On March 23—a week into the strike by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 at the JBS beef plant in Greeley—Kim Cordova, president of UFCW Local 7, said US Rep. Gabe Evans (R-Fort Lupton) called her directly to offer his support to the 3,800 striking meatpackers who produce roughly 5% of the US beef supply.
“He had committed that he was going to stand with the workers who are actually the constituents in Greeley,” Cordova said to the Colorado Times Recorder in May. “We told him to come out on the picket line, we asked him to send a letter to JBS … to demand that [management] come to the table and stop their unfair labor practices.”
Evans did neither. According to Cordova and CTR, he never showed up to the picket line, sent the letter or made any public statement during the three weeks his constituents were on strike.
This isn’t the first time Evans has voiced support for the company. Last year, he was quoted in a press release from JBS, praising the company’s plans to expand the Greeley facility, and has posted photos of himself touring the facility and meeting with JBS executives on social media.
A commitment, then a check
FEC records show that on Feb. 23—a month before that phone call with Cordova and just weeks after Local 7 members voted 99% to authorize a strike — Evans’ campaign accepted a $5,000 contribution from JBS’s own political action committee. It was the second time his campaign accepted the company’s donation; the PAC had given another $5,000 in May 2025.
From when the strike began on March 16 to the official end on April 7, Evans said nothing publicly. Colorado Times Recorder reported that he didn’t respond to its requests for comment when the strike began, or months later when the outlet asked again about the contributions and his private conversation with Cordova. JBS and its lobbying firm, Cornerstone Government Affairs — whose senior employees separately gave Evans more than $10,000 in 2024 and 2025, as reported by CTR — also did not respond to the outlet’s questions about the meetings or the money.
Courier Colorado separately sought comment from Evans’ campaign on the same questions — the contributions and Cordova’s account of their conversation. Evans’ campaign did not respond to our request.
A visit, and a refusal
Evans did eventually set foot inside the plant on April 2, two days before negotiations resumed and weeks into the strike. Cordova and UFCW Local 7 members said his team wanted a photo-op framed as a show of solidarity.
“They wanted to do a photo op with our members, and I said, ‘No, we want to see what you’re going to do first, but you’re not here to take a photo op as if you stood side by side with us.’ We told him about all of the human rights violations, the allegations of human trafficking, what was going on with wage theft. … He just never did anything about it; he stood on the side of the company.”
– UFCW Local 7 President Kim Cordova, to CTR
Workers only found out about Evans’ meeting with JBS when they spotted a screen in the plant’s lobby, arranged by the company, welcoming “Congressman Gabe Evans” alongside a photo of a field representative from his office.
What it cost, and what it means
The strike ended after three weeks. Workers ratified a new contract on April 12 with a 93% approval vote, winning wage increases, a one-time $750 bonus, and a requirement that the company pay for protective equipment — the same issues they’d walked out over in the first place. JBS disputed the union’s characterization of the deal as a major win, with a company spokesperson saying the wage terms reflected the same offer already on the table before the strike began.
Colorado’s 8th Congressional District remains one of the most competitive in the country. Evans now faces Democratic state Rep. Manny Rutinel (D-Commerce City), who won the June 30 primary, in a race both parties agree could help decide control of the House this November. National Democrats are already spending against him: House Majority Forward, a group aligned with House Democratic leadership, launched a Spanish-language TV ad against Evans in early August tied to his vote for the GOP’s budget law, backed by initial buy of just under $200,000. The episode highlights the tension between Evans’ constituents and one of his campaign’s most prominent campaign donors — and, so far, records show the donor coming out ahead.
Cordova, for her part, said she’s not looking for politicians who show up once.
“I don’t like any politician to just show up at a picket line for a photo op. We really want to see real advocacy for workers, for human beings,” said Cordova. “We don’t want to hear from you every four years, right? We need to see you every day. We don’t want ‘windwalkers,’ people that we hear exist, but never see.” (CTR, May 18)
“I don’t like any politician to just show up at a picket line for a photo op. We really want to see real advocacy for workers, for human beings. We don’t want to hear from you every four years, right? We need to see you every day. We don’t want ‘windwalkers,’ people that we hear exist, but never see.”
– UFCW Local 7 President Kim Cordova, to CTR
