Melat Kiros, a 29-year-old Democratic Socialist, defeated Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado in Tuesday’s primary election, ending the Denver congresswoman’s nearly three-decade hold on the seat.
Kiros’s victory over DeGette and fellow challenger Wanda James marked the latest sign of the progressive wing’s deepening influence over the Democratic Party.
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Her win follows a string of recent primary upsets by candidates aligned with Democratic Socialist policies, including in New York, were Rep. Adriano Espaillat, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and Rep. Dan Goldman, member of the House Judiciary Committee, were both unseated by left-wing challengers.
In cities including Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, candidates who are members of Democratic Socialists of America have also notched wins in the congressional and mayoral races.
In an address following her victory, Kiros said: “Denver voters of all ages, of all races, of all religions sent a clear message: We will not wait!”
“We believe that fundamental change can, and will, happen if we fight for it—if we organize and show no fear in standing up for what’s right,” she continued. “That is the message that Denver has sent to both parties, to [President] Donald Trump, and to the entire country.”
If elected in November, Kiros will represent Colorado’s 1st Congressional District, a safely Democratic seat centered on Denver. Outside groups have spent more than $1 million over the final weeks of the primary in an effort to defeat Kiros, federal campaign finance records show. Pro-Choice Majority Action, a recently founded PAC that has been spending heavily on attack ads against Kiros, received its funding from a chain of pass-through PACs that link back to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Unlike other Democratic incumbents ousted in New York, DeGette is far from a moderate Democrat. She is an advocate for Medicare for All, and has called for ICE to be abolished, but she and Kiros diverge on the issue of Israel. While DeGette has maintained that Israel has a right to defend itself and has voted to fund Israel’s missile-defense systems such as the Iron Dome, Kiros is a strong opponent of sending any form of military aid to Israel.
Who is Melat Kiros?
Melat Kiros was born in 1997 in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, the same year DeGette took office. She moved with her family to Colorado as an infant and was raised in the Denver area.
Kiros went on to study political science and economics at Washington College in Maryland. She became a lawyer after earning her law degree from the University of Notre Dame in 2022.
In 2023, Kiros wrote an article defending pro-Palestinian students and criticizing law firms’ responses to student activism after the Hamas terror attack on Israel.
After being asked to take down the article, Kiros refused, and she was fired a day later from Sidley Austin, one of the biggest law firms in the U.S. She then became a PhD student while working as a barista to cover her living expenses.
“I’ll never forget the messages I got in the days after [the firing] from lawyers across the country, saying they wish they could’ve spoken up too,” Kiros said in an interview on Tuesday. “But they couldn’t risk losing their health care or losing their childcare.”
Asked about why she wanted to launch an insurgent campaign against someone who has held the position for three decades, Kiros pitched herself as someone who will fight against the corruption within the institution.
“The best way you’re going to get re-elected is by outspending your opponent. The fastest way to fundraise without taking your eyes off of your legislative agenda is to go to the corporations and the wealthiest donors,” Kiros said in an interview last month. “Whether you see it or not consciously, it’s there and it plays into your legislation.”
As a progressive candidate backed by the DSA and Sen. Bernie Sanders, Kiros pledged to reject corporate PAC donations, end U.S. military aid to Israel, abolish ICE, support the Green New Deal, and a nationwide moratorium on data centers .
“For me, socialism is about making it clear: we have basic needs.” Kiros said in an interview with a local outlet. “What kind of a society do we want to live in? It doesn’t have to be this hard for people to be able to get by.”