Democratic socialist Melat Kiros defeated 15-term Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette on Tuesday, delivering one of the biggest shocks of the Democratic primary season amid a growing streak of wins for the insurgent left.
Kiros’ win in the contest for Colorado’s 1st District topples a 68-year-old representative who had held the seat since before her 29-year-old challenger was born.
It’s a victory that echoes Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-N.Y.) stunning 2018 upset over 10-term incumbent Joe Crowley in New York, and delivers democratic socialists fresh momentum.
DeGette’s loss, after representing the district since 1997, seemed unthinkable in the state just months ago, but Kiros rode the same anti-incumbent wave that swept through New York’s Democratic primaries last week, where Reps. Adriano Espaillat and Dan Goldman were ousted in a dramatic show of the left’s growing strength.
The defeat is a stunning one for the Democratic establishment, though warning signs had been building for months inside DeGette’s campaign, with allies privately acknowledging the race was tightening and the representative’s team spending weeks urging national Democrats and allied groups to come to her aid.
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