Insurgent socialist challenger Melat Kiros ousted veteran Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) on Tuesday in Colorado’s 1st Congressional District Democratic primary, delivering another setback to the party’s establishment ranks.
When the Associated Press projected the race late Tuesday, Kiros was leading the longtime incumbent 49.3% to 43.5%.
Her victory in the reliably Democratic district comes after a series of June wins in New York by socialist and far-left contenders against sitting lawmakers and establishment-favored Democrats. The result is likely to push the House Democratic caucus further left after the midterm elections.
“Now is not the time to gamble and send somebody with no experience to Washington,” DeGette, a 15-term Democrat, warned during a candidate forum last week.
DeGette, 68, was first elected to Congress in 1997 and has represented the Denver area for longer than Kiros, 29, has been alive.
“We need a strong, bold, hardened leader who will hold Trump accountable, and when we win the majority in November, will have real power to move the US to a more just and affordable America … That leader is me,” DeGette said as she made her closing pitch.
The incumbent also entered the race with a lengthy list of backers, including Colorado’s Democratic members of Congress, the House Progressive Caucus, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and several major labor unions.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said Monday that DeGette was “forcefully making her case” for another term, while adding a note of uncertainty: “We’ll see what happens.”
Jeffries went on to blame President Trump for the “unsettled electoral environment” wreaking havoc on incumbent Democrats, according to CBS News.
With Trump being in office, “It’s not a surprise that there are highly competitive primaries in deep blue parts of the country that are also unfolding this cycle,” the Brooklyn Democrat said.
Kiros, an Ethiopia-born Ph.D. student and former attorney backed by socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), slammed Democratic leadership throughout her campaign.
“The reality is Democrats have the worst approval rating we’ve had in decades, because we’ve failed to actually do anything for working people,” Kiros said at the candidate forum. “In order for the Democratic Party to actually fulfill its progressive agenda, we need to have members that are unbought and unafraid to stand up to the billionaires and corporations.”
Kiros listed her top five issues as “Medicare for all. Housing first. Universal child care. Abolishing ICE. And more than anything … publicly financed elections,” in a recent interview with controversial lefty podcaster Hasan Piker.
In that same interview, Kiros described Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel as an “inevitable consequence” of Israel’s actions.
Kiros went viral in the weeks after the Hamas attack for writing an open letter arguing that calling for the elimination of Israel isn’t antisemitic. The open letter resulted in her firing from the New York office of the Sidley Austin law firm.
The Democratic Socialists of America member, who has called for ending US aid to Israel, has also come under fire for refusing to call the June 2025 Boulder, Colo., firebombing of a pro-Israel rally antisemitic.
Kiros is expected to cruise in the general election, as Colorado’s 1st District is rated solidly Democratic by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
She’ll likely be joined in Congress by New York City’s lefty trio of former DSA member Brad Lander and current DSA members Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez — who were all backed by democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Lander and Chevalier topped Jeffries-backed candidates, Reps. Dan Goldman (D-NY) and Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) earlier this month, while Valdez beat establishment-aligned candidates in the primary race to replace retiring Rep. Nydia Velazquez.
However, the socialists were less lucky in another Centennial State race Tuesday.
Incumbent Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) emerged victorious in the Colorado Democratic Senate primary over state Sen. Julie Gonzales, a former member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
