Republican Gabe Evans, a state representative seeking higher office in Colorado’s toss-up 8th Congressional District, will pay himself a monthly salary out of his federal campaign account.
Evans paid himself $1,650 on June 20, according to his campaign’s filing Monday with the Federal Election Commission. Alan Philp, a spokesman for Evans, said the candidate will receive that much each month through the campaign.
“He is trying to support his wife and two kids,” Philp said, adding that the salary is the minimum amount Evans and his family need to make ends meet.
There’s nothing illegal about the payments, but it’s unusual for candidates to pay themselves or their loved ones a salary because of the criticism it can draw.
Evans’ opponent, Democratic U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo, paid herself about $44,000 as she ran for the seat in 2022, saying she needed to do so to pay off the student loans she incurred to become a pediatrician.
Caraveo, who lives in Thornton, paid herself a biweekly salary of $3,382.18, which is the equivalent of what someone earning about $81,000 annually receives before taxes. By comparison, Evans is being paid a monthly amount equivalent to what someone who earns $19,800 annually would receive before taxes.
Caraveo is not paying herself a salary out of her campaign account as she runs for reelection.
Philp, who worked on the campaign of Caraveo’s Republican opponent in 2022, criticized Caraveo at the time for paying herself a salary, saying “she’s not making any personal sacrifice” and accusing her of looking out only for herself.
The 8th District spans Denver’s northeastern suburbs along U.S. 85 into Greeley. The race between Evans and Caraveo is expected to be among the most competitive U.S. House contests in the country this year. Caraveo won in 2022 by about 1,600 votes.
Evans, who lives in Fort Lupton, is a military veteran and former police officer. His personal financial disclosure says his only sources of income are the $41,449 he earns each year as a state lawmaker and a small sum from the Makhaira Group, a firearms training company that paid him a total of $2,586 in 2023.
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Evans reported owing between $250,000 and $500,000 on a home mortgage.
Evans’ campaign raised $374,000 between June 6 and 30, the bulk of which came via two joint fundraising committees, Grow the Majority, operated by House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, and Scalise Leadership Fund 2024, operated by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana. Those joint fundraising committees allow donors to write a single large check with the proceeds divided among committee members.
Evans ended June with $533,000 in campaign cash. His campaign reported owing him about $4,800 for unreimbursed travel expenses, as well as nearly $36,000 to five consulting firms or campaign workers for election bonuses, according to his FEC filing.
Caraveo raised $1.2 million between June 6 and June 30, ending the month with $3.5 million in campaign cash, according to her FEC filing. Roughly half of her haul came from a Democratic joint fundraising committee called the House Victory Project 2024.
Colorado’s political class has for years been debating pay for candidates and elected officials and how that affects who runs for office.
State representatives and senators, for instance, are paid about $42,000 each year for their work, well below Colorado’s median household income in 2022 of $90,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The median gross annual rent in Colorado was just under $20,000 in 2022.
The pay is relatively low because serving in the state’s citizen legislature is supposed to be a part-time gig. But state lawmakers often say their work is full time, especially if they want to do it effectively. And there aren’t many professions that let people take off 120 days, which is the length of the legislative session.
Colorado lawmakers this year passed a bill creating an independent commission that will meet every four years to recommend pay adjustments for elected officials in the state.
The first report is due in December 2025, with recommendations to take effect Jan. 1, 2027. Annual wage adjustments would be made to account for inflation. The measure would also increase the per diem pay for state lawmakers.
New York lawmakers made $142,000 in 2023, the most of any state lawmakers in the U.S., though their outside income will be capped at $35,000 starting in 2025. California lawmakers were second, at $122,694, with higher amounts for legislative leadership. Pennsylvania was third, at $102,844.
New Mexico lawmakers made the least — $0 — of any state lawmaker in the U.S. in 2023, though the state’s legislature is only in session for 60 days in odd-numbered years and 30 days in even-numbered years. Close behind was New Hampshire, where the state’s 424 lawmakers are paid a $100 salary — a rate set more than 130 years ago — and get no per diem, meaning that technically they receive even less compensation than lawmakers in New Mexico, who get a per diem of roughly $200.
Members of Congress — both representatives and senators — are paid $174,000 annually, an amount that’s been unchanged since 2009. House and Senate leaders are paid even more.
Colorado Sun correspondent Sandra Fish contributed to this report.