Republican challenger Gabe Evans took a slight lead over Democratic U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo Friday night in Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, as county clerks continued to release results days after Tuesday’s election.

Evans jumped ahead by 2,529 votes when conservative-leaning Weld County reported about 14,000 more votes Friday night in what is expected to be the last big election decline in the county, marking the this is the first time the state lawmaker has led the race since election night.

As of 6:30 p.m. Friday, Evans had 152,482 votes to Caraveo’s 149,953, a lead of 0.8 percentage points. Two third-party candidates are at the back of the pack, with less than 2% each.

There remained a chance for Caraveo to catch up when Adams County, which favors the Democrat by a margin of about 12 points, reports the rest of its votes, although strategists on both sides warned that the race may not be decided for several days.

Adams County Clerk Josh Zygielbaum, a Democrat, said Saturday there remained about 17,000 ballots cast by voters in the district to be processed. He said poll workers planned to work all day to complete the count, after the county experienced a snow day Friday.

Depending on the state of the race after most of the remaining votes are reported Saturday, the winner could depend on how many voters “cure” thousands of ballots that have yet to be counted, mostly for signature discrepancies – something both campaigns have urged their supporters to do. done in the days following the elections.

In Colorado, voters have until November 13 to process their ballots. It’s also the deadline for county clerks to receive ballots returned by military and overseas voters.

“Based on current results, we are optimistic that Congresswoman Caraveo is in a strong position to win re-election and ready to serve a second term once all ballots have been counted,” the speaker said Friday. Caraveo campaign director Mary Alice Blackstock said in a statement.

Alan Philp, Evans’ campaign manager, sounded a note of cautious optimism Saturday morning in a text message to Colorado Politics as he awaited initial reports from Adams County.

Caraveo, a pediatrician and former state lawmaker, won the newly created 2022 seat by just over 1,600 votes, or 0.7 points, out of more than 236,000 votes cast.

Stretching from Denver’s northern suburbs to Greeley, the district was designed to be the most competitive congressional seat in the state. up to its bill.

As this year’s elections approach, few polls have shown that candidates locked in statistical equality.

THE hard-fought race was the Most Expensive Competition in Colorado this year, outside groups have invested more than $20 million in a seemingly endless stream of ads and mailers. attack both candidates.

The 8th CD could help determine which party controls the House of Representatives, with Republicans holding the edge to retain the majority but with more than a dozen races still too close to call.