Progressive victory in Colorado a 'political asteroid' for 'do-nothings': analysis

The victory of progressive Democratic Socialist challenger Melat Kiros over longtime incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) on Tuesday is a "political asteroid" and a flashing alarm bell for party leadership, argued left-wing commentator Ken Klippenstein in a Substack post released Wednesday.

The win, combined with other progressive victories against incumbents in New York City, signifies "a generational shift in the Democratic Party — gerontocrats dying electorally or literally, public approval at an all-time low, party-approved candidates getting mowed down like a brontosaurus napping in the Yucatán circa 66 million years ago," Klippenstein wrote.

Kiros had a unique and circuitous route into politics, Klippenstein noted.

Her run for Congress, he said, "came after Sidley Austin, the white-shoe firm where she worked, fired her in 2023 for refusing to take down a letter she'd posted defending students protesting the war in Gaza. Kiros moved back to Denver — where her family had settled after immigrating from Ethiopia," and then she took up work at a coffee shop until this campaign.

Klippenstein argued that DeGette, 68, had grown complacent — and that her pitch to voters, laid out on her X bio as "Running to expand abortion rights, environmental justice and opportunity in our community” is the sort of "unfalsifiably vague" message voters in these types of progressive districts simply won't settle for anymore.

Voters, he argued, "don’t want promises of opportunity when there are none. They don’t want to return to the 'good old days' once Trump is gone. People want politicians who think big and respond to this political ice age — where nothing changes, everything is frozen in place, and life for the normal citizen never gets better."

Democrats should take heed, he argued — or they'll continue to be caught off guard by younger, progressive upset challenges.