Democratic Socialist Melat Kiros Defeats Longtime Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette

Democratic socialist Melat Kiros defeated longtime Rep. Diana DeGette in Colorado’s 1st District Democratic primary on Tuesday, handing another loss to the establishment wing of the Democratic Party.

The Associated Press called the race late Tuesday, with Kiros leading DeGette 49.3% to 43.5%. DeGette, 68, has represented the Denver-area district since 1997. Kiros, 29, is a Democratic Socialists of America member, a Ph.D. student and a former attorney.

The result comes after a series of socialist and far-left primary victories in New York, where establishment-backed Democrats lost to candidates supported by democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Kiros is now expected to advance toward Congress from a district rated strongly Democratic by the Cook Political Report.

DeGette warned voters shortly before the primary that they should not replace her with an inexperienced challenger. “Now is not the time to gamble and send somebody with no experience to Washington,” she said at a candidate forum last week.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Monday that DeGette was “forcefully making her case” for re-election, while adding, “We’ll see what happens.”

Kiros, who was born in Ethiopia, was backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders and ran against Democratic leadership during the 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.”

In a recent interview with left-wing podcaster Hasan Piker, Kiros listed her top issues as “Medicare for all. Housing first. Universal child care. Abolishing ICE. And more than anything … publicly financed elections.”

Kiros has also drawn criticism for her comments on Israel and terrorism. In the same interview, she described the Hamas terrorists’ Oct. 7, attack on Israel as an “inevitable consequence” of Israel’s actions.

She also attempted to justify the Sept. 11 attacks by saying they were “inevitable” because of U.S. policy in the Middle East. “Inevitable in the sense that we destabilized a lot of the Middle East that forced people to believe that another act of violence was the only response and the responsibility is getting rid of those conditions,” she said.

Kiros has called for ending U.S. aid to Israel. She was also criticized after refusing to call the June 2025 firebombing of a pro-Israel rally in Boulder antisemitic. In 2023, she was fired from the New York office of Sidley Austin after signing an open letter arguing that calls for the elimination of Israel are not antisemitic.

Her victory follows primary wins by Brad Lander, Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez in New York City, all backed by Mamdani. Lander and Chevalier defeated candidates supported by Jeffries, while Valdez won the primary to replace retiring Rep. Nydia Velazquez.

Kiros now moves to the general election in Colorado’s 1st District. In another Colorado race Tuesday, incumbent Sen. John Hickenlooper defeated state Sen. Julie Gonzales, a former DSA member, in the Democratic Senate primary.