Socialist candidate Melat Kiros won her primary in Colorado’s 1st Congressional District, defeating incumbent Democratic Representative Diana DeGette, who has held the seat for nearly three decades.
Kiros, a virulently anti-Israel political newcomer who was backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, is the latest far-left progressive challenger to oust an establishment incumbent in a Democratic House primary in recent weeks.
The 29-year-old Ph.D student and barista overcame a significant fundraising disadvantage to win the Democratic nomination for the Denver-area seat. Given the partisan makeup of the area, Kiros is expected to claim the seat in the general election in November.
The race was not called for Kiros until late Tuesday night, and she secured just over 50 percent of the vote. The district, the most liberal in the state, voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris by 56 points in the 2024 election.
Kiros, who is from Ethiopia, is the latest member of Gen Z hoping to join Congress this fall. Her family moved to Colorado when she was an infant, through the United States’ Diversity Visa Lottery, and she was raised in the Denver area. Kiros was born in 1997, the same year DeGette took office.
DeGette barely secured a spot on the primary ballot after she was challenged by Kiros at the March Democratic convention. Delegates granted DeGette 33 percent of the vote, just barely surpassing the 30 percent threshold needed to qualify.
Kiros’s win comes after three DSA-backed House candidates won their New York primaries earlier this month. The three candidates — Darializa Avila Chevalier, Claire Valdez, and Brad Lander — received a boost from socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Kiros entered politics after she was fired from a Manhattan law firm for criticizing the firm’s response to pro-Palestinian protests.
Just weeks after the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks, a coalition of law firms authored a letter calling for an end to “anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism or any other form of violence, hatred or bigotry on your campuses, in our workplaces or our communities.” In Kiros’s response, she takes issue with the firm’s description of antisemitic activities, which includes “rallies calling for … elimination of the State of Israel.”
Kiros argues that “conflat[ing] such bigotry with the geo-political question of Israel’s legitimacy is one of the greatest travesties in this conflict.” Her letter continues, defending the Palestinian people, suggesting they have experienced “colonialism” and are at risk of undergoing “genocide.”
“I was asked to take the letter down. I said no, and then I was fired,” Kiros previously said.
Kiros has also faced criticism for refusing to acknowledge that the fatal firebombing attack on protesters marching in support of Israeli hostages in Boulder, Colo. was antisemitic.
Kiros said the October 7 Hamas attack and 9/11 terrorist attacks were “inevitable consequences” of the U.S. destabilizing the Middle East. She supports Medicare for all, universal childcare, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as ending all wars. Kiros also expressed opposition to data centers, comparing the expansion of artificial intelligence to an “apocalypse of the robots.”
Leading up to Tuesday’s primary election, money from pro-Israel and pro-data center groups flooded into the race, in an attempt to help DeGette save her seat.
Kiros, who was also endorsed by Independent Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), Justice Democrats, and CAIR Action, ultimately secured the nomination. She will face off against Republican Christy Peterson, Libertarian Chad Humphrey, and Critter Milton representing the Unity Party, in November’s general election.