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Melat Kiros, the Democratic primary winner in Colorado’s 1st Congressional District, is vowing to oppose any leader who accepts campaign donations from corporate PACs.
The 29-year-old democratic socialist is among a growing number of Democrats pushing for institutional change within the party. She defeated long-time Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette in the state’s primary Tuesday.
“We have to root out the corruption and get money out of our politics. … It’s about political will — and that means we have to vote out any of the incumbents that are standing in our way by taking that kind of corporate PAC money,” Kiros told Politico’s Will Steakin following her win.
When asked specifically about whether she would support House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) if she successfully takes the seat in November, Kiros stressed that she will not support “anyone for leadership who takes corporate PAC money.”
“I’m dead serious about this issue,” she said. “We have to start setting a standard now.”
Kiros made a similar statement to The Hill’s Drew Petrimoulx on Monday when asked whether she would support the Democratic leader last month.
“I look forward to having conversations with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries about what the direction of our party should be and making sure we are disentangling ourselves from a lot of this special interest corporate PAC money, but this is a rule that I’m going to have for leadership writ large,” she said.
Kiros’s Tuesday victory follows wins from democratic socialist candidates for two House seats in New York last week. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) backed both of the successful candidates in these races.
Mamdani and other democratic socialists like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have pushed to take corporate PAC money out of politics and backed challengers to several incumbent Democrats.
Sanders congratulated Kiros on her “extraordinary victory” in a social media post Wednesday morning.
“The tide is turning,” Sanders wrote. “Americans are tired of status quo politics. They want representatives in Congress who will stand up to oligarchy and fight for working families.”
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