October 7 Comments Put DSA-Backed Candidate Under Scrutiny

A Democratic socialist candidate challenging longtime Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) is drawing national attention over past comments on the October 7 Hamas massacre as the party’s socialist wing attempts to expand on recent victories in New York. 

Melat Kiros, a DSA-backed candidate running in Colorado’s 1st Congressional District, is seeking to unseat DeGette in a heavily Democratic Denver-based seat. The race comes on the heels of wins in New York by socialist candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. 

According to DSA Watch, Kiros said in an interview with Kyle Clark that the October 7 massacre of Israeli civilians was “the inevitable consequence of apartheid.” She also declined to clarify directly whether she believes the same standard should apply to the September 11 terrorist attacks and U.S. foreign policy. DSA Watch also reported that Kiros declined to describe the Boulder firebombing attack targeting Jews as antisemitic.

Legal analyst Jonathan Turley also criticized Kiros’ response to the Boulder attack, writing that she refused to call it antisemitism because she could not say what “was in the heart” of the attacker.

Kiros’s comments have become a focal point for critics of the Democratic Party’s socialist wing. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), responding to recent socialist primary victories in New York, warned that the “dirt bag Left” was being pulled by what he called the “full pro-Hamas wing,” according to The Daily Wire. Fetterman also said hostility toward Israel had become “the center of a lot of these primaries across the country.”

The Colorado race comes as the DSA looks to build on momentum from New York, where several socialist candidates won Democratic primaries. After those victories, the DSA declared, “Today, the East Coast, next week the Mountain West,” according to Fox News.

Fox also reported that Kiros is backed by both the DSA and Justice Democrats, the group known for supporting Squad members, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).

Kiros’ views on Israel have already impacted her professional life. Fox News reported that she lost her job as a lawyer in New York after writing an essay critical of Israel.

Kiros has also emphasized leftist cultural priorities. She said she is adding a “Trans Bill of Rights” to her campaign platform and argued that Democrats should defend trans-identifying people, including children, “loudly and proudly and boldly,” according to Breitbart News.

She has also defended socialism by pointing to public services in Denver.

“We have socialism already, right?” Kiros said, according to a video circulated on X. “It’s in the roads that we drive on, it’s in the schools we send our kids to, it’s in the fire stations we call upon.”

The broader debate over the Democratic Party’s direction has intensified as socialist candidates gain traction in safe Democratic districts. The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh argued that such candidates can gain influence through low-turnout primaries in heavily Democratic districts when organized activists dominate the electorate. Fox News similarly reported that the DSA is looking beyond Colorado, with DSA-aligned candidates running in Democratic primaries in Michigan and Wisconsin.

Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo told Fox News that the party’s left wing is gaining traction in part because it is speaking directly to voters about their economic frustration and the cost of living. Matt Bennett of Third Way, a center-left Democratic group, told Fox News that even though far-left candidates are succeeding in very blue areas, they have not proven they can flip red or purple seats.

Colorado’s 1st Congressional District is considered safely Democratic, and the main question is how far to the left voters are willing to go. 

If Kiros defeats DeGette, it would add another victory to a recent run of socialist-backed candidates winning Democratic primaries in blue districts. It would also suggest that comments on October 7 and antisemitism may carry different political weight in parts of the Democratic primary electorate than they do nationally.