Scoop: Piñata stunt fuels tensions in 8th District Democratic primary
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State Rep. Manny Rutinel, right, addresses an 8th District campaign forum Tuesday at Thornton High School in front of rival Evan Munsing, middle, and a piñata of the candidate Shannon Bird. Photo: John Frank/Axios
Three Democratic candidates for Colorado's 8th Congressional District appeared at a campaign forum this week to talk about immigration.
Yes, but: One of the three, who didn't attend, was depicted as a piñata.
Why it matters: Tensions are growing in the nationally watched race ahead of the nomination process, with Democratic power players split on which candidate to support against Republican incumbent Gabe Evans.
State of play: The hostility spilled out at a campaign event Tuesday evening in Thornton hosted by COLOR Latina and the Working Families Power, two influential progressive organizations.
- The two candidates who appeared in person, Rep. Manny Rutinel and former Marine Evan Munsing, sat at the front of the room next to a three-foot-tall piñata with a cartoonish picture of rival Shannon Bird pasted on the head.
- During the forum, the organizers and the candidates repeatedly mocked and laughed at the piñata, which represented the lone woman left in the race.
The intrigue: Former state Rep. Tim Hernández, who moderated the event and volunteers with COLOR, told Axios he commissioned the empty piñata to make a point about her absence.
- Wynn Howell, the state director of the Working Families Power, quipped they wouldn't destroy the piñata because "we don't beat women."
The other side: Bird, a former state lawmaker from Westminster, cited an unspecified scheduling conflict for her absence. In a statement to Axios Denver, campaign manager Eve Zhurbinskiy blasted the piñata stunt.
- "It's appalling that Manny Rutinel and Evan Munsing stood on a stage and condoned a woman being depicted as a piñata," she said. "At a time when political violence is on the rise, it's sad to see candidates stoop so low."
Zoom in: The friction point between Bird — a moderate, business-friendly Democrat — and progressive candidates and organizations is immigration.
In 2025, Bird voted in committee against a bill to prohibit local law enforcement from cooperating with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. She opposed a provision in the bill that leveled $50,000 fines against officials who violate the law.
- Bird missed the bill's final vote because of a family emergency, but she told Axios she would have voted to approve it.
Rutinel highlighted Bird's record at the forum. "I'm the only Democrat in this race that has voted to protect immigrants from ICE's brutality time and time again, and I'll let my piñata opponent say her piece on why she decided to vote against those protections," Rutinel added.
Host organization COLOR supports the abolishment of ICE, but none of the three challengers embraced the idea.
- Instead, Rutinel and Munsing endorsed requirements for federal immigration agents to wear body cameras and badges, not face masks. Bird also supports these policies.
- All three have also called for pathways to citizenship for people who are in the country illegally.
What she's saying: In an interview ahead of the forum, Bird defended her record, saying she supported legislation to prohibit ICE from arresting people at courthouses and a measure to create an immigration legal defense fund.
- "To be clear, for years, I have voted time and time again to support immigrants and to stand up to ICE terror," she told us.
The bottom line: The fault lines in the Democratic race are becoming more visible — and distracting to the party's quest to flip the seat.