Colorado DSA Challenger Leading Against 30-Year Dem Incumbent: New Poll
29-year-old Melat Kiros leads Diana DeGette – who has been in office since Kiros was born – in a race with national significance.
A Democratic socialist born in 1997 is threatening to unseat a veteran Democrat who first took office in 1997.
In Colorado’s first congressional district, 29-year-old Melat Kiros leads corporate-backed 30-year incumbent Diana DeGette by five points, according to a new poll.
The survey, by Data for Progress, finds Kiros leading DeGette 41% to 36%. The poll was conducted on behalf of Justice Democrats, a progressive super PAC backing Kiros’s campaign, and the American Priorities PAC.
The results are an enormous shift from a March poll, also conducted by Data for Progress, which showed DeGette leading Kiros 40% to 7%. Since then, there has evidently been a 38-point-swing toward Kiros.
The poll comes as outside cash floods into the Denver race. Super PACs linked to the real estate lobby, the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, and the Democratic establishment – and some that have seemed to emerge out of nowhere – have all descended into the race in support of DeGette, and against Kiros.
Eleventh Hour Scramble
The final weeks of the primary election, which is set for June 30, have been eventful. Last week, Kiros was planning to hold a campaign rally alongside streamer Hasan Piker, as well as fellow Justice Democrats-backed candidates Donavan McKinney, who is running in Michigan, and Justin Pearson, who is running in Tennessee. However, multiple venues, including two linked to Colorado’s richest man, Philip Anschutz, canceled on organizers at the last minute.
The trio of Justice Democrats proceeded to host a rally anyhow, attracting a crowd of hundreds in front of the Colorado State Capitol.
In the past two weeks, meanwhile, PAC spending has flooded into the district. In early June, the Mile High Accountability Project – a new Super PAC formed in April, with no public donors – began spending $350,000 in support of DeGette. This week, a PAC called Pro-Choice Majority Action – reportedly linked to AIPAC and Democratic Majority for Israel – dropped $459,000 in support of DeGette. Project 218, which has in the past supported more moderate and party establishment-aligned Democrats, also is spending $400,000 in support of DeGette.
DeGette has received $253,500 in corporate PAC money just in this election cycle. Kiros, meanwhile, has pledged not to accept any corporate PAC donations.
The race echoes dynamics playing out in Democratic primaries across the country: a progressive challenger, channeling pent-up voter frustration at the old-guard, pitching a momentous bid against an incumbent or party-friendly candidate.
New Jersey’s Adam Hamawy and Pennsylvania’s Chris Rabb both outlasted crowded primary fields and outside spending from similar interests to win their primaries. Kiros – backed by many of the same groups that backed Hamawy and Rabb, such as Justice Democrats, A New Policy PAC, and the Sunrise Movement – is vying to carry the momentum.
In March, Kiros became the first candidate to win over party delegates and beat DeGette at the Colorado Democratic Assembly since DeGette first joined Congress nearly 30 years ago. Kiros beat DeGette resoundingly, 67% to 33%.
Two weeks before that, Kiros beat DeGette in similarly large margins at the Denver County assembly, 63% to 35%.
And those numbers appear to extend beyond the state and local party infrastructure, as the new poll of voters show Kiros up now against her 30-year incumbent opponent.
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Go Colorado! Kick those useless moderate corporate PAC peons to the curb!!!!!
She has my vote.