Young people residing in urban areas helped propel Democratic Socialist candidate Melat Kiros to victory in Colorado’s 1st Congressional District primary Tuesday, a Daily Caller News Foundation review of election data found.
Kiros, a 29-year-old democratic socialist, defeated incumbent Democratic Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette 51.3% to 41.7% following a series of socialist victories in New York’s “Commie Corridor” on June 23, according to The New York Times’ results. Colorado’s 1st District’s demographic features fairly young renters, who largely backed Kiros, according to VoteHub.
Young supporters were largely responsible for Kiros’ victory, with one supporter telling CPR News that Kiros’ election party was filled with Generation Z supporters. Young people made up a key voting bloc in democratic socialists’ recent victories, particularly as these candidates campaign on lowering costs of housing and other goods.
Denver is located in the district, where the median age is 35.2 years, according to Neilsberg Insights. Around 51% of residents in Denver are renters, though it is unclear whether renters specifically backed Kiros.
Young people are increasingly being priced out of home ownership, with the typical age of first-time homebuyers rising to an all-time high of 40 years in November 2025, according to the National Association of Realtors, with the share of first-time home buyers falling to 21%. Fifty-two percent of housing units in Colorado’s first district are occupied by renters, according to Census Reporter.
Two neighborhoods where Kiros won, Villa Park and College View, had a plurality of voters falling between the ages of 25 and 44 years old, according to Niche. DeGette won in precincts surrounding the Glendale and Holly Hills neighborhoods. A plurality of residents in Glendale fell between the ages of 25 and 45 years of age, while 25% of Holly Hills residents were 65 years or older, according to Niche.
The Glendale neighborhood had a 58% white and 26% Hispanic population, according to Niche. The median household income was $71,250 per year. Ninety-six percent of residents in this neighborhood were renters.
Kiros won in the precincts surrounding Regis University, where 19% of residents fell between the ages of 18 to 24 years old.
Kiros received endorsements from independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Our Revolution, a left-wing group that began as a continuation of his 2016 presidential campaign.
Democratic socialist candidates in New York did not perform well in precincts with Hispanic and Jewish majorities. However, many precincts that Kiros won had Hispanic and black majorities, according to Dave Redistricting App. Kiros immigrated from Ethiopia to Denver, Colorado, in 1998 when she was 11 months old.
Democratic New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Ugandan immigrant, won precincts with pluralities of black, Hispanic and Asian residents, while former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo won white voters by a 13-point margin during the November 2025 mayoral election, according to the mayoral results.
The district’s voter population was 54% white, 27.8% Hispanic, 10.8% black and 5.5% Asian, according to Dave Redistricting App.
Roughly 60% of residents in Villa Park identified as Hispanic and had a median household income of $76,469 per year. according to Niche. Sixty-eight percent of residents in the College View neighborhood are Hispanic and median income was roughly $70,524 per year, according to Niche.
Incredible coalition cohesion between Kiros (left, ) and Gonzales (right, ). Denver’s Commie Corridor is visible from space.
Progressives also ran strong in the plurality-Black northeast and the Hispanic southwest, though vote-splitting likely helped Kiros in the former. pic.twitter.com/egOQQrp0jU
— Ellis Bates (@ElliscbIV) July 1, 2026
The Holly Hills area had a 78% white population with a median income of $122,391 per year.
One couple supported Kiros over her opposition to Israel, which became a campaign issue, according to CPR News. Young voters were more likely to be critical of Israel and consider the Gaza war a genocide. Sidley Austin’s New York City office fired Kiros in November 2023 after she published an open letter to law firms criticizing the state of Israel.
Democratic socialist candidates won in other urban areas across others parts of the U.S. In New York, democratic socialists won in precincts with higher median household incomes and white majorities. However, Democratic New York assemblywoman and DSA member Claire Valdez outperformed among white and Hispanic voters, winning majority Hispanic communities by 19.5 points. Valdez and Democratic New York congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier also won young people’s support.
A majority of young people voted for Democratic Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson in the Seattle mayoral election in November 2025, who also campaigned on housing affordability.
