A political committee that barely existed a month ago has poured nearly $78,000 into Colorado's 8th Congressional District in the past week alone, sending mailers that portray Republican Rep. Gabe Evans as secretly too liberal while boosting his Libertarian rival. The group, called Our Heritage Matters, has not disclosed who is funding it, and even the Libertarian candidate it appears to be helping says he wants nothing to do with its tactics.
According to The Denver Post, Our Heritage Matters has spent more than $1.2 million nationwide to boost third-party candidates against Republicans in roughly 10 races, based on federal election records. In Colorado's 8th District, the spending has gone toward lifting Libertarian candidate Dave Wood while attacking Evans, the paper reports. One mailer from the group reportedly depicted a doctored image of Evans riding a donkey and accused him of being too liberal without offering any evidence or citations, per the Post's reporting.
Wood, who received the mailer himself, has criticized and disavowed it, questioning whether the piece was actually designed to make Republican voters think Evans was too much like a Democrat, according to the Post. That distinction matters because the race is close enough that even a small shift could tip the outcome — Evans won the seat in 2024, and the district, created after the 2020 census, is described by the paper as Colorado's most closely drawn congressional district. Its winner has been decided by fewer than 3,000 votes in each of its previous two contests, including Democrat Yadira Caraveo's 1,632-vote win in 2022.
A Committee That Appeared Out of Nowhere
Our Heritage Matters registered just after a federal reporting deadline earlier in October, the Post reports, and its website — also created earlier this month — offers only vague statements without explaining its purpose or who is behind it. The group is not legally required to disclose its donors until after the November 3 election, the paper notes. The Post says it could not find any state where Our Heritage Matters is registered as a company, and messages to the group's listed email and to Mike McCauley — the Utah-based political consultant and accountant listed as treasurer on its federal registration form — went unanswered Monday, according to the paper's reporting. McCauley has previously worked for Republican causes, including the Colorado Republican Party, the Post reports.
The group's vendors raise similar questions. Our Heritage Matters paid for its advertising and direct mail through two companies, Chase Grove LLC and Good Way Associates, both of which were registered in Delaware on October 6 through a company-registration service, according to the Post's reporting. That kind of registration is a common tactic for groups seeking to hide their ownership, the paper notes. A separate review by legis1.com similarly found the committee's Senate-race spending has primarily involved digital ads purchased through Chase Grove LLC, while Good Way Associates shows up as a direct-mail vendor in several House races.
Spending Spreads Across Several States
Nationally, the committee's targets have been nearly all Republican-held seats, according to the Post, with spending reported in Ohio, Texas, Kentucky, Kansas, South Carolina and Montana in addition to Colorado. Federal election records cited by the paper indicate the group did not spend money for or against any Democratic candidates in those races. legis1.com's review put the total reported spending at approximately $1.21 million, including roughly $643,000 supporting Libertarian candidates and $321,000 opposing Republicans, with the group's outside spending backing Libertarians in most cases and also supporting one independent candidate and one Constitution Party candidate. The site's reporting shows that on October 24 alone, expenditures included $37,000 supporting William Oliver Reeside Jr., $36,000 supporting Rick Stewart and $35,000 supporting Jay Bowman.
Industry newsletter Punchbowl News has offered a different read on the same committee, describing Our Heritage Matters as spending $1.2 million to aid Democratic candidates in races including Montana's open 1st District, Kentucky's open 6th District, Iowa's open 2nd District and the seats held by Reps. Mike Turner and Gabe Evans. Punchbowl's broader reporting notes that at least $7.2 million has been spread across 15 battleground House and Senate races this cycle to boost third-party candidates, and that conservative third-party candidates — mainly Libertarians — could hurt Republicans in close contests, while liberal third-party candidates pose the greater risk to Democrats. legis1.com similarly cautions that the spending pattern could benefit Democratic candidates if Libertarian campaigns draw votes away from Republican nominees, though it stresses that outcome remains uncertain.
A Closely Watched District With a History of Spoilers
The Libertarian factor is not new to this district. In 2022, the Libertarian candidate in the CD8 race pulled in more than 9,200 votes, according to the Post, and in 2024 Evans struck a deal to keep his would-be Libertarian opponent out of the race entirely. This year, the Libertarian Party of Colorado has urged its supporters to back Wood directly rather than either major-party nominee, according to Colorado Times Recorder.
Evans is finishing his first term in Congress after winning the seat in 2024, and he has closely followed President Donald Trump's legislative agenda, according to the Post's reporting — a dynamic the Post separately described as making him a reliable supporter of the president's immigration, economic and foreign-policy agenda. His Democratic challenger, Manny Rutinel, a former state representative who resigned his seat in September to focus on the campaign, has centered much of his bid on tying Evans directly to Trump, according to the Denver Post's separate coverage of the race, which notes the contest has drawn roughly $20 million in outside spending overall. Evans and Rutinel debated at Grace Place in Berthoud on October 7, the Post reports.
The Post also notes that Democratic groups sought to raise the profile of more right-wing candidates in Republican primaries in 2022 and 2024, believing those candidates would be easier to defeat in a general election — a strategic pattern cited as context for how outside groups have tried to shape this district's politics before. Evans' campaign did not respond to a request for comment Monday, according to the Post's reporting. Federal rules require any unauthorized independent expenditure to carry a disclaimer listing the payor's address, phone number or website and stating that no candidate authorized the message, according to the Federal Election Commission, which also requires some independent expenditures to be reported within 24 or 48 hours in addition to regular filings.
