June 26, 2026 11:00 AM UTC

Fellow Progressive Candidates Finally Condemn Melat Kiros

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the campaign of first-time candidate for Congress Melat Kiros backed by the far-left Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has ramped up ahead of next Tuesday’s CO-01 Democratic primary election, we have been obligated to call out in this space to considerable pushback from some readers statements by Kiros as well as some of her high-profile supporters like podcaster Hasan Piker, who gained fame by with such incendiary statements as “America deserved 9/11,” that fall well outside the political mainstream. In particular, Kiros suggested to Piker on his show last month that the October 7th, 2023 Hamas terror attacks that killed over 1,000 Israeli civilians and precipitated the war in Gaza were the “inevitable consequence” of Israel’s own actions.

Earlier this week, Kiros’ interview with 9NEWS’ Kyle Clark raised additional troubling questions after Kiros repeatedly refused to identify the June 2025 firebomb attack by an Egyptian national on a group of Jewish people in Boulder demonstrating on behalf of Jewish hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, in which an 80-year-old woman was fatally burned and 12 more were injured, as an antisemitic act. Even as polls have shown the race in CO-01 between Kiros and longtime incumbent Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette tightening, Kiros’ answers to specific questions about her views on the sole issue she seeks any real differentiation from her opponent on have deepened the alarm among Denver’s sizable population of Jewish voters.

And as the Colorado Sun reports in today’s Unaffiliated newsletter, other progressive candidates, including one hoping like Kiros to unseat a popular Democratic incumbent next Tuesday, are finally running away from Melat Kiros in the eleventh hour of this race.

Three progressive leaders in Colorado are criticizing democratic socialist Melat Kiros, who is running to represent the 1st Congressional District in Denver, for refusing to call the deadly firebombing attack last year on a Jewish community rally in Boulder antisemitic…

State Sen. Julie Gonzales, state Rep. Yara Zokaie and David Seligman, a candidate for attorney general, said Thursday when contacted by The Colorado Sun that Kiros’ answer was wrong. The three progressive Democratic leaders said the attack was an act of antisemitism.

“I was very disappointed in her answer to that question,” said Zokaie, a Fort Collins Democrat who has endorsed Kiros. “The answer is obvious that the attack on Jewish people in Boulder was an antisemitic attack and a horrific act of violence that all leaders should condemn.”

Although state Sen. Julie Gonzales has appeared with Melat Kiros as a de facto “progressive ticket” in literature and at campaign events, Sen. Gonzales apparently–and we’ll say it, commendably–wants nothing to do with Kiros’ wilful minimization of antisemitic violence:

Gonzales, a Denver Democrat running for U.S. Senate, said Kiros missed an opportunity for community healing.

“A person is dead. A family is shattered — multiple families are shattered. And a community is devastated,” Gonzales, who has not endorsed Kiros, told The Sun. “To respond in a manner that says ‘well, I don’t know what was in the perpetrator’s heart’ I think missed a moment and an opportunity to talk about what it takes to heal in the midst of just exceptional pain and violence. I would have answered differently.”

Seligman, who is Jewish, said the attack was clearly antisemitic.

In a related story today from the Sun that for whatever reason didn’t include the above criticisms from fellow progressive candidates, reporter Jesse Paul elaborated on Kiros’ deficient answers to questions about American foreign policy:

This week, in an interview on 9News, Kiros declined to call the deadly firebombing of a group of Jewish demonstrators in Boulder, who were calling for the release of hostages taken by Hamas, an act of antisemitism…

In that same interview, Kiros was asked about her comments that the Oct. 7, 2023, attack Hamas perpetrated on Israel. Kiros said the attack, which left about 1,200 mostly civilians dead, was an “inevitable consequence.” Asked whether she felt the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were inevitable, too, she said yes.

Along with a response from Kiros’ opponent that minces no words:

“9/11 wasn’t inevitable — it was an act of terror that killed thousands of Americans. Denver deserves a representative who stands with the victims, not one who rationalizes their deaths,” DeGette said in the statement. [Pols emphasis]

Because Rep. Diana DeGette is one of Congress’s most consistently progressive members and a co-sponsor of legislation to implement Medicare For All, other than superficial ageist complaints about DeGette and her time in office, there is very little for Kiros to offer Democratic primary voters that she would–or could–materially do differently. Kiros’ background heavily skews her focus toward a single issue that she has planted the flag well on the fringes of, to the point of minimizing or even justifying violence against Jewish people.

Our position from the beginning of this controversy is that such ideas can never be considered a Colorado value.

It is a relief to see, even in this late hour, that we are not alone.