A late infusion of another $1.3 million into the Democratic primary between U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette and challenger Melat Kiros — most of it by DeGette’s allies — is the latest evidence the race may be closer than many political watchers once thought.
That is the total of reported outside spending just since Monday, with Pro-Choice Majority Action cutting nearly $1.1 million in checks in the last few days for TV ads supporting DeGette and opposing Kiros. On Friday, Mile High Accountability Project, a super PAC that hasn’t reported its donors, disclosed spending $135,000 on new digital advertising supporting DeGette on top of $350,000 spent earlier this month.
As of early Friday evening, outside groups had spent a combined $3.1 million, all in the past month, in an effort to influence voters in the Denver-based 1st Congressional District — a race that’s now getting national attention after other Democratic incumbents have lost recent primaries.
About $2.4 million of that has been spent in support of DeGette (or opposing Kiros) and about $670,000 has gone to help Kiros. DeGette has served in Congress for nearly 30 years and is seeking a 16th term in this year’s election, but first she must win Tuesday’s primary.
The largest sum has come from Pro-Choice Majority Action, with the political action committee spending more than $1.5 million in support of DeGette, including the money disclosed this week. The committee is affiliated with EDW Action Fund, which supports Democratic women running for Congress.
Also this week, a pro-Palestinian group called American Priorities paid $150,000 for TV ads supporting Kiros. Her other major outside-spending supporter is Justice Democrats, which has now spent $515,000 in the race.
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Supporters of Kiros, who identifies as a democratic socialist, have been buoyed by Tuesday’s primary wins of two other democratic socialists backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, along with a third Democratic candidate endorsed by Mamdani, in congressional races. Two of them beat incumbents.
To many observers, the wins indicated a possible groundswell of support rising across the country for a new generation of Democratic candidates.
Kiros received the backing of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders late last week, and he has appealed to his support base to donate to her campaign in the final days of the primary. The third candidate in DeGette’s primary, University of Colorado Regent Wanda James, hasn’t seen any support or opposition from outside groups.
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