Melat Kiros defeated incumbent Diana DeGette and Wanda James in the Democratic primary for Colorado's 1st Congressional District on June 30.
In Colorado, major party candidates qualify for the primary ballot by either winning at least 30% of the vote at a district-level assembly or by meeting the state's signature requirement. Both Kiros and DeGette qualified via the assembly process, with Kiros receiving 67% of the vote and DeGette 33%. James qualified through the signature process.
Axios Denver's Esteban L. Hernandez wrote, "Kiros' rise is turning the race into a test case for incumbents facing an electorate increasingly hungry for change." A Democratic Socialist, Kiros positioned herself to the left of DeGette and called DeGette an establishment Democrat. James similarly criticized DeGette's record, saying, "Clearly, people don’t know when they should step down, when their time has come and gone, when they have outlived their effectiveness. It has been decades since we have seen any real leadership from her office."
