Democratic socialist Melat Kiros defeats longtime US House incumbent in Colorado

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

Updated 1:53 AM EDT, July 1, 2026


Democratic socialist Melat Kiros beat U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette in a Colorado House primary Tuesday, a stunning victory for the first-time candidate against a nearly 30-year incumbent and another win for progressive challengers across the country.

Kiros, a 29-year-old lawyer turned doctoral student, is the latest candidate to rise from the party’s left flank and boot establishment-backed candidates. That includes two self-described democratic socialists and a progressive who won their Democratic primaries in New York last week.

Kiros’ victory adds to a nascent but clear uprising, stirred by frustration among some voters, that has vexed party leadership. Colorado’s 1st Congressional District covers the dark blue city of Denver, and Kiros is expected to win in November and reach Congress in January. “We are winning from coast to coast,” Kiros said to an ecstatic audience and the blast of air horns. “We are taking back our party and our country!”

There were mixed results for progressives in Tuesday’s other races. Sen. John Hickenlooper fended off a primary challenge from self-fashioned “insurgent progressive” state Sen. Julie Gonzales. And a smaller divide separated the two Democrats competing for U.S. House in the state’s lone swing district, where the candidate considered more progressive, state Rep. Manny Rutinel, won.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/colorado-democratic-socialist-primary-degette-governor-8a77cdb9943f99b70c74fbf811f1bbe3

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Unseating DeGette is a biggy. She has been an institution in Congress for decades, particularly on the Energy and Commerce Committee under both John Dingell and Henry Waxman (that had oversight over my agency and I watched countless hours of hearings on CSPAN with her to learn in advance what would be my future work assignments ).

It's slowly starting to feel like the Democrats' version of the 2010 GOP insurgency.