Will Voters Flip A Colorado House Seat Back To Blue?

Gabe Evans and Donald Trump are just focused on finding new ways to torment immigrants.

And if they spent as much time thinking about fixing our economy as opposed to thinking

about new ways to torment immigrants, our economy would be in a much better shape.

It's Friday, October 9th.

I'm Jane Kostin and this is What Today.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today to South African

Human Rights Judge and lawyer Navi Palais. She won the prize for her efforts to promote

international law as it comes under attack. Which means that President Donald Trump

once again did not win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Sad! Palais did, however, give the President a shout out.

The Nobel Peace Prize is a former UN Human Rights Chief. Her career has spanned from defending

the rights of an imprisoned Nelson Mandela to leading a panel that found that Israel committed genocide

in Gaza. The firing squad execution of Fort Hood Shooter Nadal Malik Hassan will be live-streamed.

The Pentagon announced the stunning revelation on Thursday after Defense Secretary Pete Higgseth

had described it as being, quote, public. Higgseth told conservative TV outlet Real America's

voice on Wednesday, quote, will make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public.

According to official Pentagon regulations for Army executions, quote, no person under the

age of 18 shall witness the execution. So, besides the barbarism and insanity,

live-streaming and execution would be illegal.

Federal immigration officers shot a Dominican man in New York Thursday evening.

ICE alleges that the man drove his car into officers' vehicles, and they believe their lives

were in danger. The 28-year-old man was shot in the neck as ICE officers attempted to arrest him

according to ICE. The man had a five-year-old boy in the car with him when the shooting happened,

official said. But let's get into the highly contested congressional race for Colorado's eighth

district. Joining me is Manny Ritenau, he's the Democratic candidate. Manny Ritenau, welcome to

What a day. Thank you so much for having me. So, why are you running for Congress? Well, I'm running

because it's a really personal fight for me. I'm the son of a single mom who immigrated to America

and searched for that American dream, and my mom is the most loving, kind, generous, hardworking person

on the planet, but we still struggled. And I remember being 10 years old when I started filling out

food stamps and Medicaid forms, and those are the same programs the Donald Trump and gay

Bevens are destroying to give tax breaks to their billionaire donors. And in around that time,

I was working at McDonald's. I was selling my blood at a plasma center over a hundred times,

the point where I've got a scar on my arm. Because of it, eventually I became an economist with the

US Army Corps of Engineers. And as a state legislator shortly after that, I learned a really important

lesson, and that is that poverty is a policy choice. And I can prove it because when I was a

legislator, my first legislative session, I introduced an expansion to the earned income tax credit,

tax credit that goes directly to working people. And because of that bill, we cut childhood poverty

by 40% overnight in Colorado. So that's the kind of leadership that I think we need in Congress,

folks who understand the struggles of working people, and have a track record of fighting for them.

You are not from Colorado originally. I know that something the Republicans have brought up.

And how have you responded? And what does it mean to you to be running for office for the state of Colorado?

Yeah, well, it's the best state in the union. As soon as I stepped foot in Colorado, I fell in love with it.

I grew up with a single mom, and she was always bopping around different cities looking for a better

job. That's kind of the reality for a lot of the folks who live in Colorado, especially in my

district, where it's 40% Latino. There's a lot of immigrant families there. And as a state legislator,

I have had multiple terms there. I've been able to work alongside folks. I've been welcomed into

the community. I've been able to listen, hold round tables, town halls. I've been going to so

many town halls that I've gone to so many that my congressman refuses to go to because he's scared of

his own constituents. And I've learned a lot along the way. And I'm able to use that to be able

to best represent the folks in the district. So your opponent, you've mentioned him, Gabe Evans.

He flipped the seat you're running for back in 2024 by less than one percentage point. What went wrong?

And why is 2026 different? There are a lot of dark money groups that are funneling so much money

and spreading misinformation in these campaigns. And now I'm on the other side of that. You know,

Elon Musk and Donald Trump are spending millions and millions of dollars to try to prevent me from

being able to win this election. On our side, we have a grassroots army of over 100,000 folks

that have gone to ManifordColorado.com and shipped an average of 26 bucks over a real grassroots

campaign. I think that's something that we bring to the table, that a lot of campaigns across

the country don't get to benefit from. It's just a really strong grassroots campaign of over a

thousand volunteers that are knocking doors, making phone calls to try to, you know, fight back

against these superpacks that are spreading lies and misinformation. What is Gabe Evans' worst

decision while in office? That's a tough question because he's got so many bad ones. I think

can I give you three? Yes, absolutely. So he has voted seven times to send us into this forever

war in Iran that is raising gas and diesel prices back at home. Gas is 420 a gallon, diesel 620

a gallon in my neck of the woods. He has voted time and time again with Donald Trump to gut,

Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act. And a family forest come up to me and they said,

many in 2025, we paid $500 a month. And in 2026, we had to pay $2,000 a month for the exact

same health insurance. And then the third decision is that he has time and time again voted

for these corrupt chaotic tear of policies that are making our groceries and our housing

more expensive. So he votes with Donald Trump 100% of the time and come November, folks are going

to respond by voting him out. So during your debate, I was struck by how Evans and he's not alone

has been going with that GOP line of common sense versus crazy. And it's affirming a lot of

Republicans are using. He kept calling you a radical who wants to open the borders because

eat tofu or something like that. How do you combat that? Because it seems to be something we're

hearing a lot from Republicans, which is not stand up for our own policies. It's Democrats are just

too crazy. Yeah, I mean, I think his strategy is to distract as much as possible. He knows that

the economy is in a really tough spot. The gas and diesel prices are through the roof,

that are grocery prices are through the roof, that are healthcare prices are through the roof.

And he's trying to find any way possible to try to divide and conquer, just blame everything on

either the single mom on food stamps or the immigrant kid or some other vulnerable group and try to

cast Democrats as only caring about X, Y or Z. When I think our message is pretty clear that we

want to lower costs for all hardworking Coloradans across the district and beyond. And what he is doing

time and time again is finding new ways to basically give tax breaks to the most wealthy people on

the planet at the expense of hardworking folks. So we try to stay on message. He tries to distract and

divide. We'll get back to my conversation with Mani Routino in just a moment. What a day is brought

to you by Bookshop.org. Would you be surprised to learn that we're living in a resurgence of independent

bookstores? More than 1000 new stores have opened in the last five years. Independent bookstores do

more than sell books. They take care of and pour back into their communities, creating safe spaces

that foster culture, curiosity and a lot of reading. When you purchase from Bookshop.org, you're

supporting more than 3000 local independent bookstores so they can continue their essential work.

Right now I'm reading God's Chinese Son, the typing heavenly kingdom of Hong Shu Kuan.

And I got it from Bookshop.org. Use code wadsget10% off your next order at Bookshop.org. That's 10%

off at Bookshop.org with code watt. What a day is brought to you by dose. If you're constantly

feeling low energy, dragging through the afternoon or hitting a wall by 2 or 3 pm, that fatigue could

have more to do with your liver than you realize. Your liver is your body's primary metabolic regulator,

storing and releasing glucose to help maintain steady energy throughout the day. But when it's

constantly busy processing highly processed foods, drinks and everyday stressors, that system can

slow down. Dose is a clinically backed formula that promotes liver function, supports healthy liver

enzyme levels and supports your detoxification and metabolic processes. This isn't just another

capsule or powder, dose is a liquid supplement. Take an in a daily trance shot that tastes like orange

juice. It promotes daily liver functions your liver can do its job with zero sugar, just a

gentle plant-powered formula with measurable results you can see in your blood work and feel in

your everyday life. And dose gets real results, with two double blind placebo controlled studies

showing its positive impact on liver enzyme levels, plus it's clinically back to reduce fatigue

and bloating. Ready to give your liver the support it deserves? Head to doastaley.co-wad or enter

code watt to get 35% off your first subscription. Your body does so much for you. Let's do something for

it. That's d-o-s-e-d-a-i-l-y.co-slashwad for 35% off your first month subscription. Try it for

three months and see how you feel. One month you're slammed. The next you're chasing bids. Small

businesses live with that reality. Your software costs shouldn't. Autodesk gets it. Autodesk for

small business makes it easy to start with Autodesk Flex. A pays you go away to access the tools you need

when you need them. With prepaid tokens you can use more than 100 Autodesk products without

locking into a long-term commitment. Go to Autodesk-a-u-t-o-d-e-s-k.com slash small business,

all one word, today. And see how Autodesk Flex helps your business pay only for what you use.

Autodesk Flex. When your workload changes, Autodesk changes with you.

That's the sound of a baby being born at St. John's. That's the sound of your celebratory first

meal being served. That's the sound of sunshine pouring into your spacious room.

And that's the sound of a happy baby taking in its first view. Because when it comes to your

birthing experience, we've thought of everything. St. John's, everything for the better.

Let's get back to my conversation with Mani Routinel. Why are you the best fit for voters in

your district? Your district is interesting. As you mentioned, 40% Latino. It combines two areas,

one that's more rural. Why do you think that you're the best fit for the people who are looking for

someone to vote for? Yeah, well, I think that what I'm hearing on the ground is that folks are

really excited about our campaign because for me, it's deeply personal. A lot of politicians,

they talk about the affordability crisis like a consultant just handed them a memo and said,

hey, read here. For me, it's something that I can bring my personal lived experience on,

you know, working in McDonald's, losing our home during the Great Recession, relying on

Medicaid and food stamps many months and allowing those programs to allow us to survive.

And, you know, those are the same programs that Gabe Evans is destroying right now. So,

for me, when folks hear about my story, they see someone who cares deeply about these issues,

not because a consultant told them to care about it, but because it's deeply personal for me.

And I think that's been resonating a lot with folks with our 1000 volunteers, our 100,000

grassroots donors that have gone to Mani for Colorado.com to sign up to volunteer and to donate.

Those are the folks that are really inspired by the message that we're bringing.

May I ask, how old are you? 31. Okay. So, during the Great Recession, you know, 2008, 2009,

you mentioned losing your home. So, you were basically a kid kind of like a team. Yeah.

I know how much that moment impacted me. I was in college then. I had a host of people who I

knew who thought that they were going to have these great jobs after graduation. And didn't,

I wound up having an internship and then being not so fun employed for a year living in St. Louis.

How do you think that your experience of the Great Recession, which mirrors, I think,

the experience of millions of Americans that we've never really quite gotten over?

How has that influenced your policy making and your policy views?

Yeah. I mean, it makes me think about, you know, the person that's going to the gas pump right now

and seeing that, you know, there are prices have gone 50%. I remember when I was working at McDonald's,

I would, I'd red lights, I would turn off my car and I would never put on my AC because I wanted

to be able to save gas money because I didn't know how it was going to make ends meet otherwise.

I remember, you know, filling out those food stamp and Medicaid forms. And I remember at the

beginning of the month when the food stamp card was at its fullest, we would be able to get our

groceries easy and those would be our biggest gets. And then towards the end of the month, you sort of

run out of those resources and things are a little bit trickier. So, you know, it allows me to think

about those kids right now that are suffering the consequences of, you know, Donald Trump and

Gabe Evans literally taking food out of the mouths of children, literally taking health care from

families. I think to Donald Trump and Gabe Evans, he seemed like abstractions. To me, they're like

a lived experience. I still remember the sounds of my mom crying when she opened up the envelopes

and found out that the bank was foreclosing on her home. Like, those are the sort of sounds that

you can't get out of your head. And so, I bring that with me every single time that I went to the

Capitol as a state legislator. And I'm going to bring that with me when I get to Congress.

Evans has repeatedly used his past in law enforcement to support his so-called tough on crime

policies. What is he missing? Well, we've got a public safety plan that outlines that we want to be

able to provide the resources to law enforcement. And we want to make sure that we've got strong

laws to hold folks accountable. I think from his public safety argument, he's missing a few things.

He's missing, first of all, that he keeps gutting the tax base that would allow us to be able to

fund police departments to their fullest extent. We also need to make sure that we are

tough on the roots of crime to make sure that folks have the resources necessary so that they

don't feel like they need to commit petty theft or things of that nature. I think the third

piece is that he fails to hold the most powerful people in our government accountable and in our

society accountable. And you see that because time and time again, he tried to hide the Epstein files.

And we need folks who, when they get to Congress, are going to hold anyone who violates the law,

especially those who are assaulting children accountable. And that's what I'm going to do.

You've mentioned to me, you've talked a lot on your campaign about being the son of a woman

from the Dominican Republic. You are looking to represent a district that's 40% Latino.

How have the Trump administration's actions on immigration impacted immigrant communities in your

district? Yeah. So as you mentioned, my district is 40% Latino. The most Latino in the entire

state, one of the most Latino in the entire country. And these are folks that just want to provide

for their families and work hard, pay their taxes, make their communities more vibrant.

And everywhere they look, Donald Trump and Gabe Evans are just trying to find new ways to

torment our immigrant neighbors. They're targeting people based on their skin tone or their accents,

the sort of accents and skin tones that are prominent in my family. And they're also trying to fund

new ways to torment immigrants with these like facilities like alligator alcatraz.

And I think what folks want, what I hear at the doors, what I hear at the town halls, is they want

folks who are focused on comprehensive immigration reform. They want, of course, a secure border,

allow law enforcement to have the resources to prevent drug and human trafficking across our border.

They want a focus on enforcement on violent criminals, not on separating families and children.

They also want to make sure that there's a pathway to citizenship for dreamers and immigrants who

have been here the longest that are working hard and paying their taxes. But Gabe Evans and Donald

Trump are just focused on finding new ways to torment immigrants. And if they spent as much time

thinking about fixing our economy as opposed to thinking about new ways to torment immigrants,

our economy would be in a much better shape. So let's say you win your election in November,

you head to Congress in January, what's your to-do list? What do you want to do first? And what do

you think Democrats, if Democrats win the House, should be focusing on first?

Yeah, so we should have a long agenda. But the first few things that I'll mention is we need to

reverse the cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. We need to stop these corrupt chaotic

tariff policies and we need to stop the war in Iran. And if we do all those things, we're going to

lower health care prices, we're going to lower grocery prices, and we're also going to lower gas

and diesel costs. But we need to take things a step further, especially on the corruption side of

things. I think that we need to prevent congressional stock trading. We need to make sure that we have,

I'm pushing for term limits personally so that we can bring power back to the people.

And I think we need to ban corporate donations to politicians and reverse citizens united.

Because those are, citizens united, I think it's one of the worst Supreme Court decisions

in modern American history. And it just allows folks like Elon Musk and Donald Trump to just

pour in millions and millions of dollars to try to buy an election. And in this case, I don't think

it'll work because we've got such strong grassroots army of folks that are knocking doors and pitching

in small dollar donations. But it really distorts our democratic process in favor of these wealthy elites,

like Donald Trump and Elon Musk. We need to bring power back to the people and we need a strong

anti-corruption agenda in Congress. Manning, thank you so much for joining me.

Thanks so much, Jane. I really appreciate it.

That was my conversation with Manning, Routinel, democratic congressional candidate for Colorado's

eighth district. Before we go, the countdown for Election Day is on We Are Less than a Month Away.

Votes of America's action clubs are based on the latest organizing tactics and tools that

will cut through the noise. In Club Digi, you'll boost helpful information online and get those

social media algorithms working in our favor. In Club Vopro, you'll get trained on your rights and

how to keep other voters safe and informed as they cast their ballots. And finally, in Club

Relational, you'll learn about one of the most important organizing tactics of this era,

talking to people in your life and making sure they have a planned vote.

Go to VotesaveAmerica.com to get started now and bring a couple of friends with you.

This message has been paid forward by VotesaveAmerica. It is not authorized by any candidate or

candidates committee. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe,

leave a review, watch Georgia Democratic Senator John Alsoff body Republican Senate nominee Mike

Collins into a locker and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading, and not just about

when you are paying more for your health insurance, when a hospital in your community is closing down.

Mike Collins voted to take that money out of your pocket and out of your community and give it

instead to data center developers. And that's the problem. Like it's not just that you've hired

half the third Reich to staff your congressional office and you have promoted neo-nazi content online.

It's that you're robbing your constituents to subsidize your donors. I want to know if you will

commit to voting to repeal that data center tax scam that you voted for. Let's hear an answer.

Like me, what a day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at cricket.com,

subscribe. I'm Jane Kostin and God damn that was satisfying. What a day is a production of

cricket media. Our show is produced by M.I.4, Erica Morrison and Adrian Helper. Team includes

Hayley Jones, Greg Walters, Metberg, Adam Lippurg, Johanna Case and Desmond Taylor. Our music is

by Kyle Murdock and Jordan Cantor. We had helped today from the Associated Press. Our production

staff is proudly unionized with the writer's guild of America East.

Hard means... Hey, did you proof the signs before having them printed?

I think so. Because we're having a clearance sale, not a clearance sale.

Oh, big difference. Easy means professional looking prints every time. Don't choose hard,

choose staples and now it staples get 25% back in points at all custom prints.

That was easy. Shop staples online in store or in the app. And it's 1031 limit $250

in earn points. $100 minimum purchase. Exclusion to apply the app for details.

$100,000 for the initial payment of a house or a Gip Cherokee of the Year.

Momopoli vol. Vio a McDonald's. And that's some of the premiums you could earn.

F for your own.

Not in need of shopping 50 states of the United States and C. 18 years or more.

Consult the rules in playaremcd.com and playaremcd.com of Agonala M.O.E.

for information about games and a purchase for running before November 2.

The chance card game ends in November 8.

The game ends in November 22, in November of 2026. Details of the premiums in the rules.

Momopoli is a brand registered of Hasbro.

Kia. Always forward.

Around town. Whether you're hauling sports gear,

loading up for a weekend, get away, or simply navigating everyday life.

Kia has an SUV designed to keep up. From gas powered in hybrid to all electric models.

Kia SUVs combines a sophisticated design, rugged capability,

and the versatility today's driver's demand.

With seating for up to seven and over 600 miles of driving range on select models,

Kia offers an SUV ready for wherever the road takes you.

Visit Kia.com or your local Kia retailer today.

Kia. Movement that inspires.