Melat Kiros has won the Democratic Party primary for Colorado’s 1st Congressional District, defeating longtime incumbent U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette to become the latest Mamdani-style candidate to unseat a Democrat incumbent. The race featured Kiros, a first-time candidate, against DeGette, who has represented the district since 1997, and a third candidate, Wanda James.
Decision Desk HQ projects Melat Kiros wins the CO US House 1 Democratic Primary#DecisionMade: 10:31 PM EDT pic.twitter.com/ExYwfWhKv3
— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) July 1, 2026
Kiros, 29, was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and immigrated to the United States with her family in 1998 when she was an infant. Her family ultimately settled in the Denver area.
Prior to her campaign, Kiros worked as a lawyer, including a period at a New York City law firm from which she was dismissed in 2023 after publishing an open letter criticizing the firm’s response to events in Israel and Gaza. She has also worked as a barista and is pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Colorado Denver School of Public Affairs.
Kiros identifies as a democratic socialist. She has received endorsements from U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the Democratic Socialists of America, Justice Democrats, the Sunrise Movement, and others, including Colorado State Senator Iman Jodeh.
Her platform includes support for Medicare for All, a Housing First approach to homelessness, universal childcare, and an arms embargo on Israel. She has also advocated for the dismantling of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and an end to the practice of deportations as a whole.
In one controversial interview, she described the September 11, 2001, attacks as “inevitable” in the context of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and insinuated that the U.S. deserved it. She has repeatedly doubled down on this stance throughout the course of her campaign.
She has also declined to characterize a 2025 firebombing incident targeting Jewish protesters in Boulder as antisemitism, stating she could not know the perpetrator’s intent.
Kiros advanced her challenge through strong performance at the March 2026 Democratic assembly process, where she received approximately 67% of the vote compared to DeGette’s 33%. This margin allowed her to secure ballot access alongside the incumbent.
Colorado’s 1st Congressional District, which encompasses nearly all of Denver and surrounding areas, has a Cook Partisan Voter Index of D+29, indicating it is among the most Democratic-leaning districts in the country. No Republican has won the seat since the early 1970s.
As a result, Tuesday’s primary result effectively decided the contest.
Socialist candidate Melat Kiros, who was born in Ethiopia, is about to beat 15-term incumbent Diana DeGette in the Democrat primary for Colorado’s 1st Congressional District.
Here she is saying that 9/11 was America’s fault. pic.twitter.com/2uHNYfeASX
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 1, 2026
Kiros’ primary victory continues a pattern in which insurgent candidates aligned with far-left or democratic socialist positions have defeated or succeeded establishment Democratic incumbents or preferred successors in recent primaries. Examples include state Rep. Chris Rabb, a democratic socialist who won the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District in May by defeating multiple establishment-backed candidates in a safe Democratic seat.
In New York, three self-styled socialist candidates unseated Democrat incumbents with the help of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Like Kiros, all of the aforementioned candidates represent deep blue districts and are expected to cruise to re-election.
The string of insurgent victories has placed significant pressure on Democrat House leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), as a number of the socialist candidates have refused to support him for speaker should Democrats re-take the House.
