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Educator and teachers union stalwart Amie Baca-Oehlert announced her bid Thursday to run against Republican U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans in this November’s election to represent Colorado’s 8th Congressional District.
Baca-Oehlert joins a congested field of Democratic candidates who will face off in the June primary. The winner will go up against Evans, who is serving his first term representing the 8th District, a highly competitive district that includes Weld and Adams counties.
In an interview with Chalkbeat Thursday, Baca-Oehlert said she will lean on her experience as an educator and leader of the Colorado Education Association — the state’s largest teachers union — to focus on the issues that impact everyday Coloradans, such as the economy.
As an educator, she saw how people struggled sometimes to put food on the table or pay rent, while President Donald Trump’s agenda has focused on billionaires, not ordinary citizens, Baca-Oehlert said.
“I plan to work on the things that allow people to live the American Dream,” she said.
Baca-Oehlert will officially announce her bid at Adams City High School where she started her career 28 years ago as a language arts teacher. She has been a teachers union member since the start of her career and spent six years as the president of the CEA.
State Treasurer Dave Young announced this week that he will also join the race. State legislators Shannon Bird and Manny Rutinel have also announced bids to challenge Evans. Yadira Caraveo, who lost the seat to Evans in 2024, is seeking to reclaim it.
Baca-Oehlert became the head of the CEA in 2018 and notched numerous wins for the union, including helping expand collective bargaining rights for public employees across the state and putting pressure on lawmakers to increase school funding.
The union under her leadership also backed the state’s universal preschool program. In addition, Baca-Oehlert helped the union focus heavily on teacher burnout during the pandemic and led efforts on teacher retention and pay increases.
The union did lose several battles, including when Colorado voters rejected the union-supported Proposition CC in 2019, which would have raised money for education. The union weighed in heavily on public policy during the pandemic with varied results, including by putting pressure on the state to slow the return of in-person instruction and helping get teachers vaccinated early.
If elected, Baca-Oehlert said she will take the same willingness to fight for students and teachers to Congress. She added she understands how to build coalitions that keep powerful people in check, and she wants to be a voice that represents middle-class Americans.
“When I look at Congress, I don’t see enough teachers, Latinas, moms, union members,” she said. “But what I do see is a broken system, a very broken system, where we have a lot of politicians who are looking out for the well-connected and the wealthy and not looking out for everyday Coloradans.”
Jason Gonzales is a reporter covering higher education and the Colorado legislature. Chalkbeat Colorado partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage. Contact Jason at jgonzales@chalkbeat.org.
