Democratic Rep. Yadira Caraveo won this seat in 2022 by fewer than 2,000 votes. Now she’s defending it in yet another expensive, toss-up race — one that could help determine which party controls the U.S. House or Representatives next congress.
Caraveo, who lives in Thornton, is the first Latina lawmaker Coloradans have sent to Congress. She’s a pediatrician, who also served four years in the statehouse. Recently, she announced that she is being treated for depression.
Many of Caraveo’s bills in Congress have focused on health and agriculture issues. Partnering with a Republican freshman congressman, Caraveo has managed to get a bill she worked on with a Republican, signed into law, the TRANQ Research Act, in a Congress that has been historically unproductive. She also used earmarks to secure money for projects in the district.
In a nod to the split district she represents, Caraveo has broken with her party on some votes around energy efficiency standards and immigration, including voting for a non-binding resolution criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris for failing to secure the border. She was also one of a handful of Democrats that voted to advance the Republican-backed House Farm Bill out of committee.
She currently sits on the Agriculture committee, where she’s the ranking member of the Commodity Markets, Digital Assets and Rural Development subcommittee, as well as the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.
CPR News is part of Voter Voices, a statewide effort to ask Coloradans what issues matter most to them in this election. We used those responses to develop the questionnaire CPR sent to major party candidates. Archuleta’s answers are below.
Yadira Caraveo on the economy and cost of living
What would you do, as a member of Congress, to address the cost of housing?
Every day when I speak to constituents, one of the top concerns I hear is the cost of housing. It is clear that there is an outstanding need for affordable and accessible housing in suburban, urban and rural areas across the 8th District and across the state. When I served in the state legislature, I sponsored and passed numerous bills increasing access to and affordability of housing in Colorado, and I’ve been proud to continue that work in Congress.
I have worked across the aisle on bills like the Yes In My Backyard Act, which ensures that recipients of Community Development Block Grants report on policies that could potentially negatively impact housing affordability, and the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act, which will strengthen and expand the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. Both of these pieces of legislation will help Americans by making housing more affordable and accessible – delivering much-needed relief for working families across the country.
What can Congress do to address inflation, particularly around the cost of food?
Coloradans are continuing to feel the effect of inflation everywhere – at the grocery store, at the doctor’s office, at the gas pump and more. Congress should be working on bipartisan solutions to address costs, and that’s exactly what I’ve done. I’ve worked on bills like the Lower Grocery Prices Act, which will require the development of a plan to lower grocery costs.
We also must ensure that we are balancing the need for fresh, affordable food options with the ability of our family farmers and ranchers to make a profit. That’s why I cosponsored the Butcher Block Act, which provides grant and loan opportunities for our local producers to expand their operations and provide more options for consumers – both stimulating the local economy by supporting small businesses and lowering food costs for everyday Coloradans.
In addition, I have introduced bills to tackle the high cost of prescription drugs, including the bipartisan Prescription Drug Supply Chain Pricing Transparency Act, which will push for a more transparent supply chain where we can identify and tackle the factors that contribute to the high costs that are standing between patients and the medication they need.
What are your views on raising tariffs on foreign goods?
Tariffs can, at times, be a useful tool to support working families and American jobs. However, everyday Coloradans are already facing rising costs and feeling the effects of inflation on their household goods. The last thing that Coloradans need is the federal government implementing high tariffs on foreign goods that would only widen the gap between the rich and the poor. Further, tariffs on goods such as the ones proposed by former President Trump would disproportionately affect low-income families, who spend a larger share of their income on goods.
Yadira Caraveo on democracy and good governance
What are your top three ideas for reforms to make Congress work better?
We must ensure that Congress is a body that listens to the people, not corporate or political interests. My top three ideas for reforms to make Congress work better for the people are:
We must ensure that every American is able to vote amid continuous targeting of marginalized communities and underrepresented groups. I have cosponsored the Freedom to Vote Act, which among other efforts to strengthen our democracy, ends partisan gerrymandering and ensures nonpartisan redistricting. Colorado sets the standard for independent redistricting – and we must ensure that states across the nation have this ability as well.
Congress must pass the Transparent Representation Upholding Service and Trust (TRUST) in Congress Act. This bipartisan bill, which I have cosponsored, would prevent insider trading by members of Congress or their immediate family members – increasing transparency and ensuring lawmakers’ only motivation is working on behalf of their constituents, not their financial interests.
Finally, Congress must work toward comprehensive campaign finance reform in order to place elections back in the hands of the voters, not in the hands of corporate special interests.
If control of the federal government remains divided between the parties after the election, how do you plan to be effective for your district?
Being a bipartisan legislator doesn’t rely on which party is in charge. I’ll continue to be effective by continuing the bipartisan work that I’ve been doing since the beginning of my term in January 2023. I was the first freshman to have a bill signed into law, amidst a historically unproductive year in the Republican-controlled House. This bill, the TRANQ Research Act, which passed with a bipartisan unanimous vote in the House, will confront the next wave of the drug crisis head on by compelling additional research into emergent drugs that are making their way into our communities.
The majority of the bills I’ve introduced are bipartisan and I was proud to be the 8th most bipartisan freshman member in 2023 – reflecting the wishes of my constituents in the most independent district in the state. Even in a divided federal government, I’ve been able to deliver real results – returning over $6 million directly to my constituents through casework and securing nearly $120M in federal funding for community projects, transportation, and other infrastructure needs in the 8th District.
There is an initiative on Colorado’s ballot to do away with party primaries and institute ranked choice voting. How will you vote on it and why?
It is important that all voters have the ability to be heard. It is also important that we ensure special interests are not given greater power to influence our elections. I’m proud that Colorado has led the nation in making sure that voters have the ability to make their voices heard in a fair and secure electoral system.
The reforms put forth in this ballot initiative would overhaul the election system in Colorado, which comes with a great deal of risk for unintended consequences. I haven’t yet decided how I will vote on this ballot measure, as I would like to better understand exactly how this ballot initiative would be implemented and how it would impact Colorado. However, I have full faith in the voters of Colorado to decide what is best for them and will, regardless of the outcome, respect what the public decides.
Do you trust the current electoral system in Colorado? What about the rest of the country?
The Colorado Constitution states that our elections must be “free and open.” I am proud that Colorado has an electoral system that is widely considered to be the gold standard – one that encourages Coloradans to vote and allows accessible voting options while also emphasizing and ensuring election security.
I am concerned about electoral systems across the country, specifically those in states with increased instances of voter disenfranchisement, voter intimidation, and voter suppression. We must work to pass legislation such as the Freedom to Vote Act and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to ensure that every American is able to exercise their right to freely and securely vote.
Yadira Caraveo on immigration
How should the U.S. Congress address current and future waves of people crossing at the border?
First and foremost, we need to secure the border - not make a spectacle out of it for political reasons. As a proud first-generation American whose parents worked tirelessly to help me live the American Dream, I know firsthand that we need common-sense, bipartisan solutions to tackle the real problems in our immigration system.
That is exactly why I proposed a bipartisan immigration package that would directly address the multi-layered impacts that our broken immigration system has on our country. This immigration package includes providing much-needed funding to interior cities like Denver, delivering funding to law enforcement at the border and in Colorado to stem the flow of illegal drugs into the country, overhauling the work authorization process to clear the backlog of asylum applications, and creating a pathway for citizenship.
As a solutions-focused legislator, I am eager to work with both parties and fix this immigration crisis head-on, but that starts with national Republicans stopping the political games and coming to the table ready to work together.
Name one aspect of the current legal immigration system the U.S. Congress should reform or abolish, and why?
In order to meet the growing demand for agricultural labor, Congress should take a new approach regarding the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Workers program, which allows foreign nationals to temporarily enter the U.S. for agricultural work.
I was proud to serve on the House Agricultural Labor Working Group, which was a bipartisan group that sought out to find common ground solutions that support industry needs and address the labor issues our farmers and producers face, especially in Colorado’s 8th District. We produced 21 recommendations to reform the H-2A program and ease the farm labor crisis, with 15 of those recommendations having unanimous support.
Many of these recommendations came from direct feedback I heard from my constituents, including expanding the H-2A program for year-round workers to meet producers’ labor needs and the creation of a federal heat standard for H-2A workers. Further, these recommendations included broadly simplifying the H-2A process, including streamlining the recruiting and hiring process, expedited review of applications, creating a single portal for H-2A filing, and more.
What should the U.S. do about people who have lived in the country for a long time without documentation, including so-called Dreamers?
Ultimately, we need to approach this issue through comprehensive immigration reform that couples a path to citizenship with a serious effort to secure our Southern border and crack down on illicit drug trafficking.
I have cosponsored the bipartisan American Dream and Promise Act, which would provide the opportunity for Dreamers to apply for permanent legal status and eventually become eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship, after maintaining lawful permanent resident status for five years. Earlier this year, we saw the Senate consider a bipartisan border bill to take a step to actually address this issue. Unfortunately, national Republicans refused to even bring the bill up for a vote.
What do you think of former President Donald Trump’s call for mass deportation?
Trump’s narrative criminalizing immigrants as the “poison of the country” is un-American, goes against what our country stands for, further sows discord and division in our country and ignores the important role of immigrants in our society. I do not support Donald Trump’s mass deportation plans. I support comprehensive immigration reform that would strengthen the security of the border and would provide a clear pathway to citizenship for those who are American in every way but a piece of paper.
There was a bipartisan deal that would have helped address the border crisis, but Republicans blocked it at Trump’s request, because they want to campaign around the problem rather than fixing it. I presented a bipartisan immigration package that will focus on securing the border, delivering funds to law enforcement at the border and in Colorado to stop the flow of illegal drugs, and creating a pathway to citizenship. Amid the disruption and chaos that far-right Republicans bring to Washington DC, I’m pushing for commonsense solutions to pass comprehensive immigration reform.
Context: Negotiators release $118 billion border bill as GOP leaders call it dead in the House (NPR)
Context: Trump praises collapse of bipartisan border deal: ‘I think it’s dead’ (The Hill)
Yadira Caraveo on climate and natural resources
What is the most pressing environmental or natural resource issue facing Colorado?
We must transition to a clean energy economy with union-backed jobs in order to meet our climate goals and protect our clean air and water for generations to come. Colorado is in the middle of a clean energy revolution, but this transition is not going to happen overnight, and it must be a path that strengthens our economy and generates good-paying jobs. Colorado can be a leader in clean energy just as it has been for oil production. We must make this evolution to renewable energy to tackle climate change in a way that ensures communities whose local economies rely on oil and gas production are not left behind.
What are the most urgent steps the country should take to address climate change, if any?
Between unprecedented wildfires and lengthening periods between snowfalls, the effects of climate change are evident in Colorado. As a pediatrician living in Adams County, I knew that whenever I woke up to smog covering the Front Range, I would probably have to send children to the ER that day with asthma attacks and breathing problems due to the air quality. We must continue to clean up our air and expand clean energy production to create good jobs in the near term and lower energy costs and reduce pollution for the long term. By doing so, we can also help position American companies to lead in the economy of the future, which is already moving in the direction of cleaner energy.
Should the federal government take steps to limit new oil and gas production on public lands?
Coloradans have a long history of protecting our public lands, and we know how important it is to be good stewards of our public lands while achieving our energy goals and ensuring Colorado remains a leader in the energy industry across sectors.
We have seen the federal government balance the protection of our public lands with our energy needs in the past. For example, a recent project in Alaska that expanded oil and gas drilling while in coordination with native groups in Alaska, that was paired with the protection of 13 million acres of federal reserve land in the state. I would look to continue the effective balance of energy and environmental needs to ensure that we are protecting our public lands, meeting our climate goals and stimulating our energy economy.
