Democratic congressional candidate Evan Munsing announced Wednesday that he was suspending his campaign to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans in Colorado’s most competitive U.S. House district, saying his bid to run as an outsider committed to reform has been drowned out by a flood of spending by Washington insiders.

Munsing’s withdrawal less than two weeks before primary ballots start going out to voters leaves two Democrats in the race to take on Evans: state Rep. Manny Rutinel, D-Commerce City, and former state Rep. Shannon Bird, D-Westminster.

While Munsing’s name will appear on ballots, his votes won’t be counted in the June 30 primary. He said he isn’t making an endorsement in the primary but could in the future.

“I launched this campaign based on a specific belief: that our political system is in need of serious reform and that political elites serve their own interests and those of the donor class rather than serving the American people,” Munsing said in a statement.

“But that same political class in Washington has already decided on their preferred candidates in this race and have begun to flood our TV screens with their dark money ads,” he added. “This is exactly the sort of corrupt, back-room deals I was fighting and which are so offensive to American voters: because when money speaks, our voices are drowned out.”

The first-time candidate, a Marine Corps combat veteran and investment executive, struggled to match the fundraising totals posted by the incumbent and his two leading Democratic challengers, who reported more than $9.5 million raised between them through the end of March.

Munsing raised just over $600,000 and finished the most recent quarter with $108,000 in the bank, lagging Rutinel’s nearly $3.5 million and Bird’s nearly $1.8 million. Rutinel headed into the primary with $1.76 million on hand, and Bird had just over $1 million.

Evans, who doesn’t face a primary, has raised over $4.2 million and has $3.4 million remaining.

Created ahead of the 2022 election, the 8th CD covers parts of Adams, Weld and Larimer counties north of the Denver metro area. Decided by less than a 1 percentage point margin in the last two elections, it’s the only Colorado congressional seat considered a toss-up by national election forecasters and is considered crucial to determining which party controls the chamber after this year’s election.

Munsing was the first candidate to qualify for this year’s ballot after submitting petition signatures in January. He’s the fourth Democrat to exit the primary, following withdrawals by term-limited State Treasurer Dave Young, former state teachers union president Amie Baca-Oehlert, and former U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo, who lost the seat to Evans in 2024 by fewer than 2,500 votes.

Munsing said Wednesday that outside spending by national political action committees shaped the race “long before primary voters were asked to weigh in.”

“I began my run for Congress with the conviction that an outsider with a record of military service, business experience, and serious commitment to reform could compete in this district on the strength of those things,” Munsing said. “Polling data showed that voters here were hungry for exactly that profile — but Washington insiders prefer to bankroll career politicians rather than see outsiders win critical races.”

Munsing said he intends to continue working to reform what he describes as a broken political system.

“The causes that drew me into this race — fighting corruption by ending congressional stock trading and enacting term and age limits, restoring the constitutional balance between Congress and the executive, protecting individual freedoms like reproductive rights, and getting unlimited money out of politics — that fight doesn’t end when one candidacy does,” Munsing said.