Kiros, a lawyer by trade who immigrated from Ethiopia as a baby, was endorsed by prominent progressive figures and groups, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the Democratic Socialists of America and Justice Democrats.
Her campaign caught fire among Denver Democrats this year, and her strong showing at the party’s convention
almost cost DeGette a spot on the ballot. Kiros argued that despite DeGette’s progressive credentials, she wasn’t adequately addressing the sense of urgency required by the current political moment, with Democrats out of power in Washington and Trump trying to bend the federal government to his will.
Addressing convention delegates in March, Kiros recounted how her father told her they were Democrats because the party “fights for the people.”
“The party didn’t just wake up and decide to do the right thing — it was pushed by organizers, by dreamers, by people who refused to accept the world as it was, and with everything at stake right now, it’s on us to push the party again,” Kiros said. “And not just to fight back against Trump, to fight for a better world.”
Kiros is a lawyer by trade who says she was fired after she criticized how law firms addressed protests in the wake of Hamas’ 2023 attack on Israel. She framed the law firms as being unnecessarily dismissive of pro-Palestinian protesters by labeling ‘“calls for the elimination of the Israeli state’ as anti-Semitism.’”