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Left-wing Democrats on Tuesday racked up a couple more big wins in their party’s primaries by unseating a 15-term incumbent and winning the race for who gets to face a vulnerable Republican in November.
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A week after progressive candidates toppled a pair of Democratic lawmakers in New York’s primary, another incumbent fell on Tuesday night when Democratic Socialist Melat Kiros defeated incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), who had been in office since before her challenger was born.
What’s particularly interesting is that DeGette is not a moderate at all. She was the vice-chair of the LGBTQ Equality Caucus when it was formed and also served as a co-chair of the Pro-Choice Caucus. In addition, DeGette, a former civil rights lawyer, was an impeachment manager during Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial, and she earned the endorsements of some of the most well-known progressives in the House.
In the end, none of that mattered, and her experience became a liability.
Whether in deep-blue New York or in Colorado, the left wing of the Democratic Party has made it quite clear that it wants to see fresh faces, new ideas, and more aggressive fighters in Washington, DC, where the defeat of a 15-term lawmaker is going to send shockwaves through the offices of incumbents.
And it stands to reason that they also listened to Kiros’s victory speech.
“This is a movement, and we are just getting started,” she told a raucous crowd.
That was also the message that progressive icon Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who had endorsed Kiros, conveyed in a video he posted to social media before the polls closed.
He called out DC Democrats for having squandered their opportunities to transform the country in a way that helps regular Americans and not the wealthy.
“[Millions of working-class people] looked at the Democratic Party and said, ‘What the hell are you doing?’” Sanders stated. “‘You guys had power. Did you create healthcare for all? Did you raise my wages? Did you build affordable housing I need? Did you make schools better?’ And the answer is ‘No.’”
The senator argued that progressives are therefore engaged in a struggle on two fronts.
“Number one, we got to lead the effort against Trump and his disastrous policies,” he said. “But number two, we have to transform the Democratic Party completely from being a party dominated by the wealthy and the powerful to a party of the working class and young people in this country.”
On Tuesday night, they took another step, including in a district that will tell whether progressives can only win in safe Democratic districts, like DeGette’s or those in New York City last week.
In Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, progressive state Rep. Manny Rutinel won a primary against the more moderate former state Rep. Shannon Bird.
He will now face freshman Rep. Gabe Evans (R) in what is expected to be a very competitive contest that Democrats believe is one of their best opportunities to unseat a Republican incumbent.
In addition, in another sign that voters are ready for change and that incumbency is a drag rather than a boon for candidates, State Attorney General Phil Weiser upset Sen. Michael Bennet in Colorado’s Democratic primary for governor.
