This week on the Get More Smarter Podcast, our seemingly never-ending quest to interview every Democrat in a competitive primary for an important election in Colorado in 2026 has netted us one more Friend of the Pod - State Rep. Manny Rutinel (a self-proclaimed long time listener and first time caller) who is running for the Democratic nomination to take on our 8th favorite member of congress from Colorado joined us this week to talk about his campaign, how he plans to win the primary and the general, and how he has gotten so popular online.
Manny grew up as the son of a single immigrant mom who worked hard to give Manny and his brother a better life. His family lived paycheck to paycheck, relying on food stamps and Medicare to make ends meet. He worked his way through school, sleeping on friends’ couches, substitute teaching, and even selling his own plasma to help his family before earning a law degree from Yale. Rutinel also worked as an economist for the US Army Corp of Engineers, an attorney, and served as a First Responder in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
Manny was elected to fill a vacancy in the Colorado House of Representatives in October of 2023, and has since gone on to cosponsor over 400 bills. Now Manny is running against our 8th favorite member of Congress from Colorado, and is our first guest in a 3-part series to interview every Democrat running in the 8th district. Next week, we’ve got former State Rep. Shannon Bird, and the week after that, political newcomer and military veteran Evan Munsing will join us!
You can follow Manny all over the internet, just don’t follow him to his car, that would be weird.
Twitter: https://x.com/MannyRutinel
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mannyforcolorado
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@mannyrutinel
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mannyrutinel/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mannyrutinel
Website: https://www.mannyforcolorado.com/
That’s it for this episode! If you loved watching and/or listening to it as much as we loved recording it, you can thank us by subscribing to the pod wherever you listen, following us over on New Old Twitter AKA Bluesky, subscribing to our shiny new channel on YouTube, smashing that subscribe button on our Substack, and sharing this episode with your friends, your enemies, and your favorite plasma donating viral online sensation! THANK YOU so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time!
