Colorado socialist congressional hopeful Melat Kiros says US needs reparations to 'tackle white supremacy'

DSA-endorsed Melat Kiros 29, who is running for Colorado’s 1st District, argued on a Walter Rhein podcast back in May that the only real way to deal with white supremacy was through reparations.

“One of the things that brought me into starting my PhD program was finally coming to the realization that we were never going to be able to tackle white supremacy in the way we need to without reparations,” she said. “There is no way to truly heal and to progress and move on from acts of such cruel systemic violence against an entire group of people without, at the very least, an acknowledgement of it in a meaningful way and, on top of that, repairing the damage done.”

Kiros, who recently defeated 15-term incumbent Democrat Diana DeGette in a primary race for Colorado’s 1st Congressional District, based her candidacy on a host of far-left issues, including abolishing ICE and creating an immediate pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Kiros has built her campaign around a sweeping expansion of government programs and a sharp break from the Democratic establishment. In addition to supporting reparations, she has called for implementing Medicare for All and expanding taxpayer-funded social programs.

Her campaign has been embraced by the Democratic Socialists of America, which celebrated her primary victory as a sign of the growing influence of democratic socialism within the party. Kiros’ defeat of DeGette, a longtime Democratic incumbent who had represented the district since 1997, demonstrated the strength of the party’s progressive wing in a heavily Democratic district. Her candidacy reflects a broader push from the left to reshape Democratic priorities around government expansion, immigration, and foreign policy, even as DSA candidates continue to win primaries across the country. Kiros will face Republican Christy Peterson of South Denver in the heavily blue district. If elected, Kiros will be the first Gen Z woman ever elected to Congress.