On June 30, Melat Kiros walked into Denver’s Democratic primary as a 29-year-old first-time candidate and walked out as the person who just ended Diana DeGette’s nearly three-decade hold on Colorado’s 1st Congressional District. The Associated Press called the race just after 10 p.m., and Kiros emerged to a raucous crowd with a direct message for everyone watching.
“Denver voters of all ages, of all races, of all religions sent a clear message: We will not wait!” she told supporters at her watch party. “We believe that fundamental change can, and will, happen if we fight for it — if we organize and show no fear in standing up for what’s right. That is the message that Denver has sent to both parties, to Donald Trump, and to the entire country.”
Kiros was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and immigrated to Colorado as an infant, growing up in the Denver area. She earned degrees in political science and economics from Washington College in Maryland and a law degree from the University of Notre Dame in 2022. She is also pursuing a PhD. Her campaign built itself on grassroots organizing, a pledge to reject corporate PAC money, and a platform centered on abolishing ICE, supporting the Green New Deal, ending U.S. military aid to Israel, and removing money from politics.
DeGette, 68, had served in Congress since 1997 — the same year Kiros was born — and was far from a moderate Democrat. She supports Medicare for All and has called for ICE to be abolished, but the two candidates diverged sharply on the Israel question. Outside groups spent more than $1 million in the final weeks trying to defeat Kiros, with funding that traced back through a chain of PACs to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Kiros’ victory is part of a widening pattern. The week before her win, two DSA-endorsed candidates defeated incumbents in New York City House races. Earlier this year, a DSA candidate won in Philadelphia. Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York City, himself a democratic socialist, endorsed Kiros and lent the momentum of his own historic mayoral win to her campaign. The progressive left is no longer simply contesting elections. It is winning them.
Because Colorado’s 1st Congressional District is a safely Democratic seat, Kiros is widely expected to win the general election in November and take office in January. If she does, she will become the first Gen Z woman ever elected to Congress, and the second Gen Zer overall, joining Florida’s Maxwell Frost. For African immigrants and children of African immigrants across the country, her rise carries significance that extends beyond any single policy position.
