Colorado Democrats picked a 29-year-old newcomer over a House member who has served about three decades. The Associated Press projected on Tuesday night that Melat Kiros, a democratic socialist, won the primary in the 1st Congressional District, which is based in Denver, over Rep. Diana DeGette.
The bottom line for November: the Cook Political Report rates the seat solidly Democratic. Kiros will face Republican nominee Christie Peterson, an accountant who was uncontested in the GOP primary.
By the numbers
DeGette is 68. Kiros was born in Ethiopia in 1997, the year DeGette arrived in Congress, and finished law school at the University of Notre Dame in 2022. Her challenge drew on the Democratic Socialists of America, Justice Democrats and an endorsement from Sen. Bernie Sanders. Justice Democrats said it helped Kiros and her allies knock on tens of thousands of doors and make more than 200,000 calls since the previous week.
The result came a week after insurgent candidates beat incumbent or incumbent-backed Democrats in New York City primaries, with help from Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Other Colorado results
Attorney General Phil Weiser edged Sen. Michael Bennet in the Democratic primary for governor, the AP reported. Gov. Jared Polis is term-limited. Weiser cast himself as the insurgent and tied Bennet to Washington gridlock.
In the 8th District, a battleground seat held by a Republican, state Rep. Manny Rutinel, 31, was projected to beat former state lawmaker Shannon Bird for the Democratic nomination. He will face Rep. Gabe Evans in November.
Sen. John Hickenlooper beat a progressive challenge from state Sen. Julie Gonzales. He will meet Republican Mark Baisley, a state senator who ran unopposed.
The campaign
In 2023 Kiros wrote a blog post rejecting claims that law students who protested Israel’s counterattack after 7 October were antisemitic. The New York law firm where she worked fired her after she declined to take it down. ABC News described the same episode as an open letter criticizing her employers’ response to pro-Palestinian protests.
Israel and Gaza ran through her campaign. In an interview with Colorado Public Radio, Kiros accused Israel of carrying out a genocide in Gaza and called for a US arms embargo. DeGette, who voted against additional military aid to Israel, said she believes the country has a right to exist and defend itself.
DeGette’s campaign criticized Kiros over her answer on the 2025 firebombing of pro-Israel demonstrators in Boulder. “I don’t know what was in the heart of the perpetrator,” Kiros told 9News. Speaking to ABC News the day before the vote, she called it “a horrific attack on a group of Jewish people that were just engaging in peaceful protest” and said she is committed to combating antisemitism.
DeGette, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and a House impeachment manager during Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial, had argued her experience made her effective against the Trump administration. “Denver knows I don’t back down,” she said in a statement to ABC News before the primary.
Kiros told ABC News that voters are “really tired of the party failing to meaningfully represent the values and policies that are extremely popular with our base.” Doug Friednash, an attorney who was chief of staff to Hickenlooper, said DeGette is “very progressive” and not a moderate, and that young voters are demanding change over health care costs and gas prices.
Sources
- Democratic socialist Melat Kiros defeats 15-term incumbent in Colorado House primary
- Democratic socialist Melat Kiros defeats longtime incumbent Democrat Rep. Diana DeGette in Colorado primary: AP projection
