In 2024, Gabe Evans put a huge banner on his campaign website highlighting Donald Trump’s endorsement of his run for Congress. Then a Republican state representative, Evans was running to unseat the Democratic incumbent in Colorado’s 8th Congressional District north of Denver. Trump went on to win the presidency for a second time, and Evans got a promotion to the U.S. House.

Evans won that seat in 2024, defeating Democratic incumbent Yadira Caraveo in a race that flipped Colorado's 8th District to Republican control.

The environment for Republicans is dramatically different this election cycle.

Voters throughout the country, including many who supported Trump two years ago, don’t like the way he’s running the country. The cost of living is high and increasing. Trump started a war of choice in Iran that most Americans oppose. His administration throttled release of the full Epstein files. His immigration enforcement program is out of control. Corruption throughout his administration is brazen and massive.

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Some Republicans like Evans appear to have taken note. He’s running for reelection in one of the nation’s handful of toss-up districts. But there’s no more Trump banner on his website, even though the president in April announced Evans has his “Complete and Total Endorsement.” In fact, there’s no mention at all of Trump’s endorsement.

Trump has endorsed all four members of Congress from Colorado, but they have responded to that support in various ways.

Representative Lauren Boebert is running for reelection in Colorado’s most conservative district, the 4th, which covers the Eastern Plains. She’s been an outspoken MAGA adherent from her first run for Congress in 2020 and helped Trump spread election lies as he tried to overturn his loss that year. The endorsements page on her website features a banner that touts Trump’s endorsement of her, just like it did in 2024.

Representative Jeff Crank is a slightly different story. The incumbent in Colorado’s 5th Congressional District, which covers Colorado Springs, in 2024 had an “endorsements” link to a page that cited Trump’s support. The website looks largely the same this year, except for several notable alterations. In 2024, the site’s headline was “A Strong Colorado Conservative to Fight for Us.” Now the “conservative” label is gone, replaced with “A Strong Fighter for Southern Colorado.” And the link to the endorsements page has been removed. On social media, Crank highlighted Trump’s endorsement of his reelection campaign, but that was more than a year ago, before many of the developments that have tanked Trump’s approval rating.

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Representative Jeff Hurd, who represents much of the Western Slope, has long had an uncomfortable relationship with Trump. The president endorsed a primary challenger in February, after Hurd voted to repeal Trump’s tariffs on Canada. Perhaps persuaded by an adviser that this juvenile act of retaliation could hurt the GOP prospects in November, Trump endorsed Hurd the following month, and Hurd highlighted the president’s support on social media. The endorsements page on his campaign website makes no mention of Trump’s endorsement, but neither did it in 2024.

To whatever degree Colorado Republicans distance themselves from Trump, their wariness aligns with a national trend. Reuters reported this week that “two-thirds of Republican candidates in competitive U.S. House and Senate races have broken with President Donald Trump on policy or played down ties to him … as his unpopularity threatens the party’s hold on Congress.” Few Republican candidates are in a more competitive House race than Evans.

Trump’s unpopularity is at historic levels. A polling average this week showed that just 37% of Americans approve of him. This reflects disapproval even among his base. A poll of Colorado voters in April showed similar results — for the first time, the percentage of respondents who had a favorable view of Trump dropped even among Republicans.

But even if any of Colorado’s House Republicans refrain from broadcasting the president’s support, all four of them are strongly aligned with Trump’s agenda. All four voted for H.R. 1, Trump’s signature 2025 bill, which did so much to cut healthcare and food assistance, and to benefit wealthy Americans. All four voted against reining in Trump’s war powers in Iran, even as Republican colleagues helped pass a measure that would do so. Evans this year has appeared at events in Colorado with Chris Wright, Trump’s Energy secretary, and Markwayne Mullin, Trump’s Homeland Security secretary.

“The President and I share the same goals,” Hurd said in March.

Any one of Colorado’s four House Republicans could say the same.