Melat Kiros and DSA Knock Out The Democratic Establishment
An insider perspective on the insurgent Colorado campaign that shook the political world.
Last week, the Democratic Socialists of America landed a clean left hand on the jaw of the Democratic Establishment. In New York City, DSA wobbled Democratic party leadership with eleven hard-fought victories over establishment incumbents and their allies. The elections of Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier were the force of the strike. The dynamic duo overcame great odds to defeat the New York political machine and unseat the chair of the Hispanic Caucus in one fell swoop.
Ready for more, the Democratic Machine shook off the cobwebs and dismissed the New York elections as inconsequential. Some falsely claimed DSA candidates were backed by white gentrifiers or whatever. But as the Democratic Establishment rose, Melat Kiros set her feet, found her angle, and landed a piston of a right cross that sent Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer face-first onto the canvas. The ref has begun the ten-count. And the geriatric donkey isn’t moving.
On Tuesday, 29-year-old challenger Melat Kiros unseated 30-year incumbent Dianna DeGette to represent Colorado’s First Congressional District. When the first ballot results landed at 7 p.m. on election night, Kiros had a two-point lead. That has expanded to a thirteen-point lead over DeGette with only a few thousand ballots outstanding. Kiros hasn’t just defeated the entrenched Congresswoman — she blew her out of the water. Wiser men than I say success has many fathers, and failure is an orphan. But from my perspective as an on-the-ground Denver DSA organizer, the true parentage of the monumental Kiros Campaign was never in doubt.
Melat Kiros is a remarkable individual. From Palestine to wage labor to immigrant justice, the self-described “zillennial” barista has been personally shaped by America’s most pressing political questions. As a result, Melat Kiros embodies both the answers and the courage the moment demands.
After being fired from her legal job for standing up for anti-genocide protestors, Kiros returned to Denver and began working in a coffee shop. Though the Kiros family has lived in the Mile High City since Melat was an infant, Dianna DeGette's closing message took a page from the Turner Diaries and portrayed the Ethiopian-American immigrant as “just… not Denver.” Such xenophobia is just a sampling of the bipartisan bigotry that causes Americans of good conscience to recoil in disgust. Herself a wage laborer, rising at 4 a.m. to open the coffee shop well into her campaign, Kiros’s working-class politics, unapologetic opposition to oppression, and personal bravery resonated with Denver voters far more than DeGette’s plea that she was in line to chair a subcommittee. Shockingly, voters cared more about making rent than they did about advancing Diana DeGette’s unremarkable career.
But as Kiros said in the opening of her victory speech, she couldn’t have done it alone.
Much like in New York, the Democratic Socialists of America were the engine of Melat Kiros’s victory. Kiros wasn’t a DSA member before her campaign. So the Denver chapter’s endorsement raised eyebrows among some DSA members outside the Centennial State. While it's diligent to guard against opportunist politicians co-opting DSA’s rising popularity, those of us in Denver never had this concern with Melat.
Kiros’s dedication to socialism didn’t come from DSA’s political education program. It didn’t need to. There’s no better political educator than living through a capitalist society, noticing the powerful always win, and questioning how we can rebalance power in favor of the many. As a young woman of color working in the service industry, who has been cast out of upper society for her moral courage, and has overcome the overlapping bigotries of racism, sexism, and xenophobia that escape my understanding, Kiros understands better than most how the powerful construct unfair systems and deploy prejudice to protect their undeserved wealth and interests. When Melat Kiros joined forces with Denver DSA, it was not a marriage of convenience, but soulmates finding each other at long last. To hear Melat describe it, she searched for something like DSA for a while. And when she found us, the language and theories of democratic socialism were the natural vehicle for her working-class politics. As I told Melat when I interviewed her back in March, I’ve never felt this aligned with and excited for a politician in my life.
Unsurprisingly, Melat Kiros won Denver DSA’s endorsement by the largest margin in our chapter’s history. There was no question that Kiros shared our values and was willing to fight for them. Like any relationship, the one between Denver DSA and its newest federally elected official is a two-way street. Constantly inspired by Kiros’s unquenchable thirst for justice, the chapter kicked into overdrive. DSA-led volunteers knocked on over 115,000 doors and made 500,000 phone bank calls as part of a broader outreach effort. By the time the Associated Press called the race for Kiros, 85% of Denver’s population had received either a call or a visit from a Melat Kiros volunteer. It goes without saying that the Democratic Socialists of America couldn’t have done this alone. Jewish Voice for Peace, the Colorado Palestine Coalition, Justice Democrats, and many other progressive groups supported and organized for Melat from the start. But as one could tell from the many “DSA” chants throughout the jubilant evening, DSA provided the core of Kiros for Congress organizing, laying the groundwork for even more socialist success.
The Democratic Socialists of America’s recent wins are often framed as one part of a “progressive surge.” As this theory goes, liberal and progressive Democratic voters are dissatisfied with party leadership and are electing more left candidates in primaries. This is partly true. But if this were the whole story, we’d see progressive challengers sweep corporatist incumbents off the board. However, as Colorado’s primary night shows, dissatisfaction with the status quo does not automatically translate to anti-establishment victories.
In the Senate primary, progressive State Senator Julie Gonzales gave incumbent John Hickenlooper a run for his healthcare industry money. But ultimately, Gonzales came up short, along with fellow progressive Attorney General candidate David Seligman. There’s a lot of overlap between progressive and socialist politics. And DSA sees figures such as Gonzales and Seligman as allies in the fight against oligarchy. But when we compare Melat Kiros’s landslide victory to Gonzales and Seligman’s honorable defeats, the obvious difference is Denver DSA’s organizing infrastructure.
In an age when television and online ads are losing their impact, all highly paid consultants can do is tell their client candidates to beg corporate donors for more money to run more ads (which conveniently increases the consultants’ fees). DSA provides something paid consultants never could: an energetic network of volunteers, canvassers, and organizers who will move heaven and earth to educate the electorate about why they should vote for candidates like Melat Kiros. While faith in public institutions such as television news and incumbent politicians nosedives, the persuasive power of a normal person showing up at your door to vouch for a politician cannot be understated. That is a rare, priceless political asset that DSA provides better than anyone else on the American left.
But socialist organizing goes one step further than simply winning votes. A canvassers’ job is to promote a candidate. They have conversations, share literature, and move on to the next door. This is a crucial aspect of any political campaign, including socialist ones. However, DSA doorknockers aren’t just canvassers. They’re organizers. Unlike the Democrats, DSA doesn’t just pop back on your doorstep every two years to ask you to vote. We make it clear that the problems plaguing the Colorado and American working class won’t be solved by a single representative, even a total badass like Melat Kiros. That’s why Denver DSA brings volunteers, voters, and anyone else excited about the Kiros campaign into our ranks. As a result, Denver DSA gained 200 new members in just the final month of the Kiros campaign. Now, these new comrades can be trained, educated, and deployed to further multiply DSA’s impact at the local, state, and national levels. Plus, Denver DSA now has a household name politician, who just happens to be Denver’s gateway to Washington, to back up our efforts, just like Zohran Mamdani and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did in the New York City elections. And the cycle repeats.
At the final rally before polls closed, Melat Kiros told her supporters that win or lose, they’d already won. From most politicians, this is a platitude. But from a DSA member, it’s a fact. Even if Kiros had come up short against DeGette, the Kiros campaign succeeded in building political infrastructure within Denver DSA. By ensuring volunteers were plugged into our organization as part of the election, their skills, energy, and insight won’t disappear now that Kiros For Congress has filed its final FEC declaration. Had Kiros lost, this DSA infrastructure could have been redeployed stronger and smarter to re-challenge DeGette in 2028. Now, new and veteran Denver DSA organizers can employ their improved skills and victory-fueled ambition to defeat the upcoming anti-freedom local Republican ballot initiatives, prepare for the 2028 General Strike, and advocate for socialism in the looming Democratic Presidential primary (if we so choose). Or Denver DSA could focus on liberating the Centennial State from our tech-libertarian leadership, which is hyper-fixated on doing the worst thing possible, then crying like babies when their constituents tell them to kick the Rocky Mountains with open-toed shoes. John Hicklenlooper may have bought himself another six years. But sitting Senator Michael Bennet, who looks weak as ever after getting his clock cleaned in the gubernatorial race, is up for reelection in two years. Denver Mayor Mike Johnson has angered many Denverites by ignoring their concerns and installing Flock surveillance cameras all over the city. And I’ve had a personal vendetta against him ever since he threatened to unleash the Denver Police on us at the 2024 Auraria Campus Palestine Solidarity Encampment. Time will tell where Denver DSA looks to flex our muscles next. Watch this space, as the kids say.
Just as in New York City, conservative Democrats and ‘centrist’ pundits will attempt to save face by downplaying Melat Kiros’s victory. Let them. I hope they do underestimate the organizing power of the Democratic Socialists of America. Currently, the Democratic Establishment is bruised, bloody, and on the ropes. If Jeffries and Schumer want to leave their guard down, I won’t stop them. It will only make our job easier.
I’ll be posting more behind-the-scenes photos and videos on my Instagram and TikTok accounts. Make sure to follow me there so you don’t miss them.
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In Solidarity — Joe
Gonzales is spelled with an S