Much as they did during the 2024 presidential election, inflation and the health of the economy ranked as the top concerns among hundreds of constituents who listened to U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans break down his first three months in office during a telephone town hall Wednesday night.
An instant phone poll, taken during the hour-long virtual meeting with the freshman Republican congressman, highlighted concerns over the potential inflationary effects of sweeping tariffs announced by President Trump earlier in the day, especially on farmers and ranchers in Colorado’s 8th Congressional District trying to sell their products overseas.
“What are you doing to do to help us save money?” asked one constituent from Greeley.
Evans, a military veteran and 10-year police officer with the Arvada Police Department, said it comes down to all countries acting fairly in global commerce. He said he’s heard from ranchers and farmers — including those growing sugar beets and onions — in his district who bemoan the tariffs long charged by other countries that make it harder for them to compete in those markets.
“They are being taken advantage of (internationally),” Evans said. “Free trade has to be fair trade as well.”
He compared the current upheaval in the global trade markets to breaking a rack of pool balls in billiards, where the balls initially scatter chaotically across the table until the players can impose order on the game.
In Colorado’s most heavily Latino congressional district, immigration was raised during the call. One caller asked how Evans planned to help Latinos living in the district, which stretches from the suburbs north of Denver to the oil and gas fields surrounding Greeley.
Invoking his immigrant grandfather from Mexico, Evans said it’s critical to ensure that applications for “permanency” are considered first for those making the effort to follow the nation’s immigration laws.
“We have to make sure we are rewarding the people who are doing it the right way,” he said, criticizing the record-high number of illegal crossings under former President Joe Biden over the past four years.
Another caller from Thornton asked Evans why he didn’t advocate more forcefully for Ukraine in its three-year war with Russia, especially because the West had promised security guarantees 30 years ago in exchange for Ukraine giving up its nuclear weapons stockpile.
Evans called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “violent and brutal dictator” who must not be appeased in “any way, shape or form,” but that it was also critical to consider the impact billions of dollars in aid sent to Ukraine is having on the nation’s fiscal health.
Until Wednesday, Evans had yet to hold a town hall meeting since his swearing-in three months ago. That didn’t stop the state Democratic Party from taunting the freshman congressman with a news release hours before the event that asked why Evans wouldn’t conduct the town hall in person.
“Why exactly is Gabe Evans so afraid of talking to his own constituents?” the Colorado Democratic Party asked in an email.
The liberal advoacy group ProgressNow Colorado last month organized a town hall in Northglenn titled “Where’s Gabe?” Evans was not in attendance.
Members of Colorado’s Republican congressional contingent have avoided live large-scale constituent events, given the pushback and dissent other GOP officeholders have faced at similar get-togethers across the country.
This year national Republican campaign leaders urged members to host virtual town halls instead of in-person gatherings. They’ve accused Democrats of organizing protests and paying “troublemakers” to attend although they haven’t presented evidence of such.
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert held a virtual town hall meeting last week, her first since winning a seat in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District in November. She answered questions, which were read live by audience members and also taken in written form, from Washington, D.C. Her office said approximately 7,700 listened to the meeting.
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Gabe Evans flips 8th Congressional District for Republicans as Rep. Yadira Caraveo concedes race Colorado Democrats have harnessed town hall politics before — will it work against Rep. Gabe Evans? U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo lost despite per-vote spending that reached $151 — compared to $96 for winner Gabe EvansEvans won a very close election in November against Democrat Yadira Caraveo, who was the first member of Congress to represent the newly established district starting in 2023. After having been ousted after serving a single term, Caraveo told Colorado Public Radio last week that she is considering making another run for her old seat next year.
So far Evans has an officially declared Democratic challenger in 2026 — state Rep. Manny Rutinel has launched a campaign to take back the seat for the Democrats. The race for the 8th District is expected once again to be one of the most competitive House races in the country.
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