Democratic socialist Melat Kiros beat US Rep. Diana DeGette in a Colorado House primary Tuesday, a stunning victory for the first-time candidate against a nearly 30-year incumbent and another win for progressive challengers across the country.

In her victory speech, she said one of her goals is to “end the genocide in Palestine.”

She is set to join a growing class of democratic socialists and staunch Israel critics headed to Congress.

The race between Kiros and DeGette, in a district that covers nearly all of Denver, came one week after a slate of progressives won their Democratic primaries in New York City, energizing left-wing advocates who are looking for additional victories around the country.

A number of Jewish leaders and groups in Colorado voiced concerns about Kiros, who drew criticism after calling Hamas’s devastating October 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel “inevitable” and declining to refer to a deadly June 2025 firebombing in Boulder targeting activists for Israeli hostages held in Gaza as an antisemitic attack.

Kiros made her sharp criticism of Israel and its relationship with the United States a central plank of her campaign. Her platform includes a complete arms embargo on Israel and the end of military subsidies to the Jewish state.

“We will not wait to put an end to the........

© The Times of Israel