The Democratic primary in Colorado’s 1st District represents the next best chance for the party’s progressive wing to score another victory against an entrenched incumbent.
Rep. Diana DeGette, who has served in Congress for nearly 30 years, is fighting for political survival. She has sought to burnish her progressive credentials, with one recent ad touting her role as impeachment manager during Trump’s Senate trial following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, while emphasizing her support for Medicare for All and the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Melot Quiros, a 29-year-old graduate student and former lawyer who immigrated from Ethiopia as a child, argues that DeGette, 68, is not fighting enough for the district. She is supported by key politicians and groups on the left, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the Justice Democrats, the Democratic Socialists of America and several Democratic candidates who have been successful in their insurgent bids.
Israeli politics played an important role in the election race. Quiros said she was fired after she published a letter criticizing the law firms’ handling of protests against Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip following the 2023 Hamas attack.
Denver-based NBC affiliate KUSA recently criticized Quiros over her comments that Hamas’ attack on Israel was an “inevitable consequence of apartheid.” She also declined to say whether the petrol bomb attack on protesters gathered in Boulder, Colorado, to support the Israeli hostages was anti-Semitic.
There was a last-minute flurry of spending: Justice Democrats spent more than $500,000 supporting Quiros, while various super PACs spent more than $2 million supporting DeGette. It’s all a sign of how seriously both sides are taking the issue following last week’s election in New York.