Diana DeGette loses primary race to upstart Democratic Socialist Melat Kiros
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.
