Democratic socialist Melat Kiros defeats 15-term incumbent in Colorado House primary

Melat Kiros defeats Diana DeGette in Colorado Democratic primary

Melat Kiros defeated 15-term Representative Diana DeGette in Colorado’s Democratic primary for the first congressional district on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. The district covers Denver and surrounding areas and has consistently elected Democrats by wide margins.

Kiros, 29, was born in Ethiopia in 1997, the year DeGette first entered Congress. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame law school in 2022. In 2023 she published a blog post rejecting claims that law students who protested Israel’s response to the October 7 attacks were antisemitic. Her employer, a New York law firm, terminated her after she declined to remove the post. She subsequently entered electoral politics.

Kiros received endorsements from Senator Bernie Sanders, the Democratic Socialists of America, and Justice Democrats. In a statement, Justice Democrats said Kiros had “built a movement that inspired Denverites to remember they themselves have the power to transform what kind of Democratic Party they want to be represented by.” The group’s executive director, Alexandra Rojas, stated that the candidates were winning because voters sought representatives willing to challenge corporations on prices, defense contractors, and immigration enforcement.

DeGette, 68, belongs to the Congressional Progressive Caucus and has backed Medicare for All and the abolition of ICE. Kiros framed her candidacy as a generational contest. She made U.S. policy toward Israel a central issue, telling Colorado Public Radio that Israel was carrying out a genocide in Gaza and calling for an arms embargo. DeGette has opposed offensive arms transfers to Israel while affirming the country’s right to exist and defend itself.

In a separate interview with 9News, Kiros declined to characterize a 2025 firebombing attack on pro-Israel demonstrators in Boulder as antisemitic. She said, “I don’t know what was in the heart of the perpetrator. All I know is that he went and attacked innocent people because of what they might have believed.” Investigators reported that the perpetrator told police his intent was to “kill all Zionist people.” Kiros also described the October 7, 2023 attacks as “the inevitable consequence of apartheid.” She separately characterized the September 11 attacks as “inevitable” given U.S. actions that destabilized parts of the Middle East.

Voters in other Colorado races also favored challengers critical of the party establishment. In the Democratic primary for governor, Attorney General Phil Weiser defeated Senator Michael Bennet. Weiser argued that Bennet had not opposed President Trump’s cabinet nominees with sufficient force. Bennet had represented Colorado in the Senate since 2009.

In the third congressional district, state Representative Manny Rutinel won the Democratic nomination over a more moderate opponent and will face Republican Representative Gabe Evans in November. Evans holds one of the more competitive seats in the state. Incumbent Senator John Hickenlooper defeated state Senator Julie Gonzales to secure the Democratic nomination and will face Republican state Senator Mark Baisley in the general election.

Kiros’s primary victory positions her as the presumptive Democratic nominee in the first district.