The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are taking their political playbook nationwide. One week after DSA-aligned candidates scored ballot-box victories over establishment-backed contenders in two congressional primaries in New York City that grabbed outsized national attention, the group scored another major upset in a deep-blue U.S.House district in Denver, Colorado.Democratic Rep.
Diana DeGette, who was first elected to Congress in 1996 and took office in 1997, was defeated by DSA-backed Melat Kiros, a first-time candidate and former attorney who is 29 years old.Kiros’ victory comes a week after Darializa Avila Chevalier, a 32-year-old progressive community organizer in New York City, ousted incumbent Democratic Rep.Adriano Espaillat, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and state Assembly Member Claire Valdez, another DSA-aligned contender, won a congressional primary to succeed retiring Rep.
Nydia Velázquez.VICTORIES BY MAMDANI-BACKED CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES SPOTLIGHTS GROWING RIFT IN DEMOCRATIC PARTYDemocratic congressional candidate Melat Kiros participated in a League of Women Voters Congressional District 1 candidate forum at Montview Presbyterian Church on May 28, 2026, in Denver, Colorado.(Photo by RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)The victories by Chevalier and Valdez, who were backed by socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, coupled with the win this week by Kiros, are further emboldening the progressive left as it takes on the center-left establishment in a high-stakes battle for the future of the Democratic Party. Hasan Piker, the controversial, far-left streamer, at the Kiros primary night event in Denver, told Fox News, "I think progressive politics, left populism, a politics that centers the needs of the working class, can work in every district, in every state.
That's why I kept saying over and over again, it's coming to a city near you." The latest DSA primary victory came in Colorado's 1st C...