Attorney Melat Kiros has defeated longstanding Rep. Diana DeGette in a Colorado Democratic primary Tuesday night and is set to join a growing class of democratic socialists and staunch Israel critics headed to Congress.
Kiros had 51.3, or 67,959 votes, to DeGette’s 41.7%, or 55,179 votes, with 93% of the vote counted. Media organizations called the contest for Kiros shortly after midnight.
Kiros, 29, is set to become one of the first Gen Z members of Congress after ousting the 68-year-old DeGette.
The race between Kiros and DeGette, in a district that covers nearly all of Denver, came one week after a slate of progressives won their Democratic primaries in New York City, energizing left-wing advocates who are looking for additional victories around the country.
“We will not wait to put an end to the politics of the past, to get big money out of our politics, and to reject corporate PACs and AIPAC,” Kiros said to loud cheers during her victory speech.
The democratic socialist also said she would “not wait” to take the fight to Donald Trump and abolish ICE. “And no, we will not wait to end the genocide in Palestine,” Kiros said.
About an hour before the race was called, DeGette, who was already trailing, wrote on X that it looked “like we won’t have final results tonight,” and thanked “everyone who showed up, knocked doors, and cast a ballot.”
“I remain grateful for your support and for the honor of representing this city we love,” she wrote.
The Anti-Defamation League’s Mountain States office published a statement on Wednesday calling on Kiros to listen to the Jewish community and “build a genuine understanding of the antisemitism facing residents here.” The statement pointed to the Boulder attack, calling it “the clearest illustration” of the harm that Jewish Coloradans face.
The Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project, a pro-Palestinian advocacy group, wrote in a statement that Kiros’ ascension to Congress “in large part due to her stand for Palestinian rights is proof positive of how much the country has has transformed over the last two years.”
A number of Jewish leaders and groups in Colorado voiced concerns about Kiros, who drew criticism after calling Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack “inevitable” and declining to refer to the Boulder firebombing as antisemitic.
Kiros made her sharp criticism of Israel and its relationship with the United States a central part of her campaign. Her platform includes a complete arms embargo on Israel and ending military subsidies to the Jewish state.
“I think the Jewish community is really alarmed,” Brandon Rattiner, senior director of the Colorado Jewish Community Relations Council, told JTA in an interview before the primary.
Following her victory party, a reporter asked Kiros her message to Jewish constituents in light of groups’ concerns about her. Kiros said that her commitment “has always been to protecting the sanctity and dignity of all life,” including “every single person of all faith, all different religions.”
“And that especially includes the Jewish community, especially now as antisemitism is rising all across the state and all across this country,” Kiros continued. “And I look forward to working with the community to figure out how we can combat that hate.”
Rattiner had penned an open letter to Kiros on behalf of the JCRC ahead of the primary, calling on her to make “room for the concerns and hopes of Jews alongside those of everyone else,” while self-described “liberal rabbi” Rachel Kobrin, who leads Congregation Rodef Shalom, wrote a Facebook post later published by the Denver Post criticizing Kiros.
Jewish leaders have pointed with concern to Kiros’ interview and planned rally with streamer Hasan Piker, a hard-line Israel critic himself who has drawn accusations of antisemitism and divided Democrats while campaigning for some left-wing candidates. Kiros said during the interview that Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack was “the inevitable consequence of apartheid, of decades of occupation.” Asked by Piker if she would support providing Israel with defensive weapons, Kiros said, “No. A weapon is a weapon.”
Piker was in attendance and livestreaming at Kiros’ victory party.
Kiros further raised concerns among a number of Jewish Coloradans after declining to call the Boulder firebombing attack — in which one person died and 13 people were injured while marching for the Israeli hostages in Gaza, and occurred less than an hour’s drive from Denver — an act of antisemitism.
“I don’t know what was in the heart of the perpetrator,” Kiros said, after being asked during an interview last week whether the attack was antisemitic. “All I know is that he went and attacked innocent people, because of what they might have believed.”
Kiros, who was born in 1997 — the same year that DeGette joined Congress — first entered the public eye in late 2023, when she was fired by her law firm after penning a letter that decried numerous firms’ condemnations of antisemitism following Oct. 7. Kiros said those condemnations often conflated criticism of Israel with antisemitism, and she also criticized media coverage of the conflict.
During her victory speech, Kiros spoke about the letter, saying her law firm threatened to fire her if she did not take it down.
“I did not flinch because I stood by every word and I always will,” Kiros said. “But I know that will not be the only moment where those in power will tell me to change my tune. That seems to happen a lot in Congress. But here in Denver, we stand by our values.”
Colorado’s heavily Democratic 1st Congressional District covers nearly all of Denver, plus part of a nearby county, and is the state’s most heavily Jewish district, with about 19,000 Jewish adults, according to a 2021 study. It is also a relatively young congressional district, with a median age of 35.4, compared to a national median age of 39.2. With the Democratic nomination, Kiros is expected to cruise to victory in November’s general election.
The 30-year incumbent DeGette has mostly supported military aid to Israel, though she started opposing subsidizing additional offensive weapons in 2025.
DeGette criticized Kiros for her planned event with Piker, writing on social media that she was campaigning alongside an “infamous anti-semite.” Earlier in the race, a clip that was widely circulated in March showed DeGette being confronted by a constituent over her declining to sign onto the Block the Bombs Act. “If the only issue that you care about is this issue, then you should not vote for me,” DeGette told the voter.
Left-wing groups mounted a strong push for Kiros down the stretch, particularly in the wake of the DSA’s successful, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani-backed slate in New York.
“I think that there’s an incredible wave of momentum and a feeling of possibility right now across the country,” Beth Miller, political director of Jewish Voice for Peace Action, the anti-Zionist group’s political arm, said last week.
Rattiner had cautioned against taking Tuesday’s result as a “referendum on Israel.”
“Diana would have a lot of trouble in the year 2026 no matter who she was running against,” he said before the polls closed. “There have for years been concerns that she’s not attentive enough to her constituents in Denver. And I don’t know if every single person in Denver is voting for Melat Kiros or against Diana DeGette.”
Steven Paletz, a JCRC board member and onetime state legislature candidate, noted in an interview that the Colorado primary received an injection of campaigning and turnout efforts last week from progressives around the country — including a phone banking session led by the DSA and Piker that resulted in more than 110,000 calls made.
Paletz said that efforts to oppose candidates like Kiros, who have the backing of DSA’s vast volunteer infrastructure, could benefit from borrowing parts of the left-wing group’s playbook.
“I think it’s a reminder or a wake-up call, especially with turnout as low as it is, that we need to organize and knock doors and do these things,” Paletz said. “It’s not just writing a check anymore.”
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