s televised town hall, a panel of five speakers next to him. Roughly 200 individuals filled the performance hall’s lower bowl. Many had traveled to Greeley from different areas of Colorado’s 8th Congressional District to discuss issues afflicting the district in the face of the coming midterm election. 

Carter stepped to the microphone, wanting to ask how the district’s congressional candidates might fund vocational education at community colleges. 

“Thank you for being here,” Clark said to Carter. “I wish that they were here to answer your question.”

The sentiment that something, or someone, was missing repeated throughout the hour-long event, pointing toward two obvious absences on stage about a month before the election.

Neither incumbent U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans nor Democratic challenger Manny Rutinel attended the town hall, which was organized as a public forum to stimulate candidate-constituent discussion. The candidates also declined to participate in a televised debate on 9News.

Across the district, voters have had different experiences when it comes to interacting with the candidates. Both have appeared in the community in rallies and events in the district within the last month, and six days after the 9News town hall, both Evans and Rutinel, a former state representative, appeared on stage in a sold-out auditorium in Berthoud for an hour-long debate hosted by the Berthoud Weekly Surveyor. 

The 8th Congressional District has only been around since January 2023, covering portions of Adams County, Weld County and Larimer County. The race between Evans and Rutinel is the third in the district’s existence. 

The most recent polling, done by Enhancing American Competitiveness, a nonprofit organization affiliated with Evans’ campaign, indicated that the race is tight, with a 2 percentage-point difference. This is a repeated trend in the district; both Democrat Yadira Caraveo in 2022 and Evans in 2024 won the seat in the district by less than a percent.

“I think the challenge has been there’s been so much excitement from people in the district that they finally have their own custom representation, as opposed to being split off into other districts that they want to be really hands-on with their candidates,” Clark explained in an interview with The Bold. 

When the district was drawn, the population was roughly 40% Latino. Evaristo Gomez, the civic engagement manager for voter turnout organization Mi Familia Vota, believes this adds to the competitiveness of the race. 

Despite this, each constituent’s experience varies depending on where they live and what they have access to. He described campaign outreach as uneven in Latino communities. 

“For instance, I live in South Adams (County), like in the south part of the district, and we are being absolutely bombarded by commercials, by mailers, really any sort of, like, visual communication, like it has just been nonstop the last few weeks or so,” Gomez said. “But you go up to a place like Fort Lupton, and they’re genuinely surprised, like when we knock on their doors, because nobody reaches out there.” 

He said that Latinos are often forgotten about in the campaign process, but with improvements in voting habits in the Latino community, Gomez hopes that campaigns will begin to extend their outreach sooner and more often. 

Evans’ campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment. 

In a statement to The Bold, Alex Terr, a spokesperson for Manny for Colorado said, “Manny has always made it a priority to be accessible to voters.”

At the 9News town hall, attendees referenced the importance of representatives interacting with their constituents — and their disappointment with both candidates’ absence. 

Jodie Peterson, a voter from Thornton, came to the town hall to speak about the district’s identity composed of various issues, such as farming, water issues, immigration and infrastructure. 

With a large area of land comes many issues, and the district needs to be heard and represented on The Hill, she said. 

“But I don’t see any interaction with the person representing me or the person seeking to represent me,” Peterson said. “You have a whole lot of issues to address and support, but no one wants to engage in a public forum from those being represented.” 

According to Manny for Colorado, Rutinel did not attend the town hall because he accepted to attend the Berthoud Surveyor’s debate as a local, in-district publication. 

Cindy O’Neill and Gil Ross, voters from Thornton, both attended the Oct. 7 debate to hear what the candidates had to say. They had a particular interest in Evans’ appearance due to frustrations with communications with his office. 

O’Neill referenced Evans’ not having held an in-person town hall in his two years that he has been a representative. 

Additionally, she said that she frequently reaches out to Evans’ office to grasp a better understanding of his position on political issues, as well as provide information about her own beliefs on what actions he should take. 

“I’ve never gotten a return call. I’ve never gotten an email. I’ve never gotten a letter,” she said. 

On the other hand, they said Rutinel has consistently met expectations.

“Every time I reach out, I get a call back. I get a text message. I get an email,” O’Neill said. She added that Rutinel has been easily accessible at local functions, and that if he isn’t, his staff is. 

Jim Halsey, a Republican voter from Northglenn, has experienced the campaign outreach process differently. 

He said that he has seen Evans at picnics and social events, such as a Fourth of July celebration in Westminster, but he has not seen Rutinel at all. 

Paul Gurien, another constituent from Thornton, expressed disappointment in both campaigns. He said he has spoken with both candidates before. 

“I asked Gabe Evans for several times for a town hall meeting, of which he absolutely just never even responded. And so, when Manny came on board, I was paying attention to his campaign, I was watching what he was doing, and I was interested in hearing about what he had to say,” he said, then noting that he reached out to his campaign to get more information. 

“Had Manny been a little stronger, I’d be really pulling harder for him. He’s not. He’s not campaigning.”

Across the 8th Congressional District, community members want to see their elected representatives interact with them, Gomez said. The district covers urban, suburban and rural communities, which impacts how the campaigns reach out to people, and who they reach out to.

“It’s a huge district to cover, and there’s a lot of different people, and so you know, you either play into what you know, or you expand the people who know you,” Gomez said.