Melat Kiros, 29, had never run for office. In Colorado’s 1st Congressional District primary she beat Rep. Diana DeGette, who has held the Denver seat for 30 years.
Kiros, backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, took 53% of the vote to DeGette’s 39.8%. A third candidate, Wanda James, got 7.02%. The district is solidly Democratic, so the primary is the contest that matters.
The result came shortly after a run of New York City primaries in which candidates backed by DSA and Mayor Zohran Mamdani defeated congresspeople supported by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Darializa Avila Chevalier was among the winners.
Other Colorado results
In the 8th District, a swing seat, socialist Manny Rutinel beat Shannon Bird, a self-styled Blue Dog Democrat, by 30 points.
Senator Michael Bennet lost his bid to be the Democratic nominee for governor, falling handily to Attorney General Phil Weiser. Establishment candidates did better elsewhere. They won the four-way attorney general race, and Sen. John Hickenlooper kept his seat by beating Julie Gonzalez. She entered the race late, did little campaigning and lost by 5.8%.
Progressive Chela Garcia Irlando also won the state Senate primary for Gonzalez’s old seat, defeating Andrés Carrera, a former staffer for Governor Jared Polis.
A columnist’s reading
Jezebel, in a commentary, called Kiros’s win another blow to the Democratic establishment. The writer, a Denver native, argued that big-city voters under 40 are revolting against party leaders including Chuck Schumer, Jeffries and Dick Durbin, and said the party’s voters will replace incumbents who do not change course. The piece cited the idea from Brad Lander, who was elected to Congress in the New York wave, that the party divides into “fighters” and “folders.”
That is one writer’s view. The vote totals above are the reported results.
