In one of the most notable upsets of the Democratic primaries so far, Democratic Socialist Melat Kiros, 29, yesterday won the nomination over incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette to represent Colorado’s hotly-contested First Congressional District.
I expect to see more stories about how the Democratic Socialists of America are taking over the Democratic Party. In New York last week, nine of 10 candidates endorsed by the DSA won primaries for the state Legislature and Congress. All three Democratic Socialist insurgents Mayor Zohran Mamdani backed for Congress prevailed. Two of them defeated incumbents.
Democratic Socialist elected officials now include U.S. representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib (both elected in 2018), New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani and Seattle mayor Katie Wilson (both elected in 2025). Democratic Socialist Janeese Lewis George is set to follow as mayor of Washington, D.C.
In 2025, over 250 DSA members held elected public office across 40 states, with 90 percent of them elected after 2019.
Pundits eager to declare a new movement or sound the alarm about socialism are having a field day.
But they’re wrong.
Voters who have supported these candidates haven’t done so because they’ve been particularly attracted to the idea of Democratic Socialism. Most don’t even know what Democratic Socialism is.
In reality, voters have been attracted to vigorous young people who are committed to getting stuff done. Voters have had it with incumbents who have been in their jobs for decades. And they want fighters — who will get big corporate money out of our politics and go to the mat for average working people.
Colorado’s DeGette has held her seat for nearly 30 years. Kiros was born the same year DeGette was first elected to Congress.
Kiros is poised to become the first Gen Z woman elected to Congress. Her win in the solidly blue district that makes up most of Denver means Kiros is likely headed to Washington next year.
Kiros is a fighter who understands what’s worth fighting for, and expresses it clearly. “The thing is, fighting Trump is just one piece of the problem. Trump is not the cause,” Kiros said during a debate earlier this month. “He’s a symptom of a system that is broken and has been broken for a really long time because our party has failed to understand the role that they need to take in getting money out of our politics.”
A former lawyer and Ph.D. candidate, Kiros easily presents herself as a politician for the working class. Her family immigrated to Denver from Ethiopia when she was a baby.
Kiros has never before run for elected office, but she won support from a range of voters with a message of fundamental reform of the American system.
Or consider Manny Rutinel, 31, a progressive Colorado state representative who on Tuesday defeated a moderate Democrat to win the primary election in Colorado’s most competitive swing district.
A Dominican American activist and lawyer with a significant social media following and a knack for fund-raising, Rutinel isn’t a Democratic Socialist. He appealed to voters with his youth, energy, and multicultural biography in a suburban area north of Denver that’s nearly 40 percent Latino. He prevailed over Shannon Bird, a white moderate Democrat who had argued that she had broader appeal in the general election.
The district is one of Colorado’s ranching and agricultural hubs. It narrowly voted for Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2020 and for President Trump in 2024. It is one of just a handful of battleground House districts with a substantial Latino population.
Besides their youth and multicultural backgrounds, these young Democratic politicians are committed to making people’s lives better. New York’s Mamdani focused his mayoral campaign on what New Yorkers needed — affordable housing, childcare, and basic services like clearing sidewalks after a snowstorm.
Seattle’s Wilson, a self-described Democratic Socialist who won election without the endorsement of the DSA, rose to prominence for advocating affordable housing, increased taxes on large corporations, and workers’ rights.
In Washington, D.C., Lewis George, a city council member, ran on a platform of expanding childcare, education and housing, and revoking the district’s cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
“From the start of this campaign, we championed the principle that DC residents deserve a government that works,” she said in her victory speech. “Over time, failing public services eroded people’s faith in government as a force of good in their lives. As mayor, I will be relentlessly focused on delivering reliable public services to every DC neighborhood. These are not trivial issues. They are core government functions and we need them to work.”
These new young Democrats have also won because they inspired armies of young activists to knock on doors and work the phones for them. They didn’t rely on big money; they relied on big excitement.
Two final things about them. Most are the children of immigrants; and they’re disproportionately female. They’re living illustrations of the diversity, equity, and inclusion America can foster, at its best. They’re the opposite of the white, male, Christian, nationalism that has overtaken the Republican Party.
At a time when Trump and his regime have cast a dark pall over America, a new generation of Democratic politicians is shining a bright light. The source of the energy and excitement they’re generating isn’t Democratic Socialism. It’s the emergence of the next America.
Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/.