A 29-year-old democratic socialist who once called the September 11 attacks "inevitable" defeated a 15-term Democratic congresswoman in Denver last week, and she is far from alone. Across at least a dozen states, candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, Justice Democrats, and the Working Families Party are toppling longtime incumbents and locking down nominations in safely blue districts, mounting what amounts to a coordinated left-flank offensive against the Democratic Party's old guard heading into the 2026 midterms.
Melat Kiros, an attorney and first-time candidate endorsed by the DSA, Justice Democrats, and the Working Families Party, beat Rep. Diana DeGette in Colorado's 1st Congressional District primary on June 30. DeGette had held the Denver seat for three decades. The New York Post reported the margin was 49.3% to 43.5%. In a district where the Democratic nominee is virtually guaranteed a seat in Congress, Kiros is now on a glide path to Washington.
The result was not a fluke. It followed a wave of DSA- and Mamdani-backed socialist victories in New York's June congressional primaries, where multiple establishment Democrats were swept aside. Together, these results point to something larger than isolated upsets. They suggest an organized, nationally coordinated push to remake the Democratic caucus from within, one safe blue seat at a time.
Kiros, who immigrated from Ethiopia as a child, ran on a platform of Medicare for All, abolishing ICE, and publicly financed elections. She also carried significant baggage into the race. During the primary, past comments surfaced in which she described American foreign policy as making the 9/11 terror attacks "inevitable." As the Washington Free Beacon reported, Kiros also called Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack "an inevitable consequence of apartheid, of occupation."
On 9/11 specifically, Kiros said:
"Inevitable in the sense that we destabilized a lot of the Middle East that forced people to believe that another act of violence was the only response."
She was fired from the law firm Sidley Austin in 2023 after writing that calling for Israel's elimination is not antisemitic. None of this stopped Denver's Democratic primary voters from choosing her over a veteran incumbent.
DeGette, 68, warned voters during the campaign against gambling on inexperience. As the New York Post quoted her: "Now is not the time to gamble and send somebody with no experience to Washington." The voters gambled anyway.
Kiros, for her part, framed the win as a verdict on the party itself, telling supporters:
"The reality is Democrats have the worst approval rating we've had in decades, because we've failed to actually do anything for working people."
The Denver result would matter less if it stood alone. It does not. Fox News chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram catalogued more than two dozen far-left-backed candidates who have already won primaries or advanced to general elections this cycle. The scope is striking.
In New York alone, DSA- and WFP-backed candidates ousted sitting Democratic incumbents in multiple districts. Darializa Avila Chevalier, a DSA member and community organizer backed by Justice Democrats, defeated Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, in the 13th Congressional District primary covering northern Manhattan and the Bronx. Her past comments on Israel drew controversy during the race, but the heavily Democratic district makes her the overwhelming general election favorite.
Brad Lander, a former New York City comptroller backed by the WFP and socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani, ousted incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman in the deep-blue 10th Congressional District. Claire Valdez, a DSA-endorsed state lawmaker, topped Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, who had the backing of retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez, to win the 7th District nomination.
Mamdani's role as a national accelerant is hard to overstate. The socialist New York City mayor backed three far-left congressional candidates whose victories emboldened progressives well beyond the five boroughs. The Colorado results confirmed the trend was not confined to the East Coast.
What makes this cycle different from earlier progressive insurgencies is the explicit talk of using primary wins as leverage against Democratic leadership. Kiros herself laid out the strategy in blunt terms. As Breitbart reported, she told supporters:
"If enough of us share that commitment to Medicare for All, to ending corporate capture, to an arms embargo [on Israel], we should absolutely say: here are our conditions. If you want our votes on leadership, on appropriations, this is what it costs."
That is not the language of a freshman legislator hoping to learn the ropes. It is the language of a faction planning to hold the Democratic caucus hostage on floor votes. House Speaker Mike Johnson captured the Republican reaction: "Marxists, socialists, and the insurgent far-left have taken over the Democratic Party."
The DSA itself celebrated the string of victories without pretending to moderation. The organization posted on social media: "Only socialism can solve decades of capitalist mismanagement in the US. Our newly elected leaders will fight for the working class, not for crumbs."
The calendar ahead offers additional flashpoints. Former Rep. Cori Bush, the DSA-backed Missouri progressive who lost her seat, is running to win it back in the St. Louis-anchored 1st Congressional District. She predicted on social media: "On August 4th, St. Louis will do the same." Michigan also faces far-left targeting in its August 4 primary.
In Wisconsin, DSA-backed state Rep. Francesca Hong is running for governor to succeed retiring Democrat Tony Evers, with a primary set for August 11. Hong posted on X after the New York results: "It's a great day to be a democratic socialist. Wisconsin is next!"
Recent polling suggests the party's base may be receptive to these candidacies in ways that alarm moderates. The question is whether Democratic leadership can do anything to stop the bleeding, or whether it even wants to.
Not every far-left nominee will waltz into Congress. Several WFP-backed candidates won primaries in districts where they face steep odds. In upstate New York's 24th Congressional District, solidly red territory, Alissa Ellman, a U.S. Army veteran and former military contractor who was let go from the Veterans Administration amid DOGE cuts, won the Democratic nomination but faces Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney. Chris Galant, an air traffic controller, cruised to the Democratic nod on Long Island's 1st District but is an underdog against GOP Rep. Nick LaLota.
Aaron Gies, a college professor, won the 23rd District primary in a landslide but faces incumbent Republican Rep. Nick Langworthy in another solidly red seat. Brian Poindexter, an iron worker and councilman in suburban Cleveland, will challenge GOP Rep. Max Miller in Ohio's right-leaning 7th District.
These candidates are unlikely to flip seats. But they serve a different purpose for the movement: building party infrastructure, pulling the Overton window leftward, and testing messages in hostile terrain.
The real action is in safe blue districts where primary wins equal congressional seats. Chris Rabb, a Pennsylvania state representative backed by the DSA, WFP, and Justice Democrats, and described as supported by the Squad, won the primary in Philadelphia's dark-blue 3rd Congressional District to succeed retiring Rep. Dwight Evans. Frederick Douglass Haynes III, a Dallas pastor backed by Justice Democrats, won the March primary in Texas's 30th District in a landslide and is the overwhelming favorite to succeed Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who left to run for the Senate.
California's nonpartisan primary system produced several matchups that will test the far-left wave in November. Connie Chan, a WFP-endorsed member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, advanced to the general election in the 11th Congressional District, the seat being vacated by retiring former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She will face Democrat Scott Wiener in a race contained entirely within San Francisco's city limits.
Mai Vang, a Sacramento city councilor backed by the WFP and Justice Democrats, slightly edged incumbent Democratic Rep. Doris Matsui in the 7th District's June primary. They will face each other again in November for the solidly blue seat.
In the San Joaquin Valley's 22nd Congressional District, a swing seat, WFP-backed school board trustee Randy Villegas topped fellow Democrat Jasmeet Bains to advance against Republican Rep. David Valadao. And in the 14th District south of Oakland, WFP-supported Aisha Wahab came in first and will face Democrat Melissa Hernandez in a solidly blue general election. That seat opened after then-Rep. Eric Swalwell resigned from Congress in April amid sexual misconduct allegations.
Angela Gonzales-Torres, backed by both Justice Democrats and the WFP, advanced in Los Angeles's solidly blue 34th District and will face incumbent Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez in November.
The far-left push extends beyond Congress. Deb Haaland, the former Interior Secretary under President Biden and the first Native American to serve in a Cabinet post, is the WFP-backed Democratic nominee for governor of New Mexico. She is considered the favorite against Republican Gregg Hull in left-leaning New Mexico.
In Kentucky, Charles Booker, a former state representative backed by the WFP, defeated 2020 Senate nominee Amy McGrath in the state's May primary. He faces GOP Rep. Andy Barr in the general election for the seat being vacated by retiring former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. Booker lost his 2022 Senate bid to Sen. Rand Paul by more than 23 points, so Kentucky remains a steep climb.
Bob Brooks, a retired firefighter and president of the Pennsylvania Fire Fighters Association, won the May Democratic primary in Pennsylvania's swing 7th Congressional District. He was handpicked by Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and backed by the WFP. He challenges incumbent GOP Rep. Ryan Mackenzie.
The Washington Examiner noted that DSA-backed candidates have won more than 30 races this election cycle. AP News reported that the Colorado results showed a broader progressive wave, even as Sen. John Hickenlooper survived a left-wing challenge from state Sen. Julie Gonzales, who had attacked him as an "incrementalist."
President Trump and Vice President Vance have issued sharp warnings in response to the progressive primary victories, though the specific content of those warnings was not detailed in available reporting.
DSA leaders have grown bold enough to publicly float Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for 2028, a sign that the movement sees itself not as a protest faction but as a governing one. The far-left candidates arriving in Washington next January will not be asking permission. They will be naming their price.
Adam Hamawy, a plastic surgeon and former Army combat surgeon backed by Justice Democrats, topped a crowded field in New Jersey's solidly blue 12th Congressional District to succeed retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman. Hamawy grabbed national attention in 2024 as part of a volunteer team of American doctors in Gaza who were unable to leave after Israel closed border crossings during its war with Hamas. Past ties to a convicted terrorist linked to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing resurfaced during his primary campaign.
The pattern is unmistakable. Long-serving Democrats in safe seats, DeGette, Espaillat, Goldman, Matsui, are being picked off by younger, further-left challengers who campaign on abolishing ICE, imposing arms embargoes on Israel, ending corporate PAC money, and installing socialist economic policy. The organizations behind them, DSA, Justice Democrats, the Working Families Party, are coordinating endorsements, pooling resources, and running the same playbook from Denver to Dallas to Brooklyn. Justice Democrats' super PAC alone spent over $500,000 backing Kiros in Colorado.
Kiros told supporters after her win: "We are winning from coast to coast. We are taking back our party and our country!" She added: "This is a movement. We are just getting started."
Democratic voters in safe blue districts are making their choice. The rest of the country will have to live with the consequences. When a party's rising stars describe the worst terrorist attack on American soil as "inevitable," the voters who sent them to Washington own that, too.
