Manny Rutinel (D) defeated incumbent Gabe Evans (R) and David Wood (L) in the general election for Colorado's 8th Congressional District on November 3, 2026.

As of November 2026, major election forecasters rated the general election Likely Democratic, Lean Democratic, or Toss-up. Evans defeated incumbent Yadira Caraveo (D) 49.0%–48.2% in 2024. Caraveo was elected 48.4%–47.7% in 2022. The district was created following the 2020 Census. Politico's Andrew Howard wrote, "Democrats remain bullish they can flip the district, which President Donald Trump won by less than a 2-point margin in 2024. Democrats’ top House super PAC has already reserved millions of dollars in ads ahead of November."

Rutinel was appointed to the Colorado House of Representatives in 2023. He was an attorney and former economist at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Rutinel completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. In his response, Rutinel said, "Trump, Gabe Evans, and their billionaire donors plan to lay off half the Social Security workforce and shutter field offices, causing delay, disruption, and denial of earned benefits. It’s a backdoor cut that inflicts pain on seniors and people with disabilities, and I’m running to stop it."

Evans was elected to the House in 2024. He earlier served two years in the Colorado House of Representatives. Evans was a former police officer and U.S. Army veteran. Evans completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. In his response, Evans wrote, "I ran for Congress because I saw the challenges Colorado and our country faces with crime, the cost of living, and the rise of socialism. As a cop, I saw the fentanyl crisis and other crime take over our communities, and unfortunately, due to Denver Democrats’ soft-on-crime and anti-law enforcement policies, my hands were tied on how I could effectively do my job and help my community."

As of November 2, 2026, Evans had raised $7.25 million and Rutinel had raised $9.46 million.

The outcome of this race affected the partisan balance of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 120th Congress. All 435 U.S. House districts were up for election.

At the time of the election, Republicans had a 219-214 majority with two vacancies in the U.S. House.