During her seven years at the state Capitol, former state Rep. Shannon Bird at times broke with others in her party on big-ticket issues.
When most House Democrats supported a bill to let local governments enact rent control measures, Bird voted no. During a vote to end some business tax breaks to boost tax benefits for people with lower incomes, Bird sided with Republicans in rejecting the plan. And when Democrats in the legislature were trying to curb the proliferation of short-term rentals by raising the property taxes on those units, Bird proposed a gentler alternative.
Now, as Bird runs to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans in Colorado’s toss-up 8th Congressional District, her independent streak may be an advantage in the general election. But first she’ll have to overcome attacks on her record in the Democratic primary.
For instance, Bird’s rivals have seized on her votes against a pair of immigration bills that sought to further limit state and local government cooperation with federal authorities. They’ve also criticized her leadership of a nonprofit caucus for more moderate Democrats that doesn’t report its donors and has ties to conservative interests.
There are signs the attacks are landing with some voters.
“There’s been some things that she’s voted on that I’m like … I need you to be tough,” Democratic voter Amber Mozet — who supports Bird’s main primary opponent, state Rep. Manny Rutinel, D-Commerce City — said at a precinct caucus in the district this month. “I want Democrats that are going to fight for us. We’re getting our asses kicked.”
Other voters think Bird’s more moderate approach best positions her to win in the 8th District in November.
Pam Smith, a Westminster Democrat, went to the caucus earlier this month undecided and ultimately chose to back Bird. Smith said her beliefs are more progressive than Bird’s, but she’s trying to take the “long view” of who can defeat Evans by appealing to conservative voters.
“I think we need to be realistic about success,” she said. “Because of Weld County and Greeley, I think Shannon Bird has a better chance of picking up independents. I think she has a better chance of winning and representing the entire landscape.”
Bird, who lives in Westminster, has defended her record, saying her pragmatism leads to problem-solving.
“I have been a Democrat since I was old enough to vote, and that’s something that I’m very proud of,” she said in an interview. “When people come to the table with goodwill intent to solve problems, I’ll work with them. And I think we need to see more of that.”
Breaking with Democrats
On the vast majority of bills debated at the Colorado Capitol during her tenure, Bird voted in lockstep with the majority of Democrats. But on a few big-ticket items, she broke with her party and sided with Republicans in voting “no” on measures.
Some key examples:
- Bird voted against a 2023 bill that would have allowed local governments to enact rent control measures, joining just four other Democrats in voting “no.” The bill passed the House but ultimately died in the Senate, the more conservative of the legislature’s two chambers, because of a lack of Democratic support.
- She and two other House Democrats voted against a 2023 bill that would have allowed Colorado cities to authorize “overdose prevention centers” to operate within their boundaries. Those are centers where people could openly use illicit drugs under the supervision of health care workers or other trained staff. The bill passed the House but died in the Senate because of a lack of Democratic support. Bird voted against a similar bill with five other House Democrats the following year; that measure also died in the Senate because of a lack of Democratic support. Rutinel, whose first legislative session was in 2024, cosponsored and voted for that year’s bill. Rutinel voted against amendments that would have prohibited municipalities from putting the centers less than a half-mile from schools and day care centers; Bird voted for the amendments.
- In 2024, Bird joined eight Democrats and all Republicans in the House to vote against a bill that would have banned the sale of so-called assault weapons in Colorado. The bill then stalled in the Senate because of a lack of Democratic support. Rutinel sponsored and voted for the bill.
- That year, Bird voted with five other Democrats in the House against a bill that requires cities to allow denser housing near transit stops. The measure passed the legislature and Gov. Jared Polis signed the bill into law. Rutinel cosponsored and voted for the bill.
- Last year, Bird and one other House Democrat voted against a tax bill, signed into law by Polis, that redirects business tax breaks to people with low incomes and those who donate to child care centers and requires income taxes to be collected on overtime pay despite that requirement being eliminated by Congressional Republicans. Rutinel cosponsored and voted for the bill.
Bird is facing the most criticism over her “no” votes on immigration policy as she runs for Congress.
In 2023, Colorado Democrats looked to limit local law enforcement cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as other states had done.
Bird joined just three other House Democrats in voting against a measure that year banning local governments from renting bed space in their jails to ICE for immigration enforcement. The bill passed and Polis signed it into law.
Two years later, after President Donald Trump’s reelection, Democrats at the Colorado Capitol vowed to fight back against his campaign promise of mass deportations. Their sweeping 2025 immigration proposal, Senate Bill 276, cosponsored by Rutinel, set out to further limit local and state cooperation with ICE by expanding prohibitions on data sharing and requiring child care centers, schools, certain health care facilities and libraries to publish policies stating when federal immigration agents can enter private areas.
But when the bill came up for a vote in the House Appropriations Committee last April, Bird was the only Democrat on the committee to vote “no.” She joined all the Republicans on the 11-person panel in voting against it.
The measure advanced anyway, and when the bill passed the full House with the support of every Democrat present the following month, Bird was absent for the vote. Polis signed it into law.
Rutinel, who has positioned himself as the more liberal candidate in the race, has used that vote to distinguish himself from Bird.
“We need fighters, and that’s what I’ve done throughout my entire career, including by cosponsoring the legislation to stop ICE from brutalizing our immigrant neighbors,” Rutinel said at a precinct caucus event in Westminster earlier this month. “I’m the only legislator in this race who voted for that bill.”
Bird said she voted against the bill in committee over concerns that state employees who shared data with ICE unintentionally would face expensive fines; she preferred state agencies be held accountable instead, a measure Democrats are currently working to pass.
She missed the vote when it came up for debate in the House because of a “family medical situation,” she said. She said she would have voted for the bill had she been there.
“We can’t allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good,” she said.
On the campaign trail, Bird is touting her record cosponsoring legislation in 2021 to create Colorado’s Immigration Legal Defense Fund. She is also promoting policies like requiring ICE officers to have a judicial warrant to make an arrest, prohibiting officers from wearing masks and requiring all field agents to wear body cameras, something the Trump administration said it is already implementing.
Bird stands by her broader record, defending her opposition to the bills on rent control (she worried it would cause rents to increase), overdose prevention sites (she feared the centers would open near schools) and taxes (she disliked how the bill would have required state taxes to be paid on overtime wages).
“At a time when Democrats need to win this seat to flip control of the House, Shannon Bird is clearly the best candidate in the primary and the best general election candidate to stop Gabe Evans and Donald Trump,” Eve Zhurbinskiy, Bird’s campaign manager said in a written statement.
Zhurbinskiy called Rutinel a “performative progressive,” and argued he can’t beat Evans because he “voted to allow heroin dens near schools” and “supported policies that raise costs on families,” citing his support of the measure maintaining taxes on overtime pay.
A moderate approach
As a state representative from 2019 until resigning late last year, Bird also proposed more moderate alternatives to policies that her more liberal Democratic colleagues were backing.
In 2024, she introduced a bill that would have hiked property taxes on short-term rental owners in Colorado, but only for people with three or more homes. At the time, a group of fellow Democrats was proposing a bill that would have increased property taxes for short-term rental owners if the homes are rented to vacationers for more than 90 days a year — regardless of whether they are someone’s primary or secondary home.
That year, she also introduced an industry-backed bill that would have reduced the chance of lawsuits against construction companies over building defects. It would have changed state law to prohibit construction defects lawsuits except in cases where shoddy construction prompts a “verifiable danger” to occupants and required that homeowners associations get the approval of 60% of their members before filing a construction defects claim, up from a simple majority, among other provisions.
The bill stalled in committee. The next year, a different version, also sponsored by Bird, passed and was signed into law after negotiations with consumer rights groups. Rutinel voted for the bill.
Bird was known for, among other things, working well with her Republican colleagues, especially on the Joint Budget Committee from 2023 through 2025, where she was tasked with making difficult decisions to balance the state budget.
At a forum for Republican candidates for Colorado governor last October, the hopefuls were asked to name a Democrat they respect and can work with politically.
Without missing a beat, two candidates named the same person.
“Someone that I served with on the Joint Budget Committee: Representative Shannon Bird,” said state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer of Brighton.
“State Representative Shannon Bird,” said state Sen. Mark Baisley of Woodland Park, who has since dropped out of the race for governor to run for U.S. Senate.
Groups funding Bird’s caucus also fund GOP
Bird is also facing criticism from liberals for her leadership of the Opportunity Caucus, a nonprofit made up of more moderate Democrats in the legislature.
When the caucus launched in January 2025, Bird was its founding chair. In an opinion piece announcing the caucus’ formation, Bird said the group of Democratic lawmakers would be “champions who prioritize solutions over soundbites, collaboration over conflict and progress over partisanship” for hardworking Coloradans.
But the launch did not include information about who was funding the group.
Internal emails and other documents show One Main Street Colorado, another 501(c)(4) nonprofit that spends heavily in Democratic primary races promoting moderate candidates, was involved in the caucus’ creation.
One Main Street Executive Director Andrew Short coordinated the opinion piece with Bird, according to an email from Short to Bird. One Main Street gave the caucus $12,000 in July 2025. And One Main Street’s then-director of advocacy and leadership, Katharine Marrs, at one point served as the registered agent for the caucus.
One Main Street and the Opportunity Caucus have repeatedly declined to disclose their donors and are what The Colorado Sun calls dark money groups. Recent tax filings, however, show One Main Street has taken money from groups funded by oil and gas companies and that have also funded Republican political organizations and causes.
Bird stepped down as caucus chair in August 2025.
Short has donated $1,225 to Bird’s campaign for Congress.
Zhurbinskiy, Bird’s campaign manager, said Bird never raised money for the caucus while she was chair and has never taken a campaign donation from One Main Street.
In a statement, Short said any personal contribution he has made to the campaign is “in an individual capacity and not connected to One Main Street Colorado.”
Bird has pledged not to accept corporate PAC money in her congressional campaign.
The Democratic primary in the 8th District will be held June 30.