Larry Johnson (Colorado)
Larry Johnson (Democratic Party) is running for election to the U.S. House to represent Colorado's 8th Congressional District. He declared candidacy for the Democratic primary scheduled on June 30, 2026.[source]
2024 battleground election
Ballotpedia identified the November 5 general election as a battleground race. The summary below is from our coverage of this election, found here.
Gabe Evans (R) defeated incumbent Yadira Caraveo (D) and two other candidates in the general election for Colorado's 8th Congressional District on November 5, 2024. Caraveo was one of 15 incumbents who lost their re-election campaigns to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2024. Additionally, this was one of 19 seats that changed partisan control due to the 2024 U.S. House of Representatives elections.
Before the election, Colorado Public Radio described the 8th as "Colorado's most politically competitive congressional seat."[1] Both the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee targeted the district. In the 2022 election, Caraveo defeated Barbara Kirkmeyer (R) 48.4%–47.7%. The 8th district was the fifth-narrowest U.S. House election nationwide in 2022 and the narrowest in which a Democrat won. Before the election, three major election forecasters rated the general election a toss-up and one rated it Lean Democratic.
Caraveo was a former state legislator and pediatrician. Caraveo said she had "voted with Republicans and Democrats to pass a bipartisan tax cut...passed a bipartisan bill into law to fight the fentanyl epidemic, broke with her party leadership to support tougher penalties for fentanyl offenses."[2] Caraveo said the race "is going to be tough, but it's a must-win for our community...our victory is key for Democrats to win back the majority."[3]
Evans was, at the time of the election, a state legislator, U.S. Army veteran, and former police officer. Evans said he was running because the American Dream "is under attack from drugs, lawlessness, and violent crime, and it's time to fight back. And it starts here, with firing a soft-on-crime Democrat, Yadira Caraveo."[4] Evans said he would "work with everybody. … That’s because I’m focused on solving problems."[5]
Also running were Chris Baum (Approval Voting Party) and Susan Hall (Unity Party of Colorado).
Based on post-general election reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, Caraveo raised $8.12 million and spent $8.08 million and Evans raised $2.68 million and spent $2.58 million. To review all the campaign finance figures in full detail, click here.
The outcome of this race affected the partisan balance of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 119th Congress. All 435 House districts were up for election.
At the time of the election, Republicans held a 220-212 majority with three vacancies.[6] As a result of the election, Republicans retained control of the U.S. House, winning 220 seats to Democrats' 215.[7] To read more about the 2024 U.S. House elections, click here.
In the 2022 election in this district, Daily Kos calculated what the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district would have been following redistricting. [8]
Elections
2026
See also: Colorado's 8th Congressional District election, 2026
General election
The primary will occur on June 30, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Colorado District 8
The following candidates are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Colorado District 8 on June 30, 2026.
|  = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Yadira Caraveo (D)
- Dylan Shelby (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Colorado District 8
Incumbent Gabe Evans is running in the Republican primary for U.S. House Colorado District 8 on June 30, 2026.
| Candidate | ||
|  | Gabe Evans | |
|  = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Endorsements
Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.
2024
See also: Colorado's 8th Congressional District election, 2024
Colorado's 8th Congressional District election, 2024 (June 25 Democratic primary)
Colorado's 8th Congressional District election, 2024 (June 25 Republican primary)
General election
General election for U.S. House Colorado District 8
Gabe Evans defeated incumbent Yadira Caraveo, Chris Baum, Susan Hall, and James Treibert in the general election for U.S. House Colorado District 8 on November 5, 2024.
| Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Gabe Evans (R)  | 49.0 | 163,320 | 
|  | Yadira Caraveo (D) | 48.2 | 160,871 | |
|  | Chris Baum (Approval Voting Party) | 1.7 | 5,741 | |
|  | Susan Hall (Unity Party)  | 1.1 | 3,677 | |
|  | James Treibert (Unaffiliated) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 7 | |
| Total votes: 333,616 | ||||
|  = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- James Garey (American Constitution Party)
- Matthew Payette (Unaffiliated)
- Larry Johnson (Unaffiliated)
- Eric Joss (L)
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Colorado District 8
Incumbent Yadira Caraveo advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Colorado District 8 on June 25, 2024.
| Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Yadira Caraveo | 100.0 | 35,409 | 
| Total votes: 35,409 | ||||
|  = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Colorado District 8
Gabe Evans defeated Janak Joshi in the Republican primary for U.S. House Colorado District 8 on June 25, 2024.
| Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Gabe Evans  | 77.5 | 35,393 | 
|  | Janak Joshi | 22.5 | 10,294 | |
| Total votes: 45,687 | ||||
|  = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Joseph Andujo (R)
- Scott James (R)
Polls
- See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls
 
Polls are conducted with a variety of methodologies and have margins of error or credibility intervals.[9] The Pew Research Center wrote, "A margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level means that if we fielded the same survey 100 times, we would expect the result to be within 3 percentage points of the true population value 95 of those times."[10] For tips on reading polls from FiveThirtyEight, click here. For tips from Pew, click here.
Below we provide results for polls that are included in polling aggregation from FiveThirtyEight and RealClearPolitics, when available. Click here to read about FiveThirtyEight's criteria for including polls in its aggregation. We only report polls for which we can find a margin of error or credibility interval.
| Colorado's 8th Congressional District: 2024 general election polls | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poll | Date |  Caraveo |  Evans |  Baum |  Joss |  Hall |  Johnson |  Payette | Undecided/Other | Margin of error | Sample size[11] | Sponsor[12] | 
| Tarrance Group | Apr. 13–16, 2024 | 41% | 42% | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 17% | ±4.9% | 400 LV | Congressional Leadership Fund | 
| OnMessage, Inc. | Apr. 1–4, 2024 | 38% | 43% | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 19% | ±4.9% | 400 LV | National Republican Congressional Committee[13] | 
Election campaign finance
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yadira Caraveo | Democratic Party | $8,124,793 | $8,137,990 | $4,345 | As of December 31, 2024 | 
| Gabe Evans | Republican Party | $2,734,309 | $2,659,316 | $74,992 | As of December 31, 2024 | 
| Janak Joshi | Republican Party | $243,465 | $243,465 | $0 | As of September 5, 2024 | 
| Chris Baum | Approval Voting Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** | 
| James Treibert | Unaffiliated | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** | 
| Susan Hall | Unity Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** | 
| 				Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2024. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). 
					* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." | |||||
Satellite spending
- See also: Satellite spending
 
Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.[14][15][16]
If available, this section includes links to online resources tracking satellite spending in this election. To notify us of a resource to add, email us.
| By candidate | By election | 
|---|---|
Note: As of July 11, 2024, Chris Baum (Approval Voting Party), Eric Joss (L), and Susan Hall (Unity Party of Colorado) had not filed as candidates with the Federal Election Commission]].
Race ratings
- See also: Race rating definitions and methods
 
Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:
- Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
- Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
- Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.[17]
- Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.
Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.[18][19][20]
| Race ratings: Colorado's 8th Congressional District election, 2024 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race tracker | Race ratings | ||||||||
| November 5, 2024 | October 29, 2024 | October 22, 2024 | October 15, 2024 | ||||||
| The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter | Toss-up | Toss-up | Toss-up | Toss-up | |||||
| Decision Desk HQ and The Hill | Lean Democratic | Lean Democratic | Lean Democratic | Lean Democratic | |||||
| Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales | Toss-up | Toss-up | Toss-up | Toss-up | |||||
| Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball | Lean Democratic | Toss-up | Toss-up | Toss-up | |||||
| Note: Ballotpedia reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week. | |||||||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Johnson in this election.
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Larry Johnson has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey. Send a message to Larry Johnson asking him to fill out the survey. If you are Larry Johnson, click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.
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You can ask Larry Johnson to fill out this survey by using the button below or emailing lejforusa@gmail.com.
2024
Larry Johnson did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Colorado Public Radio, "State Rep. Gabe Evans will take on first-term Congresswoman Yadira Caraveo in Congressional District 8," June 25, 2024
- ↑ Yadira Caraveo 2024 campaign website, "About," accessed July 12, 2024
- ↑ Facebook, "Dr. Yadira Caraveo on November 1, 2023," accessed July 12, 2024
- ↑ YouTube, "Gabe Evans - Fight Back," September 7, 2023
- ↑ The Denver Post, "Rep. Gabe Evans wins Republican primary to take on U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo," June 25, 2024
- ↑ A majority in the U.S. House when there are no vacancies is 218 seats.
- ↑ These figures include the seat of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who resigned on Nov. 13, 2024, after winning re-election.
- ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' 2020 presidential results by congressional district, for new and old districts," accessed September 15, 2022
- ↑ For more information on the difference between margins of error and credibility intervals, see explanations from the American Association for Public Opinion Research and Ipsos.
- ↑ Pew Research Center, "5 key things to know about the margin of error in election polls," September 8, 2016
- ↑ RV=Registered Voters
 LV=Likely Voters
- ↑ The sponsor is the person or group that funded all or part of the poll.
- ↑ FiveThirtyEight, "Colorado 8th District : U.S. House : 2024 Polls," accessed July 11, 2024
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Outside Spending," accessed December 12, 2021
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Total Outside Spending by Election Cycle, All Groups," accessed December 12, 2021
- ↑ National Review.com, "Why the Media Hate Super PACs," December 12, 2021
- ↑ Inside Elections also uses Tilt ratings to indicate an even smaller advantage and greater competitiveness.
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Nathan Gonzalez," April 19, 2018
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Kyle Kondik," April 19, 2018
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Charlie Cook," April 22, 2018
 











