Democratic socialists had string of successes in cities on June 30 in Colorado, with Melat Kiros, a first-time candidate, defeating veteran Rep. Diana DeGette in the Colorado Democratic primary. NBC News called the race for the 29-year-old, who was leading 49% to 44%, with 78% of the votes counted in the overwhelmingly Democratic, Denver-based district.
By defeating DeGette — the 68-year-old incumbent who has represented the overwhelmingly Democratic district in Congress since 1997 — Kiros is now in pole position to take the seat held by her opponent since the year she was born.
Colorado’s Republican primary for governor was too close to call Tuesday night, with state Senator Barbara Kirkmeyer holding a slight lead over ministry leader Victor Marx in the race that will determine who will run against Democratic candidate Phil Weiser — for the chance to become the state’s first Republican governor in 20 years.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser defeated U.S. Senator Michael Bennet in their race to replace term-limited Democratic Governor Jared Polis. Bennet began as the frontrunner but fell victim to the anti-establishment wave sweeping his party’s primaries.
In the GOP race for Governor, Barbara Kirkmeyer had 39.9% of the vote to Victor Marx’s 39.6% at 7am this morning. In third place was state Rep. Scott Bottoms of Colorado Springs, with 20% of the vote.
Sen. John Hickenlooper survived a primary challenge from his left from state Senator Julie Gonzales.
Dwayne Romero, a late entry into the 3rd Congressional District Democratic primary, upset candidate Alex Kelloff who had been campaigning across the district for nearly a year before Romero entered the race. Romero will take on Republican Jeff Hurd, who defeated Republican challenger Ron Hanks.
Romero had 55.2% of the vote to Kelloff’s 44.8% when the Associated Press called the race for Romero.
State Rep. Manny Rutinel won the Democratic primary for Colorado’s battleground 8th District, as called by NBC News, defeating former state Rep. Shannon Bird.
Rutinel will face freshman GOP Rep. Gabe Evans this fall in a district Trump carried by less than 2 points in 2024.
Evans ran unopposed in the primary.