Politics
REPORT: Former Dem Rep. Attempted Suicide Twice During 2024 Campaign
A former Democratic member of Congress tried to take her own life while campaigning for reelection last year, according to a new report.
Yadira Caraveo, who served one term before losing to Republican Gave Evans (R-CO), attempted suicide twice during the 2024 election cycle. The attempted reportedly involved prescription overdoses in February and April, causing prolonged emergency responses at her Colorado home and congressional office.
Both incidents went unreported until now and only came to light because Caraveo recently announced her intention to try and take back her old seat in 2026.
Emergency records reviewed by the Colorado Sun show that on Feb. 8, 2024, a 911 call was made by aides to the former congresswoman, who they reported was exhibiting suicidal behavior. First responders arrived at her residence, where Caraveo allegedly told officers that she had taken 19 sleeping pills and mixed them with alcohol to “put me to sleep for a while.”
She was taken by ambulance to St. Anthony North Hospital in Westminster, where she was placed in a 72-hour involuntary hold to make sure she was no longer a threat to herself, the outlet states.
In a separate incident almost exactly two months later, aides on April 6 found her unresponsive at her district office in Northglenn after reportedly taking 20 lorazepam pills, a sedative used to treat anxiety. A recording of the 911 call made at the time shows that the response was treated as a potential overdose.
Caraveo had been scheduled to meet with leaders of the Latino community and launch her regional campaign office later that day. Instead, she was again transported by ambulance to the medical facility, and the events proceeded without her.
Despite the grounded public interest in the lawmaker’s well-being, lawyers for Caraveo threatened the local outlet with a cease-and-desist order attempting to suppress publication of the story one day before the election. After she lost, the Sun chose not to publish its report until she declared that she would re-enter public life for the 2026 cycle.
Aides to Caraveo, speaking anonymously, told the Daily Caller they felt compelled to come forward after listening to their boss downplay both episodes during a recent interview with Colorado Public Radio. On one occasion, she blamed reporting about the February overdose as a misunderstanding of a text message and said she took a dose of sleeping pills “just shy of” requiring ICU care.
The April overdose, she claimed, was a side effect of treating a foot injury.
“There was one instance in which I took my usual sleeping pills, and they didn’t work. And so I took a couple of more and they didn’t work, and I took a couple of more and I was still awake and anxious,” Caraveo said. “I remember going online and — ever the doctor — looking up the dose that would land me in the intensive care unit and then taking just shy of that.”
“I had been talking to a staffer at the time about what my schedule was the following day. And I had texted her, ‘If I don’t wake up tomorrow, tell everybody that I’m sorry.’ And so she ended up calling 9-1-1 and an ambulance came to my house.”
The Northglenn Police Department and Adams County Sheriff’s Office both denied the Sun’s request for public records, citing HIPAA protections despite the obvious public interest in their release. Caraveo’s office did not respond to a request for comment from the Caller.
