Whew! It’s finally over and the coat of crimson Republicans predicted would cover the nation ended up as not much more than a bit of spotting, especially in Colorado. In fact, Colorado, a state often described as purple, is steadily morphing to a darker shade of blue by the day. For proof of this transformation, take a peek at the state’s newest congressional district where, just days ago, history was made.
Democratic state legislator and pediatrician Dr. Yadira Caraveo became the first Latina and the first physician ever elected to Congress in Colorado’s 146-year history. She also became the first national office holder from the state’s newest congressional district. CD 8 was formed as a result of the 2020 census. The district includes parts of Adams, Larimer and Weld counties.
“No one would have ever guessed I would be in Congress,” said Caraveo in a recent telephone interview and in between a bevy of waiting interviews. “I don’t come from money,” she said. But she does know the value in setting goals and work- ing to achieve them.
It was setting goals, after all, that got a bright, focused and young Caraveo into Regis University and later into the University of Colorado School of Medicine where she earned her medical degree.
Today, her practice allows her to serve people who live and work in the same district where she grew up and will soon represent. The up close and personal contact with patients, said Caraveo, is the best part of her job. The worst, she said, is having to deal with insurance companies and negotiating the labyrinth of paperwork and policy that make healthcare so challenging.
Both, caring for newborns and young children while negotiating a system that sometimes seems like a house of mirrors, were good preparation for her second career, politics. The lessons learned burnished her desire to improve the delivery of health care for those who really need it.
“The whole system,” she laments, “doesn’t work for working people…it’s an uphill climb to fight against it.” But taking the fight to this massive industry is what she made her legislative mission. Today her name is on legislation addressing better working conditions for oil and chemical workers, on new laws addressing paid family leave and improved housing for agriculture workers, a situation that became magnified during the COVID-19 crisis. “I’ve had a voice because of my medical background,” said Caraveo. “I’m not afraid to take on fights.”
With a hard fought, sometimes bitter election now behind her, Caraveo has only a brief respite before putting together a team for her new job which begins just days into the new year. But the challenge, she said, won’t be different than her first days in the state legislature. “I’ll assert my voice the same way.” Her medical background, said the physician/legislator, gave her a far deeper understanding of health care issues than most of her legislative colleagues. “I’m not afraid to take on fights.”
Caraveo says she going to Congress not to make noise but to make good, strong policy and to make a difference. The job, she said, is to work for those who elected her and to make a difference, especially for those who have no voice, the babies and children she cared for in her practice.
“Some (of them) I’d seen since they were babies,” she said. “I held them in my hands and knew everything about them. It’s bittersweet that I would be going to a bigger stage to improve their lives.”
While the job will require a thorough understanding of things well beyond medicine and healthcare, those will be the things that will remain high on her list of priorities. “We have to continue to look at costs,” she said. “My frustration…I had to argue with insurance companies because they were following checklists, costs of prescriptions,” and not always the outcomes of patients. “They hold power over our health,” Caraveo said of the industry she has spent years battling.
Caraveo’s win over Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Republican State Senator, was also a demonstration of a growing Latino voting power. CD 8’s Latino population is approximately 39 percent and Caraveo and her backers flooded the district with literature along with an army of door knockers. She told Coloradopolitics.com, “Our community showed up and our voices were heard.”
Many of those who cast votes for Caraveo could identify with her story because it was theirs, as well. Like many of them Caraveo is the daughter of Mexican immigrants. Her parents, like generations who came before, made the choice to come here to better their lives and provide opportunities for their families. Each of these first-generation children—Caraveo has three siblings—earned college degrees.
Another demonstration of a growing Latino force in Colorado election politics also occurred in CD8 but in a statewide race. Greeley’s Rhonda Solis won a seat on the State Board of Education. Solis, a Democrat and former member of the Greeley Schools Board of Education, defeated Republican Peggy Propst by a comfortable margin. Solis will be the only Latina on the board when she takes her seat in January.
“I think it’s huge,” said Solis in assessing the Latino turnout. “That’s really a strong message that we will also see in the future, that we can elect people of color and of the community.” Once on the board, Solis said her voice will be important because she’ll bring the perspective of someone who has served on a local school board as well as bringing a Latina point of view. “That is what I brought to my local school board…It will make a difference.”
