WASHINGTON — The momentum behind democratic socialism is pushing farther west.
Melat Kiros, a 29-year-old political newcomer, delivered one of Tuesday’s biggest surprises by defeating 15-term Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado in a primary upset that underscored the party’s growing leftward pressure on issues including Israel and immigration enforcement.
Kiros, an Ethiopian-born PhD student, has built her campaign around a sharply progressive platform. She has called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, suggested the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks were “inevitable,” and played down claims that the firebombing of a Jewish rally should be viewed as an act of antisemitism.
Because her district is considered safely Democratic, Kiros is widely expected to win a seat in the House of Representatives. If elected, she has said she intends to push Democrats as far left as possible and oppose House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York in any bid to become speaker.
Political awakening
Many of Kiros’ views took shape during her years at Notre Dame Law School in the early 2020s, a period she has described as a political awakening amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the height of progressive campus activism.
“I literally watched the Federalist Society handpicking some of my classmates onto the judge track in their decades-long bid to pack the courts,” she said, according to Vox. “…I just lost faith in the system; I think a lot of young people did.”
After graduating from law school in 2022, Kiros joined Sidley Austin in New York as a regulatory and enforcement associate. She was dismissed the following year after authoring a viral open letter criticizing law firms that sought to crack down on antisemitism on college campuses.
“By chilling future lawyers’ employment prospects for criticism of the Israeli government’s actions and its legitimacy, you are complicit in Israel’s weaponization of anti-Semitism against legitimate concerns for the right of self-determination and the livelihood of the Palestinian people,” she wrote in the letter.
Sidley Austin demanded she take the letter down, but Kiros claims she refused and was fired as a result.
“I didn’t flinch because I stood by every word and I always will,” she boasted during her victory speech Tuesday.
That move drew headlines and boosted her name recognition in lefty circles.
After losing her law gig, Kiros moved back to Colorado, where her family had immigrated while she was just 11-months-old. Her father had been picked in America’s Diversity Visa Lottery, per her campaign website.
Back home, she enrolled in a PhD program in public policy and worked as a barista.
Then, in the middle of last year, she decided to launch a seemingly long-shot primary challenge against DeGette, who is widely considered to be a very progressive lawmaker and has served in Congress longer than Kiros has been alive.
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DeGette had the backing of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
But Kiros’ candidacy caught fire with the DSA and other lefty groups that were hunting for candidates to take on incumbent Democrats and push the party further leftwards.
One of the major differences between the two was Kiros’ tougher stance against Israel. DeGette faced grassroots pushback for supporting defensive aid to Israel.
Kiros, however, made tough talk against the Jewish state a feature of her campaign.
For example, she told notorious lefty streamer Hasan Piker that the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack was an “inevitable consequence of apartheid,” though she later clarified she wasn’t trying to say it was justified.
Piker is a very controversial streamer, having declared that “America deserved 9/11″ and praised the “brave mujahideen” who injured Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas).
In a similar vein, she told 9News journalist Kyle Clark that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were an “inevitable consequence” of US foreign policy.
Kiros has stirred local controversy for downplaying the role of antisemitism in the June 1, 2025, firebombing attack at a weekly Jewish gathering aimed at bringing attention to the Israeli hostages taken by Hamas. One person was killed and a dozen were injured in that attack.
The attacker, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, screamed “Free Palestine” before later stating that he “wanted to kill all Zionist people,” according to the FBI.
Kiros repeatedly declined to call it antisemitism and told NOTUS that it wasn’t “entirely obvious that it was just motivated by antisemitism.”
Many of her positions are similar to those of other DSA members, including support for Medicare for All, a modified Green New Deal, and mass amnesty. Kiros also wants a 10% slash in Pentagon spending.
“People are seeing that capitalism is responsible for a lot of the degradation that we’re seeing in our economy, that we’re seeing in our democracy, that we’re certainly seeing in our climate as well,” she claimed in a recent interview.
“They’re demanding a new way to organize our economy.”
Should she win in November, she will be the first Gen. Z woman to serve in Congress and the second Zoomer overall, after Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.)
She is riding a socialist revolt within the Democratic Party, as far-left candidates have won primaries across New York, Maine, Illinois, and elsewhere heading into the midterms.
