Melat Kiros

Kiros immigrated to Denver from Tigray, Ethiopia, with her family in 1998, according to her Ballotpedia survey; Reuters reports she moved to the U.S. as a baby.[6][2] She describes herself as the daughter of Ethiopian immigrants and the first lawyer in her family.[3] She earned bachelor's degrees in Political Science and Economics from Washington College in 2018 and a law degree from the University of Notre Dame in 2022.[4][6]

Kiros worked as a lawyer; Reuters reports she was fired from her job after refusing to remove a post criticizing law firms' stance on Israel and Palestine, and she says she was fired from the firm Sidley Austin for defending students' right to protest the war in Gaza.[2][3] In her 2026 Colorado Politics questionnaire she describes herself as a renter with student debt who was, until recently, a tipped-wage barista at Whittier Cafe, and Colorado Politics describes her as a graduate student.[3][6]

Kiros entered the race as a first-time candidate and won the June 30, 2026 Democratic primary over Rep. Diana DeGette, who had held the seat since 1997, and University of Colorado Regent Wanda James.[2][7][4] Her Ballotpedia survey and campaign materials say she ran to reduce the influence of money in politics, and she says she does not accept corporate PAC money.[6][3] She won the November 3, 2026 general election with 78.3% of the vote to Christy Peterson's 14.1%, according to unofficial results reported by NBC News.[1]