Denver progressives see an opportunity to defeat Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., in the Democratic primary in Colorado’s first district, with local and national groups gathering behind challenger Melat Kiros in a primary that’s shaping up to be as much about disposition and generational change as any policy.
Earlier this month, Kiros’ campaign, which had been simmering for months, received the backing of the Justice Democrats, a national progressive organization aimed at primarying entrenched Democratic incumbents, signaling an escalation of what had been a relatively low-profile primary battle.
While no polling has been conducted on the race (district-level polling has become increasingly expensive and rare in recent years), the move also suggests that DeGette will likely face a better-resourced and organized challenge than she has seen in recent years.
Howard Chou, a former vice chair of the Colorado Democratic Party who now sits on the board of the Colorado People’s Alliance, says that he sees the opportunity in the First as centering on the increasingly widespread sentiment that Democrats want a “fighter” in Congress. He underscored the fact that DeGette, herself a liberal Democrat, has been in Congress since 1997.
“To most people, especially on the more progressive and liberal side, people have angst, people have frustrations, they want to see people take more chances,” Chou said. “Right now, in 2025, people want to see fighters in Congress.”
“Wrapped into this is things like generational difference, and what young people want to see represented in our politics, especially young people who feel really disillusioned with our two-party system.”
The challenge against DeGette, who has co-sponsored Medicare for All in the House, championed reproductive rights and served as the prosecutor in President Donald Trump’s second impeachment, speaks to the expanding ambitions of progressives going into the 2026 midterms.
Chou said that he believes there is an opportunity for Kiros to organize constituencies that he believes DeGette hasn’t given enough attention to in recent years, naming specifically young renters, small business owners and the sizable Latino community in southwest Denver. Chou also said that, at times, DeGette isn’t as visible as other Denver-area representatives.
The Denver area primary mirrors other progressive primary campaigns heading into 2026, like in Tennessee’s Sixth Congressional District, where progressive organizations are supporting state Rep. Justin Pearson against incumbent Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., who is himself a progressive.
As in Colorado, the Tennessee race is shaping up to be as much about a generational change as it is about any specific policy disagreement, with Pearson being 30 and Cohen being 76. Likewise, Cohen has said that he’s not going down without a fight. In other primaries, longtime Democratic representatives like Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., facing similar situations, have chosen to retire.
Arianna Morales, the deputy director of the New Era Colorado Foundation, a progressive organization focused on promoting political engagement among young people, told Salon that she thinks longtime liberals like DeGette could easily get swept out of office in next year’s primaries, regardless of their records in Congress.
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“I think there’s a gap of trust there, because young people don’t feel represented by more established politics and the greater system at large,” Morales said. “Wrapped into this is things like generational difference, and what young people want to see represented in our politics, especially young people who feel really disillusioned with our two-party system.”
Morales said that among the young voters she works with, issues like campaign finance and how tied a candidate is to the current political establishment is bundled together into questions about credibility and the seriousness of a candidate’s convictions, when it comes to a position.
Morales recalled, for example, how Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned in her 2019 presidential primary campaign as a progressive on many issues only to make a distinct rightward pivot in 2024. One example of this is on Medicare for All, which Harris co-sponsored in the Senate in 2017. Harris abandoned her support for the policy in the early days of her 2024 campaign.
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Kiros, in an interview with Salon, signaled that the campaign would focus on the generational divide, as well as money in politics. Kiros has refused donations from corporate PACs and special interest groups in her campaign.
“I looked at who was representing me, and I got a great deal of respect for her, but she’s been an office longer than I’ve been alive, and in that time, she’s taken over $5 million in corporate PAC money — from big pharma, from big energy industries that are directly responsible for the affordability crisis and the health care crisis in this country. So it’s time for a change,” Kiros said.
Kiros has also been outspoken in opposition to Israel’s war on Gaza. She, prior to running for Congress, was best known for being fired for speaking out against Israel’s actions in 2023 and in support of protesters. At the time, she was working at Sidley Austin, a major law firm, and was fired for her comments on the issue as well as the law firm’s stance on conflict and protests.
In response to a request for comment, DeGette told Salon in an email that “Out-of-state groups are attacking my progressive record and let’s be clear: they are dead wrong.”
“While Trump and MAGA gut health care, strip rights, and sow fear, I’m fighting back. I’m working every day in Congress to protect reproductive freedom, to secure health care as a human right through the Medicare for All Act, and to build a country where families aren’t torn apart by masked ICE raids,” DeGette said. “We must defend our democracy against Donald Trump and work to solve our problems with dignity, justice and a future grounded in compassion, not cruelty.”
As it stands, DeGette maintains a financial advantage, having raised $464,000 for her 2026 re-election bid so far, according to FEC filings. So far, Kiros has raised about $125,000 from small-dollar donations, according to her campaign.
