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.
I met a guy 25 years ago, through a sport we were both in, who was very active in the Democratic Party in Colorado. In casual conversation we hit on politics and he said “people just want to be told what to do “. That pretty much chilled any further conversation. What is happening in Colorado does not surprise me.
Colorado is a rich person’s playground of course their politics come with them.
JFM: “That pretty much chilled any further conversation”
Yes, what he said was chilling.
I have lived in CO since 1958. I can remember the state being “Purple”. A good mix of Dems and Reps in state house and national offices. So very much has changed. The next Gov. will be even further to the Left than Polis. Same for AG. My own Rep, Gabe Evens, won in upset last time. He will loose big time this Nov. A lot of out of state money against him. Won’t know until tomorrow or next day who his opponent will be, but I am sure it will be someone way left.
Ben Nighthorse Campbell could not win an election. ( don’t say because he just died.
Yes, Physicguy, CSU is gone too. When I went there (1964-68 and 70-71 – BA/MA History) we could not tell what the politics of the Profs were. A good many were WWII vets, then the children of WWII vets were starting to teach.
I am too old to move.
Did not realize that DeGette had been in office that long. She replace Pat Schroder, of the Bunny Suit fame.
I have no faith that mail.states are not most fraud
What percentage of those mail ballots really see tje correct recipient? The rest are open to be caught, filled out and sent in by other means than the US Postal service.
If I had to bet, many of the Democrats are going down.
Skip,
Not this time.
Might be worth reading still:
The Blueprint: How the Democrats Won Colorado (and Why Republicans Everywhere Should Care)
Schradger & Witwer 2010
So far Hickenlooper has won.
CU undergrad late 60s through mid 70s. Assistant manager of Tulagi. There was still angle parking and a feed store on Pearl Street. Then the Californians from the Bay area poured in. Notably there was Tim the radical leftist owner of the bookstore on the Hill. Got himself elected to the town council and engineered a left-wing putsch. That was the beginning of the end. I stayed on in Colorado (not Boulder) for a long time — too long. Got sick of it long before I left. Don’t miss it ever, not for a minute.
Ahhh…Irishotter49, so you were responsible for some of the bands that showed up at Tulagis? I was there 70-74. Actually my favorite place on The Hill was Round the Corner…best bacon hickory burgers ever. I lived one year in the apartments behind the Flatirons theater.
You’re right…that period was the beginning of the People’s Republic of Boulder. The cancer spread from there to the rest of the state except the east plains and the western slope near Utah.
DT, to your point:
This is an edited excerpt from “The Blueprint: How the Democrats Won Colorado (and Why Republicans Everywhere Should Care)”
https://www.denverpost.com/2010/04/08/how-the-dems-won-colorado/
Colorado’s shift to the left didn’t just happen, it was engineered. It saddens me to see what has become of the state that has been my home for the past 46 years.
WOW, JUST WOW! DeGette Lost! I don’t get newspapers so did not know about the race. CO is lost.
Shirehome, RockMeAle,
Well, D1 is most of Denver itself. This follows the DSA blueprint of targeting very safe, liberal areas. While CO certainly has changed a lot with the now very liberal metroplex stretching from Castle Rock to Ft. Collins, I wonder if DSA would have a chance in the Springs, Pueblo, Grand Junction, Lamar, Western Slope? While those areas don’t have the population, I suspect the vote might go differently. The metroplex controls state level politics through its population, much like NYC does for New York state.
There are plenty of left over people in Colorado who don’t like what has happened and they still have guns. I haven’t lived there since 1980, but like I said before, it’s where I grew up and the Californication is very difficult to see.
Physicsguy, right on some of the cities, but maybe not on The Springs. We know Boulder, and yes Longmont, Ft Collins would vote for the “socialist”
physicsguy:
I accept responsibility for some of the bands that played at Tulagi (not Tulagis). Guilty as charged, LOL! I was there the night Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids, playing to a wild and literally jam-packed house, was shut down mid-set by the Boulder Police when several buxom coeds mounted(!) the stage, took their tops off, and danced bare-chested to the music. I actually had to appear in court for that one.
I also lived for a year in the College Townhouses behind the Flatirons Theater. Good times! (Maybe too good . . .).
Agree about the hickory burgers at Round the Corner. Also getting shitfaced on pitchers of three-two Coors and then staying up all night pissing every 5 minutes as that bilge worked its way through my kidneys.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2026/07/democratic-socialist-crushes-15-term-house-incumbent-in-stunning-colorado-primary-upset/