The Democratic Socialists of America just notched stunning wins in New York City — and they’re not stopping there.
The far-left group is setting its sights on Colorado this week, backing a slate of primary challengers aimed at unseating center-left establishment Democrats in the Rocky Mountain state.
“Today, the East Coast, next week the Mountain West,” the DSA wrote on social media last week, hours after DSA-aligned candidates ousted two New York incumbents.
The victories — including 32-year-old community organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier defeating Democratic Rep. Adriano Espaillat, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus — have emboldened the far left in its battle for control of the Democratic Party.
“ELECT ANOTHER SOCIALIST TO CONGRESS ON JUNE 30TH” — DSA social media post urging supporters to back Melat Kiros
Now the DSA is looking to replicate that playbook in Colorado’s 1st Congressional District, a solidly blue Denver seat Kamala Harris carried by 56 points in 2024.
Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette — first elected to Congress three decades ago — is facing a primary challenge from DSA-backed Melat Kiros, a first-time candidate and former attorney born four months after DeGette first took office.
Kiros, who lost her job as a lawyer in New York after writing an essay critical of Israel, is also backed by Justice Democrats — the group that helped launch Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other “Squad” members by toppling entrenched incumbents.
The Democratic Party divide is playing out across Colorado primaries. In the neighboring 8th Congressional District, state Rep. Manny Rutinel is running to the left of former state Rep. Shannon Bird. The winner faces Republican Rep. Gabe Evans, who flipped the seat in 2024, in what’s considered one of the races that will determine House control in the midterms.
Immigration has been a flash point in that primary, where roughly 40% of the population is Latino. Rutinel has hammered Bird for voting last year against a measure limiting cooperation between local and state law enforcement and ICE.
Another primary highlighting the party’s progressive-versus-moderate split: incumbent Sen. John Hickenlooper, 74, faces former state Sen. Julie Gonzales, a 43-year-old progressive and one-time DSA member. Hickenlooper — a former Denver mayor and two-term governor — has seen his once-large lead narrow.
Shannon Jackson, a longtime progressive strategist who led grassroots efforts for Bernie Sanders’ 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, told Fox News Digital the momentum is real.
“People are frustrated,” Jackson said. “The key message of the victors: Medicare-for-All, the importance of affordability and a living wage. Progressives have long fought for these values and I expect the primary victories to continue.”
Meanwhile, the state’s expensive gubernatorial primary pits Sen. Michael Bennet against state Attorney General Phil Weiser. Weiser has closed the gap by spotlighting his efforts to take on President Donald Trump — including suing Trump 66 times as attorney general.
The winner will be the clear favorite to succeed two-term Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, the first openly gay man elected governor in U.S. history.
Colorado’s Tuesday primaries are the latest flashpoint in the far left’s campaign to reshape the Democratic Party — one establishment incumbent at a time.
