DENVER – Colorado’s 8th Congressional District isn’t the only “most-watched” race in the nation. But unlike the hype over the general election results this November in the 8th, what’s at stake in Denver’s 1st Congressional District primary could have much more long-lasting implications.
Rep. Diana DeGette, who is one year shy of spending three decades in office, is facing the toughest challenge of her career from Democrat Socialist Melat Kiros, a 29-year-old attorney backed by Bernie Sanders, and the far-left Justice Democrats, among others. The race has drawn millions in spending and the intense attention of a national left-wing infrastructure eager to plant its flag in the Mountain West.
This isn’t a local grassroots effort. The Denver congressional seat is just next up on the hit list after recent Democrat Socialists of America (DSA)-aligned victories in New York, California, and Maine. It’s a coordinated national operation hoping to use Denver as validation for a movement that wants to remake the Democrat Party in its own image — with CD1 voters as a means to that end.
New York DSA volunteers are on the ground this weekend to knock doors for Kiros, and Justice Democrats has poured nearly $450,000 in outside spending into Kiros’ campaign.
Although one publication says negative ads against Kiros outnumber those against DeGette 3-1, the PhD student and darling of the progressive left is the favored winner of the race in prediction markets, with nearly $350,000 being wagered thus far on the race. And a Justice Democrats poll, albeit using a small sampling, shows her ahead 41-36 percent.
DeGette’s dynasty threatened
The mud-slinging reflects real anxiety inside the Democrat establishment, and DeGette and her supporters are not taking the fight lying down. Nearly $1.5 million in outside money is being spent to defend the incumbent.
To date, at least $3 million has been spent between the two campaigns, both in personal fundraising and outside efforts.
Kiros, whose family emigrated from Ethiopia when she was 11 months old, returned to Denver after being fired from a high-powered New York law firm following a 2023 Medium post that went viral questioning Israel’s legitimacy as a state.
“Despite claiming to be the one and only democracy in the Middle East, the Israeli government has weaponized anti-Semitism to defend its crimes against the Palestinian people and quell any resistance or critique against it,” she said in the post. “… Israel, like South Africa, is an apartheid state. … By conflating ‘calls for the elimination of the Israeli state’ with anti-Semitism, you delegitimize any solution that forces Israel to reckon with its colonial role in Palestine.”
She doubled-down in a recent interview on 9News, refusing to call the Boulder firebombing bombing of a group of peaceful protesters demanding the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, antisemitic. An 82-year-old woman died in the attack.
“I don’t know what was in the heart of the perpetrator,” she said, adding it was a a political debate that people have the freedom to have.
She described the October 7th Hamas massacre as the “inevitable consequence” of Israeli apartheid — and when pressed, compared it to 9/11, suggesting the the 2001 terrorist attack was the inevitable result of American foreign policy in the Middle East. More telling, perhaps, is that these aren’t fringe positions, but rather the political positions of DSA.
DeGette, for her part, argues her seniority delivers real legislative power a freshman socialist simply couldn’t match. But ads against her accuse her of being soft on President Donald Trump’s policies and call for change.
Kiros also claims DeGette is bought and paid for by big corporations.
“She takes money from the real estate lobby while voters in Denver are priced out of the neighborhoods they grew up in. If that’s a thick resume, I’ll take thin,” Kiros said in a written statement to Denverite.
One thing is for sure, in less than a week, CD1 voters will tell D.C. what kind of Democrat they want representing them, the status-quo of DeGette, or the new radicalism of the Democrat Socialist faction.
