Steve Kornacki analyzes key election results in Colorado, including NBC News' projections of John Hickenlooper winning the Democratic Senate primary and Phil Weiser winning the Democratic primary for governor.
Voters in Colorado are at the polls Tuesday for House primary elections. All eyes are on the battleground 8th Congressional District where Republican Rep. Gabe Evans will learn his Democratic opponent. State Reps. Shannon Bird and Manny Rutinel are facing off for the Democratic nod to take on Evans. All other seven Colorado House members…
Sen. Michael Bennet and state Attorney General Phil Weiser are duking it out in a Tuesday Democratic primary to succeed term-limited Gov. Jared Polis. (D). Bennet holds key endorsements from state Democratic leaders, including Sen. John Hickenlooper and three of the five House Democrats from Colorado. Weiser, however, has run a formidable campaign in the…
NBC News projects that Kiros, 29, defeated DeGette, who has been in Congress for three decades, in the latest victory for the insurgent left this primary season.
Progressive upstart Melat Kiros completed a monumental upset over U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, defeating the 15-time incumbent on Tuesday to secure the Democratic nomination in Colorado's 1st Congressional District, the AP reports.Why it matters: The 29-year-old's victory proves that anti-establishment victories in New York City can be replicated, likely increasing anxiety for other Democratic incumbents.State of play: Kiros' victory in the deep-blue district means she's poised to become the first Black woman to represent Colorado in Congress and just the third woman to represent the district since 1972.The Associated Press called the race for Kiros just after 10pm Tuesday.She led by 6 points in latest ballot drop from Denver Elections Division, with 49% compared to DeGette's 44%.Challenger Wanda James was in third with 7.2%.By the numbers: The primary attracted millions in outside spending, according to Federal Election Commission filings. But despite DeGette's significant financial edge, Kiros prevailed.Justice Democrats' super PAC was Kiros' biggest backer, spending more than $500,000, followed by left-wing PAC American Priorities at $150,000.Pro-Choice Majority Action — which has ties to the Democratic Women's Caucus and, indirectly, AIPAC — was DeGette's biggest spender, putting more than $1.5 million behind the incumbent.Context: Kiros earned backing from key left-leaning groups such as the local Democratic Socialists of America chapter, the Colorado Working Families Party, Justice Democrats and the Sunrise Movement.She received a major endorsement from progressive champion Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) this month. Despite being a Congressional Progressive Caucus member and Medicare-for-All cosponsor, DeGette had been tagged by the left as a defender of Israel and recipient of corporate PAC support.What's next: Kiros moves on to the Nov. 3 general election, where she's the presumptive winner in the heavily Democratic seat covering Denver and parts of Arapahoe County.
Twenty-nine-year-old beat representative Diana DeGette in deep-blue Denver districtThe democratic socialist Melat Kiros unseated long-serving US representative Diana DeGette in Colorado’s primary elections held on Tuesday, the latest in a string of high-profile victories for the party’s insurgent left. The Associated Press reported that Kiros had defeated DeGette for the Democratic nomination in the deep-blue first congressional district centered on Denver. Kiros’s triumph came a week after New York voters unseated two Democratic congressional incumbents and replaced a third who was retiring with candidates who had campaigned on standing up to Israel amid accusations that it was carrying out a genocide in Gaza. Continue reading...
Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), who has served in Congress for nearly 30 years, lost a heated primary race on Tuesday night to Melat Kiros, a lawyer and Democratic Socialist.The race was called by NBC News and Bloomberg's Decision Desk HQ, with Kiros taking home more than 49 percent of the vote.DeGette's loss is the latest in a series of high-profile incumbent lawmakers ousted by candidates representing more extreme or progressive wings of their respective parties. So far, eight U.S. House incumbents have been denied renomination this cycle (including DeGette), along with two senators, according to Sabato's Crystal Ball. At the state level, 22 Democratic incumbents have lost their primary races compared to 76 Republican incumbents, according to data from Ballotpedia.On the Democratic side, Reps. Dan Goldman and Adriano Espaillat of New York lost their primaries to progressive challengers Brad Lander and Darializa Avila Chevalier. Republican incumbent Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana are two long-serving lawmakers who lost their primaries to Trump-endorsed candidates.
A democratic socialist ousted a veteran congresswoman in Denver, and a U.S. senator lost his bid for governor. But the state’s other senator fended off a progressive primary challenger.
Melat Kiros, a 29-year-old democratic socialist, unseated Representative Diana DeGette in a Democratic primary to represent the Denver area.