Melat Trotsky wins in Colo!

snitzoid
8 hours ago
5 min read

Sorry, I'm confusing her with Leon. It's "Kiros".

BTW, the Democratic Party is destroying itself. Few people vote in these primaries allowing these progressive whackjobs to split the vote with more traditional candidates. When it comes to the Congressional election or the next Presidential contest that's going to misfire badly.

At the same time, I suspect Voldemort's approval is going to get a pump if/when oil prices dive and the economy kicks into gear. Can things go wrong with Iran and derail that? You bet!

Socialist Wins in Colorado as Democratic Unrest Spreads

Melat Kiros, a 29-year-old Democratic socialist, toppled Rep. Diana DeGette as centrists face pressure from the party’s left flank nationwide

By Eliza Collins, Anthony DeBarros and Elizabeth Findell, WSJ

Updated July 1, 2026 6:39 am ET

Democratic socialist Melat Kiros defeated Rep. Diana DeGette in a Colorado primary, marking a win for the progressive movement.

DENVER—Democratic dissatisfaction with the status quo percolated through Colorado’s primaries Tuesday as a socialist defeated a longtime congresswoman and Sen. Michael Bennet lost his gubernatorial bid to the state’s combative attorney general.

Melat Kiros, a 29-year-old Democratic socialist, toppled Rep. Diana DeGette, 68, for a Denver congressional seat, according to the Associated Press. Her win is the latest advance for a socialist groundswell that is forcing a reckoning for Democrats. Bennet lost to Phil Weiser, who assailed Bennet’s votes to confirm some of President Trump’s nominees and increase funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and criticized his support from wealthy donors.

“The incumbents that are there right now are too complacent,” Kiros said in an interview Tuesday ahead of the election. “I think what we’re seeing is a reckoning and a referendum, frankly, on the leadership of the party to actually fight for the policies that the voters care about.”

Colorado is the latest flashpoint in a Democratic civil war. A slate of left-wing candidates toppled Democratic House incumbents or won crowded races in New York last week, riding endorsements from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. In Maine, Graham Platner won the Democratic primary in June, putting a progressive with a working-class message—and a complicated past—on the ballot for Democrats in one of the most competitive Senate seats in the November midterm elections.

The victories in New York set off alarm bells for centrists, and the elections in Colorado served as a barometer for whether progressive candidates appeal to voters outside coastal metropolitan areas. Kiros topped DeGette 51% to 42% with 93% of the vote counted, the AP reported. Weiser led Bennet 56% to 44%.

Phil Weiser speaks to a cheering crowd at his election-night watch party.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser won the Democratic primary for governor. Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images

Centrists scored at least one win Tuesday as Sen. John Hickenlooper fought off a primary challenge from the left. Hickenlooper’s easy victory came in a race that was seen as closer than expected in the final stretch.

With 88% of the vote counted, Hickenlooper led state Sen. Julie Gonzales 55% to 45%, according to the AP. Gonzales, a former member of the Democratic Socialists of America, campaigned to the left of centrist Hickenlooper.

Hickenlooper is the former governor of Colorado and a Denver mayor. He was elected to the Senate in 2020 and held a substantial fundraising advantage, collecting $7.7 million during the election cycle. Gonzales raised $869,000, according to federal filings. Hickenlooper is favored to win in November and will face Republican Mark Baisley, a state senator, who ran unopposed.

Sen. John Hickenlooper speaking at a Senate subcommittee hearing.

Sen. John Hickenlooper won Colorado’s Democratic Senate primary over a progressive challenger. Michael Brochstein/ZUMA Press

Meanwhile, progressive state Rep. Manny Rutinel won an election to be the party’s nominee for Colorado’s most competitive congressional seat, an area northeast of Denver and Boulder now represented by Republican Gabe Evans. Rutinel beat former state Rep. Shannon Bird, who had the backing of congressional centrists.

The district is one of Democrats’ best pickup opportunities nationwide as the party is favored to take back the House. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the seat a tossup. Rutinel’s victory sets up a test for progressive appeal in a competitive general election.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the godfather of the progressive movement, tapped his list of supporters to fundraise and turn out voters on behalf of Kiros. Sanders has seen his influence grow within the Democratic Party over the past decade and has influenced thousands of people to run for office since President Trump took office for the second time.

DeGette isn’t a centrist, and had the backing of a prominent progressive, Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, the former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. In a video posted on social media, Jayapal cited DeGette’s seniority and role as the top Democrat on a powerful subcommittee as critical to actually building support for progressive healthcare policy.

But Kiros capitalized on anti-incumbent sentiment, emphasizing that she wasn’t supported by special interests or beholden to them. She was outraised by DeGette, who pulled in $1.4 million this cycle through June 10 compared with $660,000 for Kiros, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Most of DeGette’s funding—about $820,000 of her campaign’s receipts—came via PAC donations, including healthcare-related corporate PACs. Kiros has been highly critical of DeGette’s willingness to accept money from the healthcare industry.

“Like a lot of other Democrat voters, I’m pretty fed up with Colorado Democrats not standing up to Trump enough,” said Jorge Gonzalez, a 30-year-old engineer who cast a ballot for Kiros.

Support for Israel was another flashpoint in the race.

Kiros has been criticized for refusing to say in a recent local TV interview that a firebombing that targeted a group advocating for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Boulder last year was antisemitic.

According to an FBI affidavit the attacker had previously said he “wanted to kill all Zionist people.” He has been sentenced to life in prison.

Kiros told the Journal that her comments had been misunderstood. “I did call it a hate crime. What happened in Boulder was a horrific attack on a group of Jewish people that were peacefully protesting,” she said, adding that she is committed to combating antisemitism.

Pro-Choice Majority Action, a political-action committee, put roughly $1.5 million behind DeGette, according to FEC filings. Most of the group’s support has come from EDW Action Fund, a PAC whose donors include the pro-Israel DMFI PAC and the United Democracy Project—a super political-action committee affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

American Priorities, a pro-Palestinian super PAC, spent more than $150,000 supporting Kiros, according to FEC filings. Justice Democrats, which backed Democratic Socialist candidates in the recent New York primary and has been supportive of candidates critical of Israel, spent more than $513,000.

As results rolled in, hundreds of attendees at Kiros’s watch party yelled and danced as a DJ played music. Confetti fell from the ceiling as one media outlet called the race for Kiros.

Attendees cheer and hold up signs for Democratic congressional candidate Melat Kiros.

Attendees celebrate Kiros’s win at an election night watch party in Denver. Rebecca Slezak/Associated Press

Earlier in the night, at DeGette’s election watch party in a Denver brewery, supporters who had known her for decades clustered nervously watching results start to come in.

Corina Aragon said she had spent weeks challenging friends who tried to tell her that DeGette wasn’t progressive enough.

“Awful,” the 94-year-old retired federal worker said of the possibility of DeGette losing. “It would just make Colorado look very bad, in my view.”