Two Colorado Republicans Top Democrat Hit List for 2026 Midterms

Democrats are looking to regain control of the United States House of Representatives in November. To do so, they’re taking aim at two Colorado Republican congressmen.

Colorado’s 5th and 8th Congressional Districts were named districts in play for the 2026 midterms by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. They join 42 other districts nationwide where the party believes Republican representatives are vulnerable.

The inclusion of CD8 comes as no surprise: The Front Range district has been among the most politically competitive in the country since its establishment in 2021. Voters elected Democrat Yadira Caraveo in 2022, followed by Republican Gabe Evans in 2024, who is the current rep. Both candidates won by razor-thin margins.

But CD5 in El Paso County has historically been a GOP stronghold. It is the only congressional district in Colorado that has never been held by a Democrat — but Democrats believe their time is coming.

The district is currently represented by Republican Jeff Crank, elected in 2024. A former radio-show host and political consultant, Crank’s first term has largely been defined by his unwavering loyalty to President Donald Trump’s agenda, including defending Trump’s efforts to acquire Greenland and dropping his promise to fight Trump on moving U.S. Space Command headquarters out of his district and into Alabama.

“Jeff Crank is failing Coloradans,” says DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene. “Instead of fighting for families, Crank is spending his time in Washington protecting reckless tariffs, gutting health care to pay for tax cuts for billionaires, and refusing to push back against disastrous cuts to the VA that hurt veterans and military families.

“The DCCC will make sure that come November, Colorado’s 5th Congressional District elects a representative that finally puts them first.”

The DCCC added CD5 to its districts-in-play list on February 10, in addition to four congressional districts in Minnesota, Montana, South Carolina and Virginia. Trump won each of those districts by thirteen points or fewer in 2024, according to the organization.

Democrats only need to gain three seats to achieve majority control of the U.S. House this year. But Republicans are confident they will maintain power.

“National Democrats are daydreaming while the ground collapses beneath them,” Mike Marinella, spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee, says in a statement issued following the DCCC announcement of the new districts considered in play. “Democrats are getting demolished in the money race, their incumbents are hanging by a thread, and their disastrous primaries are producing unelectable far-left socialists. The battleground favors Republicans.”

However, in CD5’s case, the district has been slowly shifting toward the middle for years.

In 2016, Republican Congressman Doug Lamborn won the seat by a whopping 31 percentage points over his Democrat opponent. Lamborn’s margin of victory dwindled to 16 percentage points by his final election in 2022. In 2024, when Crank took over the district, he won by 14 percentage points over a first-time Democratic candidate who raised less than $175,000 during her campaign.

Trump has seen a similar decrease in support in the distrct over the same period. In 2016, he won El Paso County by 22 percentage points, compared to eleven points in 2020 and fewer than ten points in 2024.

The Colorado Democratic Party describes CD5 as “one of the fastest-shifting districts in the country.” The party has increased its efforts in the district since 2023, including issuing grants to El Paso County Democrats, hosting a local town hall in response to Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and investing in voter turnout in the 2025 municipal and school board elections.

“Jeff Crank does not stand up for Colorado families,” State Party Chair Shad Murib says. “When Trump ripped Space Command out of Colorado, Crank gave up the fight, walking away from a billion-dollar economic engine and thousands of good-paying jobs in Colorado Springs. That’s not leadership. It’s choosing Washington politics over our national security and Colorado families.”

Crank is expected to face Democrat Jessica Killin, a Colorado Springs Army veteran and former chief of staff to second gentleman Doug Emhoff, in November. Killin had raised over $1.65 million for her campaign as of December 31. Crank had raised just under $1.4 million, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

“The country is now seeing what El Paso County residents know to be true: Jeff Crank is failing our community, raising our costs and neglecting to show up and listen to his constituents,” Killin says. “I’m ready to serve the Pikes Peak Region and provide the leadership we deserve. The momentum of our campaign has helped put this district into play, and I know we can flip this seat together.”

Crank did not respond to a request for comment.

The districts in play for 2026 notably do not include Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, despite it being the closest U.S. House race in the country four years ago, when Republican Lauren Boebert beat Democratic challenger Adam Frisch by just 546 votes. But in 2024, after Boebert fled to another district, Republican Jeff Hurd defeated Frisch by 19,800 votes.

Boebert’s new seat in the 4th Congressional District is also absent from the Democrats’ list of targets. The fourth district is generally a safe Republican district, but the party stronghold wavered slightly when Republican Congressman Ken Buck resigned in 2024 and Boebert moved to the district to take his place. Boebert won the seat with less than 54 percent of the votes, compared to Buck’s 61 percent in 2022.

In CD8, first-term incumbent Evans is expected to face off against the winner of the Democratic primary, with a lineup that features State Representative Manny Rutinel, former State Representative Shannon Bird and private equity consultant Evan Munsing. The primary election is scheduled for June 30.

Election Day is November 3.