July 08, 2026 08:17 AM UTC

That Ain't Happening, Last-Minute Melat Kiros Challenger Edition

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• by: Colorado Pols

As Lindsey Toomer reports for Colorado Newsline, thus making a mention in this space necessary:

An unaffiliated candidate is collecting petition signatures to challenge Democratic nominee Melat Kiros in the November race to represent Colorado’s Denver-centered 1st Congressional District.

The secretary of state’s office on Monday approved Shimon Blau’s petition for circulation. He has until Thursday to submit 1,500 signatures to qualify for the ballot…

Concern for what he views as antisemitic rhetoric from Kiros is what motivated Blau, who is Jewish, to run for Congress, he said in the Facebook post. Maintaining a strong alliance with Israel is a priority of his campaign, as well as healthcare and childcare reform.

Although Democratic Socialist Melat Kiros defeated longtime incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette by what turned out to be a humiliating margin for the soon-to-be-former “dean of the Colorado delegation,” the controversy over Kiros’ foremost issue, the war in Gaza following the October 7th, 2023 attack by Hamas that killed over 1,000 Israeli civilians and related incidents like the antisemitic Boulder terror attack that killed an 80-year-old Jewish woman, has not been resolved for a substantial number of Kiros’ impending constituents. Denver is home to tens of thousands of Jewish voters, and although the Gaza conflict has become a litmus test for the far left, there are lots of voters in Kiros’ district with more nuanced views on the issue.

With all of that in mind, an unaffiliated campaign from a previously unknown figure opposing Kiros in the general election on the same single issue is not simply a hopeless endeavor. For Kiros’ opponents, this campaign could well prove to be another setback, an inevitable win for Kiros to notch either in November–or sooner when this challenge faces the reality of inevitable defeat. That’s how a well-intentioned effort ends up doing more harm to their cause in the long run than good.

Having defeated the state’s longest-serving incumbent Democrat by a critic-silencing margin, Kiros has fully earned her first term in Congress. Whether this becomes a long-term job assignment for Kiros will depend on how she represents her constituents and conducts herself in office. It’s quite possible that Kiros will face a primary challenge in 2028, if for no other reason than to give the large number of Denver Democrats she leapfrogged by not waiting for DeGette’s inevitable retirement a chance to play. That’s nothing unusual for an incumbent in their first term.

But whether or not this effort nets 1,500 signatures by tomorrow, itself a tall order…it’s a well-intentioned waste of time at best.