DeGette spars with challengers Kiros, James in final Colorado 1st District candidate forum

Longtime U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette on Friday night urged Denver Democrats to send her back to Washington, D.C., for a 16th term in Congress next year, as she looks to hold off a primary challenge from Melat Kiros, a democratic socialist and first-time candidate born four months after DeGette first took office.

Along with a third Democratic candidate on the ballot in Colorado’s 1st Congressional District, University of Colorado Regent Wanda James, DeGette and Kiros made their pitches in a candidate forum hosted by Colorado Politics at the Denver Press Club, a little over 10 days ahead of Colorado’s June 30 primary election.

It was the second and final campaign event featuring all three Democratic candidates in the 1st District, following a League of Women Voters forum last month. The district, the boundaries of which are almost identical to Denver city limits, is Colorado’s safest Democratic seat, and the winner of the primary is all but certain to win the general election in November.

Throughout the forum, DeGette, who has represented the 1st District in Congress since 1997, brandished her progressive bona fides, like support for a single-payer healthcare system, and repeatedly invoked the experience she said would make her an effective champion for those priorities if Democrats take back the House of Representatives.

“Now is not the time to gamble and send somebody with no experience to Washington,” DeGette said. “We need a strong, bold, hardened leader who will hold Trump accountable, and when we win the majority in November, will have real power to move the U.S. to a more just and affordable America … That leader is me.”

Kiros, a Ph.D. student and former attorney, traced the momentum behind her campaign to the deep distrust many Denverites feel towards Democratic Party leadership. On issue after issue, she said, the influence of money in politics has been a barrier to meaningful reforms.

“The reality is Democrats have the worst approval rating we’ve had in decades, because we’ve failed to actually do anything for working people,” said Kiros. “In order for the Democratic Party to actually fulfill its progressive agenda, we need to have members that are unbought and unafraid to stand up to the billionaires and corporations.”

A national progressive group backing Kiros, Justice Democrats, released a poll earlier Friday purporting to show Kiros leading DeGette in the 1st District primary, with 41% of the vote to the incumbent’s 36%. James had 6% support and 18% were undecided.

Federal Election Commission disclosures show Justice Democrats spent $208,000 to support Kiros’ candidacy beginning June 1, but other so-called super PACs have since flooded the race with over $1.3 million in expenditures opposing Kiros, another sign that Democratic establishment groups are taking her challenge to DeGette seriously.

James, who was elected to a CU Board of Regents seat representing the 1st District in 2022, faulted DeGette for failing to be an effective messenger for the Democratic agenda, pointing to other members of the party’s congressional delegation as models for leadership.

“When I look at somebody like (Rep.) Joe Neguse and the job that he is doing, the job that (Rep.) Jason Crow is doing, I have to ask myself — why don’t we have that same kind of energy happening here in CD1?” James said. “And that’s exactly what I’ll be doing.”

Affordability issues

Kiros was fired from her position at the New York office of law firm Sidley Austin in late 2023, after she posted an open letter defending students protesting Israel’s war in Gaza from charges of antisemitism. She moved back to Denver, where she was raised after her family immigrated from Ethiopia, and worked as a barista before and during her campaign.

“I’m a 29-year-old renter in Denver. As of a month ago, I was a tipped minimum-wage worker as well,” she said Friday. “I know how hard it is to get by in the fifth-least-affordable city in the country.”

Kiros shook up the 1st District race in March when she dealt DeGette her first-ever defeat at the Democratic Party’s Denver assembly, taking the top spot on the ballot with 67% of the party delegate vote to DeGette’s 32.8%. James secured her spot on the ballot through petition signatures.

DeGette promised to return to Congress with a “laser-like focus” on affordability issues and on fighting President Donald Trump’s attempt to “create an autocracy.” She touted her endorsements from labor and progressive groups, along with her cosponsorship of a universal childcare bill with democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

North Denver resident Dominic Crespin said he had attended the forum because he was “very intrigued by Melat,” especially after she received the endorsement of Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders earlier Friday. Crespin, who called wealth inequality his top issue and volunteered for both of Sanders’ presidential campaigns, asked why DeGette hadn’t supported him in either 2016 or 2020.

“She’s trying to move to the left, mentioning AOC quite a bit,” he said. “All of a sudden, there’s all these talking points that (Sanders has) been hitting on for years.”

Term limits

Gwen Murdock, another attendee, said she’d happily supported DeGette in the past but had already cast her vote for Kiros.

“I just feel like, lately, (DeGette) needs a firecracker lit under her to be more effective, be more aggressive,” Murdock said.

Both Kiros and James endorsed some form of term limits for members of Congress, with Kiros favoring 18-year limits for lawmakers in the House and Senate, as well as Supreme Court justices.

DeGette — a former attorney herself, who served two terms in the state House of Representatives before succeeding longtime 1st District Rep. Pat Schroeder in 1996 — pitched her seniority in the House Democratic caucus as an advantage. She currently serves as the ranking member on the House’s health subcommittee and would be in line to become its chair if Democrats control the chamber next year.

“We are subject to term limits. It’s called elections every two years,” DeGette said. “I believe every two years I am up for rehiring, and that’s why we’re here tonight.”

“Right now, we are in a crisis in this country… We don’t have 18 years for a new person to come in and, quote, ‘learn the ropes,’” she added. “That’s why people need to support me, because I know the ropes.”

Corporate PAC money

Though Friday’s forum featured relatively few direct confrontations between the candidates, DeGette at one point accused Kiros of having “sponsored platforms that say you should withdraw from NATO,” citing a position taken by the Democratic Socialists of America, which has endorsed Kiros’ campaign.

“I have never and will never call for, nor endorse a platform, that says we should pull out of NATO,” Kiros responded. “It’s a lie.”

The two leading candidates also sparred over campaign finance issues. Fueled largely by donations from small-dollar contributors, Kiros’ campaign has collected more from individual donors this election cycle — about $641,000 — than the $593,558 DeGette has raised from individuals. James trails behind them with $273,327 raised.

DeGette, however, has maintained a major financial edge over both of her challengers by collecting another $846,750 from a variety of political action committees associated with corporations, trade associations and liberal advocacy groups.

Her continued acceptance of corporate PAC money sets her apart from a growing number of Democrats of all ideological stripes — including Crow, Neguse and Colorado U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper — who have sworn off such contributions.

PACs representing dozens of corporations and lobby groups within the healthcare industry are among those that have contributed to DeGette’s 2026 reelection campaign. The list includes the trade group America’s Health Insurance Plans and multiple PACs organized by major U.S. health insurers — which effectively would be legislated out of existence by the single-payer Medicare for All plan DeGette supports.

“We cannot trust members of Congress who are also taking money from Big Pharma or big health insurance to forcefully fight for things like Medicare for All,” Kiros argued.

DeGette pointed to her vote in favor of Medicare drug price negotiation as proof that she wasn’t “bought” by interests like Big Pharma.

“I’m sensing a theme in Ms. Kiros’ responses — she keeps talking about taking corporate PAC money and (how) that’s stopping things,” DeGette said.

“I want to say something: Nobody ever gave me a contribution and got anything in advance for that,” DeGette continued. “If people think that they can buy my vote by making a contribution, they are sorely, sorely mistaken.”

“Yes, I’m going to keep talking about money in politics, because that is the root of everything,” Kiros replied. “We are literally living under an oligarchy right now, and the suggestion that corporations and special interests are donating to members of Congress out of the kindness of their hearts, without getting anything in return, is ridiculous.”

The primary election is June 30. Coloradans can consult Newsline’s 2026 Voter Guide for information on how to vote and candidate Q&As in federal and state primary contests.

This story originally appeared in Colorado Newsline, part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.