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 the Democratic Socialists of America.
Kiros, a former corporate attorney, is the latest democratic socialist or progressive candidate to boot a Democratic incumbent this month. With the district covering the dark blue city of Denver, Kiros is expected to win in November and reach Congress in January.
Voters in Colorado’s Democratic primaries wrestled with a question the party has increasingly faced nationally: Support a younger, more progressive generation of leaders or stick with established veterans?
The results were mixed. Kiros defeated DeGette, who has been in office for as long as the 29-year-old Kiros has been alive.
Elsewhere, however, Sen. John Hickenlooper successfully fended off a primary challenge from self-fashioned “insurgent progressive” state Sen. Julie Gonzales.
And while a smaller divide separated the two Democrats competing for U.S. House in the state’s lone swing district, the candidate considered more progressive, state Rep. Manny Rutinel, won.
In the governor’s race, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet struggled to meaningfully distinguish their agendas. Instead, the two Democrats accused each other of pulling punches against Trump. Weiser won Tuesday.
Democratic socialists have another shot in Denver
DeGette comfortably controlled her House seat in Denver for nearly 30 years, then came Kiros.
In a March Democratic assembly, a process to decide which candidates get on the primary ballot, DeGette barely qualified as Kiros, a first-time candidate, blew past her with more than double the votes.
The assembly process was a jolt for the Democratic establishment and DeGette, who’s been a progressive lawmaker herself.
Then, in New York last week, two democratic socialists and a progressive beat out establishment-backed candidates — two of whom were incumbents — in Democratic primaries for U.S. House, energizing a movement that’s just finding some political purchase.
Similar to the New York races, Kiros had the endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders, while DeGette was backed by Colorado’s established Democratic House delegation.
Kiros’s vicotry will work toward cementing the nascent but clear uprising of democratic socialist candidates, which has filled some Democratic leaders with anxiety.
DeGette argued that experience in Congress is needed right now to combat Trump, while Kiros, a former attorney, accused DeGette of ineffectiveness. Also running was University of Colorado Regent Wanda James, who may split the anti-DeGette vote.
Hickenlooper fends off ‘insurgent progressive’
That didn’t come as a surprise to the political world, though it dampened a broader wave of progressive candidates beating establish-backed Democrats across the country.
Gonzales, the state senator who challenged the more centrist Hickenlooper, had attacked him for being an “incrementalist” and had said she previously joined the Democratic Socialists of America but that her membership had lapsed.
After his victory, Hickenlooper quickly turned his attention to Trump and said he’d never lost an election and didn’t intend to in November.
“Coloradoans have once again made their voices clear. We are not going to accept Trump’s broken promises and cost of living emergency, or his constant corruption,” he said in a video posted to YouTube.
Rutinel to face GOP Rep. Gabe Evans in race key to House control
Colorado’s 8th Congressional District is relatively new, stretching from the northern suburbs of Denver up through farming country, and has flipped party control in recent elections.
Evans now holds the seat, after beating the Democratic incumbent in 2024.
Party leaders thought the more moderate Shannon Bird, a former state representative, was best equipped to challenge Evans. But Rutinel, who had the more progressive record, beat Bird Tuesday night.
The district is heavily Hispanic and poorer than much of the rest of the state, and that’s where Rutinel, who is Latino, planted a flag, arguing his personal story and more aggressive economic agenda would be more potent against Evans.
“This is the moment for all the kids out there who had the deck stacked against them,” Rutinel said in his victory speech. “I’m going to work with everything I have so that those kids have the same opportunities to live out the American Dream that I did.”
Progressives could find new ally in governor’s mansion
Weiser, the state attorney general, won the Democratic primary Tuesday and is expecting to win come November. Term-limited Gov. Jared Polis will depart after two-terms governing with a more moderate touch, at times stymieing progressive state lawmakers.
Weiser, who formerly served in the presidential administrations of Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, is considered to be more sympathetic to his leftward flank. Bennet, the U.S. Senator who Weiser beat Tuesday, would likely have brought a similar change.
On the campaign trail, candidates struggled to show major differences in their political agendas, and instead often attacked each other over who could better stand up to Trump.
Weiser hammered his point home in a victory speech to ecstatic, sign-waving supporters who crowded around the candidate.
“In the face of a lawless bullying Trump administration trying to intimidate us, rip away our rights and freedoms,” Weiser said, “you made it clear that we need a leader who will fight back and never bend the knee.”
After his loss, Bennet spoke to supporters. “Sometimes the harder path is the right path, even when it doesn’t lead where you’d hoped,” he said.
The three main candidates seeking the Republican nomination included state Rep. Scott Bottoms, a further right state lawmaker. State Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer was considered the more conventional Republican, while Victor Marx was something of a wild card candidate with an eclectic past. ––– Associated Press reporter Mead Gruver in Fort Collins, Colorado, contributed to this report.
