Yadira Caraveo, Gabe Evans spar over immigration in 1st congressional debate

Democratic U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo and her Republican challenger, state Rep. Gabe Evans, sparred over immigration, abortion and Donald Trump on Tuesday night in the first debate for one of the most tightly contested congressional contests in the country.

The debate, hosted by 9News, was the first of two scheduled ahead of their November race to represent the northern suburbs of the 8th Congressional District. Many of the questions focused on immigration, a topic that both Evans and Caraveo have embraced, though the 30-minute debate included rapid-fire topic changes that touched on abortion, housing, corporal punishment of children, and a series of anti-immigrant statements made by Trump, the Aurora-bound Republican presidential candidate that moderator Kyle Clark linked to fascist rhetoric of the 1930s and ’40s.

Much of the debate saw moderators prod the candidates — and Evans in particular — to directly answer questions. Asked if he would condemn Trump’s anti-immigrant statements or describe them as racist, for instance, Evans, a freshman state lawmaker from Fort Lupton endorsed by Trump, said he focused on policy and twice obliquely repeated that he had “always condemned racist statements.”

Evans did indicate he didn’t support Trump’s desire to deport every undocumented immigrant in the country, though he broadly backed more intensive border security efforts and criticized Caraveo and Democratic lawmakers’ handling of immigration issues.

“We have to aggressively target those individuals who are illegally in our communities, committing crimes, and those are the folks that we have to deport,” he said.

Evans also would not answer directly when asked if it was appropriate to use corporal punishment on children in schools, in relation to a bill he voted against last year. He at first said that “we need to ensure that we are providing a safe place to be able to learn in our public schools.” When pressed to answer directly, he began talking about his past work as a “part-time school resource officer.” Clark then stopped him and moved on.

Caraveo, who joined a small group of Democrats this summer in backing a Republican resolution condemning Vice President Kamala Harris’ handling of the border, said her disavowal of some of her previous immigration positions — like defunding immigration law enforcement — was a reflection of a shift in the country.

“I think the country has changed, and we’ve seen a crisis that both parties have set up and not offered solutions for,” Caraveo said, in a nod to the bipartisan bona fides she’s sought to bolster in a district she won by fewer than 1,700 votes two years ago.

Caraveo said she would vote to represent her constituents, apparently meaning a more enforcement-heavy approach. She would not say if she still supported giving government contracts to companies that employ undocumented workers, saying only that her constituents wanted a “balanced” approach.