In the far left’s battle to take over the Democrat Party, Colorado is the state to watch tonight
You can’t say Colorado Democrats weren’t warned. They have the example of New York and other states to show them what the far left has in mind: the takeover of the Democrat Party.
Then again, Colorado is a mostly vote-by-mail state and ballots were sent out on June 8. It’s likely that a lot of the ballots were mailed back quite a while ago, before the results on New York were known.
And I’m fairly sure that many voters in Colorado are just fine with a far-left takeover. How many? We should be finding out tonight, or whenever the ballot-counting ends.
The situation is that several Democrats are facing far-left challenges. The pattern of the following contest is very very familiar: the very young far-left challenger versus the older long-term office holder, the extreme views of the challenger, the scramble by the incumbent to move further left, hatred of Israel as the litmus test, and the third-world origins of the challenger (this time it’s Ethiopia). I’ve also noticed that more often than not the challenger is an attractive woman. And that’s also the case here:
The Democratic primary in Colorado’s 1st District represents the next best chance for the progressive wing of the party to pick up another win over an entrenched incumbent.
Rep. Diana DeGette, who has served in Congress for almost 30 years, is now fighting for political survival. She has sought to burnish her progressive credentials, with one recent ad touting her role as an impeachment manager during President Donald Trump’s Senate trial after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, while also emphasizing her support for “Medicare for All” and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Melot Kiros, a 29-year-old doctoral student and former lawyer who immigrated from Ethiopia as a child, has argued that the 68-year-old incumbent isn’t adequately fighting for the district. She is backed by key politicians and groups on the left, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Justice Democrats, the Democratic Socialists of America and a handful of Democratic candidates who were successful in their insurgent bids.
Israel policy has loomed large in the race. Kiros has said she was fired from her job after publishing a letter critical of how law firms were addressing protests against Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip following the 2023 Hamas attack.
Kiros was recently pressed by NBC affiliate KUSA of Denver about her comments that Hamas’ attack on Israel was “the inevitable consequence of apartheid.” She also declined to say whether a firebombing attack on demonstrators who gathered in Boulder, Colorado, to support Israeli hostages was antisemitic.
The usual lies about Israel, and support of (or at least excuses for) Hamas have become badges of honor for these challengers.
Another Colorado race is described here:
Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper is running for a second, and likely final, term after flipping the Colorado seat in 2020. Hickenlooper is facing a younger, more progressive primary challenger in state Sen. Julie Gonzales. The 43-year-old is a former member of the Democratic Socialists of America who has painted Hickenlooper, 74, as a product of “go-along-to-get-along politics,” and criticized him for voting for 10 of Trump’s Cabinet nominees.
Hickenlooper was ahead in the most recent poll I could find, but that may not make a difference in a primary race in which turnout is often low.
Will Colorado succumb or will it resist?

It will succumb. Dollars to doughnuts. Colorado has become a cautionary tale. Many years ago I lived there for many years, but I escaped . . . many years ago. No regrets.
It’s so sad. It’s not the state I grew up in. My brother and nephews are there, so we are there about every other year and I hate seeing the change. So does my family but they are not in a position to move.
I think it all started way back when I was an undergrad at CU and the school started admitting half the classes from out of state.Lots of eastern and California kids with the definite boomer hippie liberal mentality. And they stayed in the state. CSU was more conservative, but it’s been corrupted now also.
I will not be surprised if the commie wins.