{"id":322,"date":"2026-06-30T09:10:55","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T09:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=322"},"modified":"2026-06-30T09:10:55","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T09:10:55","slug":"pop-up-super-pac-plays-dirty-in-colorados-first-congressional-district","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=322","title":{"rendered":"Pop-Up Super PAC Plays Dirty in Colorado\u2019s First Congressional District"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Despite all the dark money being spent to quash anti-establishment electoral uprisings in the 2026 primary cycle, a number of progressive congressional candidates have overcome the odds. As the Prospect<\/em> reported, progressivism threw a wrench in New York\u2019s machine politics last week when a slate of DSA- and Mamdani-backed candidates, including former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, New York Assemblymember Claire Valdez, and community organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier, prevailed over establishment choices and two incumbents.<\/p>\n

Read more Two Rulings That Are Impossible to Reconcile<\/a><\/p>\n

Another closely watched House primary is taking place halfway across the country today. Thirty-year incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), understood to be in line for a leadership role after the 2026 general election as the top Democrat on a critical congressional subcommittee overseeing health care, faces her first-ever serious primary challenge for the First Congressional District from a candidate who wasn\u2019t born when she first entered office.<\/p>\n

More from James Baratta<\/strong><\/em> | Toby Jaffe<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Melat Kiros is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in public affairs at the University of Colorado Denver and holds a law degree from the University of Notre Dame. In 2023, Kiros had a few years working as a lawyer at high-powered Sidley Austin in New York City. At that time, she made the bold decision to publicly criticize numerous law firms, including her own, for signing a letter that conflated criticism of Israel with antisemitism. Her dissent came at a steep price, as Kiros was subsequently fired.<\/p>\n

Now, the 29-year-old progressive insurgent hopes to topple a political dynasty. Kiros secured 63 percent of a preliminary intraparty vote at the Denver Democrats\u2019 county assembly in March. It was an unprecedented blow to DeGette, who received just 32 percent of the vote, barely enough to qualify for today\u2019s ballot.<\/p>\n

More importantly, a recent Data for Progress poll shows Kiros leading DeGette by five points. The progressive super PACs backing Kiros, Justice Democrats and American Priorities, commissioned the survey.<\/p>\n

The results differed markedly from those of a separate poll conducted by Data for Progress earlier this year. Support for DeGette has since fallen to 36 percent from 40 percent, while support for Kiros has surged to 41 percent from 7 percent.<\/p>\n

With DeGette\u2019s favorability declining, outside interests have poured approximately $1.3 million into the race in a frantic bid to prevent the incumbent from losing her seat. It\u2019s a familiar story of big-money special interests dragging flailing incumbents over the line. As Drop Site reported, these interests include AIPAC (through a shell PAC called Pro-Choice Majority that has received funding from AIPAC\u2019s affiliate United Democracy Project) and Big Tech (through a PAC called Project 218, funded largely by Silicon Valley donors).<\/p>\n

But for a third super PAC supporter, we don\u2019t know who wants DeGette to win\u2014and we may never know.<\/p>\n

A pop-up super PAC called Mile High Accountability Project has spent $350,000 on digital ads attacking Kiros. According to a complaint filed by the Campaign Legal Center (CLC) on June 25, the PAC allegedly failed to properly disclose its donors \u201cdespite clear federal requirements to do so,\u201d among other alleged violations of campaign finance law. The super PAC did not file a pre-primary report, and its only independent expenditure (IE) disclosure was \u201criddled with errors,\u201d CLC stated in its complaint. That matters because Colorado voters remain in the dark about who\u2019s spending big to influence their vote, and why.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe impact is that it makes it difficult to look at this report and apply it to the real world,\u201d said Shanna Ports, CLC\u2019s senior legal counsel for campaign finance. \u201cIt makes it difficult to follow the money.\u201d<\/p>\n

On June 26, Mile High Accountability Project hastily filed the missing pre-primary report, submitting it over a week after the applicable deadline. The super PAC also amended its IE disclosure, but the new version still contains errors. For instance, Mile High Accountability Project classified its disclosure as a \u201c24-hour report\u201d despite the fact that the 24-hour reporting period for the Colorado primary had not yet opened, meaning the disclosure fell within Colorado\u2019s 48-hour reporting period for IE disclosures. And while the stated purpose of the digital ads was to support DeGette, they overwhelmingly focus on opposing Kiros rather than outright boosting the incumbent.<\/p>\n

Read more A Bad Week for Billionaires<\/a><\/p>\n

The pre-primary report reveals that most of the super PAC\u2019s funding comes from a 501(c)(4) known as the U.S. Accountability Project, which is not required to disclose its donors. However, the report did show that the American Association for Justice PAC contributed $20,000 to the Mile High Accountability Project. That is a PAC funded by trial lawyers.<\/p>\n

An unknown PAC funded primarily by unknown donors makes informed choices about who is funding elections nearly impossible. \u201cVoters want to know who\u2019s behind ads so they can think about the claims that are in the ads, and think about what interests might be motivating the ads,\u201d Ports told the Prospect<\/em>. \u201cThat helps them decide if they\u2019re going to take the claims at face value, or if they\u2019re going to take them with a grain of salt.\u201d<\/p>\n

KIROS HAS WORKED ON CAMPAIGNS BEFORE<\/strong>, but as a congressional candidate, she has encountered hurdles that make it increasingly difficult for working-class candidates to build a foundation of support.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the Prospect<\/em>, Kiros pointed out that DeGette has called for the overturning of the landmark Supreme Court decision in Citizens United<\/em> while continuing to take hundreds of thousands of dollars from corporations, namely pharmaceutical companies and health insurers like Johnson & Johnson, Amgen, Cencora\/AmerisourceBergen, and Blue Cross Blue Shield Association PAC. Small donors account for less than 4 percent of DeGette\u2019s career fundraising total; 64 percent of that total has come from corporate PACs. DeGette claims she will introduce Medicare for All in the subcommittee she could chair next year, but given her support from the health industry, what the bill would look like is very unclear.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s not the people that are putting you into office,\u201d Kiros said, \u201cthen you\u2019re not going to be holding yourself accountable to the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

To counter the grassroots vitality powering her candidacy, the DeGette campaign has resorted to disparaging Kiros, using a so-called \u201cred box\u201d to highlight controversial statements and Kiros\u2019s recent return to Denver from New York. These messages aren\u2019t necessarily meant for the public to read, but for super PACs; they are a way candidates coordinate with outside groups even though federal election law forbids it. The messages DeGette has on the website have made their way into super PAC ads attacking Kiros.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a textbook demonstration of how the establishment center-left in America is trying to deal with a shifting political landscape that is increasingly hostile to them.<\/p>\n

The primary is shaping up to be a fascinating yardstick as to the seriousness and ferocity of progressive anti-establishment backlash within the Democratic electorate. A Kiros victory would suggest that even voters outside New York City, with no connection to the allegedly spellbinding Zohran Mamdani, are seeing through the noise\u2014an alarming scenario for a party establishment in decline.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnybody who ever asks for support, regardless of party, regardless of level of office, the new litmus test if we have any hope of taking back our party from these special interests is to make sure that we are not putting anybody into office who is taking money from these organizations or from these corporations,\u201d Kiros told the Prospect<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Read more Anti-Monopoly Bill Hits Make-or-Break Moment in California<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Outside interests have poured approximately $1.3 million into the race in a frantic bid to prevent the incumbent from losing her seat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[159],"class_list":["post-322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-tagged-campaign-finance-colorado-congress-democrats-diana-degette-election-2026-melat-kiros-politics-super-pacs"],"yoast_head":"\nPop-Up Super PAC Plays Dirty in Colorado\u2019s First Congressional District - Frontier Housing Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=322\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pop-Up Super PAC Plays Dirty in Colorado\u2019s First Congressional District - 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