Kiros Defeats DeGette in Colorado Primary Upset

Melat Kiros, a 29-year-old democratic socialist, defeated 15-term incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette in the Democratic primary for Colorado's 1st Congressional District on Tuesday, ending nearly three decades of DeGette's tenure in the heavily Democratic Denver seat.

Kiros led by roughly six to nine points as the race was called

Kiros took approximately 51.3 percent of the vote to DeGette's 41.7 percent when the race was called, with CU Regent Wanda James finishing a distant third. DeGette, 68, is Colorado's longest-serving member of Congress and campaigned on her legislative experience and record on reproductive rights. Kiros, born in Ethiopia in 1997 and raised in Colorado from infancy, holds a law degree from Notre Dame and was pursuing a public policy PhD while working as a barista during the campaign. She was fired from the corporate law firm Sidley Austin in 2023 after publishing a letter defending pro-Palestinian college protesters and criticizing law firms' responses to the October 7 attacks. She was endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders and the group Justice Democrats.

The candidates split over corporate PAC money and military aid to Israel

Both candidates supported similar progressive domestic priorities, including Medicare for All and abolishing ICE, but diverged sharply on two points. Kiros pledged to refuse corporate PAC contributions and argued that DeGette's acceptance of healthcare industry donations shaped her legislative agenda. The candidates also split on U.S. military aid to Israel: DeGette supported Israel's right to defend itself and funding for systems such as Iron Dome, while Kiros opposed all U.S. military aid to Israel and accused the country of genocide. In her victory speech, Kiros told supporters, "We will not wait to take the fight to Donald Trump and the oligarchy."

DeGette's campaign attacked Kiros over comments on a 2025 Boulder firebombing

In the campaign's final weeks, DeGette ran ads accusing Kiros of antisemitism after Kiros declined to explicitly label a 2025 firebombing attack on a Jewish rally in Boulder as antisemitic. Kiros said at the time, "I don't know what was in the heart of the perpetrator. All I know is that he went and attacked innocent people." The exchange became a central point of contention in the race's closing stretch, alongside the broader debate over Kiros's position on Israel.

Outside super PACs spent millions to defend DeGette before losing

As the primary neared, establishment-aligned outside groups spent heavily on DeGette's behalf, including more than $1.5 million from Pro-Choice Majority Action and $485,000 from the dark-money group Mile High Accountability Project. That spending did not change the outcome. Adam Green of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee said the result "shows that the public is done with a stale status quo."

Kiros's win follows a national pattern, but Colorado's other primaries cut the other way

Kiros's victory came a week after left-wing challengers ousted Reps. Adriano Espaillat and Dan Goldman in New York primaries, continuing what Tuesday's results across Colorado suggest was uneven momentum for the party's insurgent wing rather than a uniform trend. In the same primary, Sen. John Hickenlooper defeated progressive state Sen. Julie Gonzales in the Senate race, and Attorney General Phil Weiser beat Sen. Michael Bennet in the gubernatorial primary. Colorado's wider primary results show that challengers backed by the party's left flank did not win across the board, even as Kiros's win added to the Democratic Socialists of America's gains this cycle.

Kiros faces uncontested Republican nominee Christie Peterson in November in a district that has voted reliably Democratic for decades, making her win in the primary the effective decision in the race.