Jewish community in Denver on high alert over rise of democratic socialist Melat Kiros

Progressive groups celebrated a major victory when 29-year-old Democratic Socialist Melat Kiros ousted 15-term Rep. Diana DeGette in Colorado’s 1st Congressional District in June. But the Democratic primary upset heightened safety concerns among Denver’s Jewish leaders, who warn her sharp rhetoric will fuel antisemitic hostility and violence in their city.

Local Jewish leaders told Fox News Digital that Kiros has left many in the community on edge because of her controversial comments — including describing the Oct. 7 attacks as "inevitable," refusing to label a local firebombing as antisemitic, and accusing Israel of genocide and apartheid.

In the hours after Kiros claimed victory, Rabbi Menachem Lehrfield, director of the Jewish Outreach Initiative in Denver, wrote on social media that he felt fearful knowing that many of his neighbors seemed to support the kind of anti-Israel rhetoric Kiros campaigned on. After his post was met with a barrage of antisemitic comments, Lehrfield published an op-ed explaining how for observant Jews like himself, just wearing a yarmulke down the streets in Denver now feels like a dangerous thing to do.

Just 24 hours after publishing his op-ed, those fears became a reality.

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"I was walking down the street right here, right outside this building, and somebody rolled down their window and yelled, ‘dirty Jew,’ to me," Lehrfield told Fox News Digital during an interview at his Denver office. "I don't know what's going to happen next time. I don't know if next time, instead of hurling vile words, they'll be hurling an explosive like the person who killed Karen Diamond in Boulder. I don't know if they're going to do something to me or my family or my community. There's a real fear that we're living with."

"What I'm most afraid of is the fact that so many of the people in my community, so many people in the district, voted for her," he added. 

Many residents are still reeling from the deadly antisemitic attack in Boulder last year.

In June 2025, an 82-year-old woman, Karen Diamond, was killed and a dozen others were injured when a man threw Molotov cocktails into a peaceful pro-Israel gathering on Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall. Prosecutors charged 45-year-old illegal immigrant Mohamed Sabry Soliman with murder and hate crimes, noting he yelled "Free Palestine" and spent a year planning the attack to "kill all Zionist people."

When asked about the attack during a 9News interview, Kiros condemned the violence but refused to call it antisemitic, saying she didn’t "know what was in the heart of the perpetrator."

A few weeks after the 9News interview, Kiros clarified that the attack in Boulder was indeed "a horrific attack on a group of Jewish people that were peacefully protesting," but she blamed Israel for rising antisemitism in the U.S.

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"We are seeing that the actions of Israel are putting Jewish people in great danger," she continued, while vowing to prioritize combating "hate and antisemitism" if elected.

For some advocates in Denver’s Jewish community, her refusal to label the attack as antisemitic was seen as a slap in the face.

"Kiros's inability to call the Boulder firebombing an antisemitic attack was extremely frustrating and difficult for our community to hear," Brandon Rattiner, senior director of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), told Fox News Digital. "First and foremost, she's a lawyer, and the judge said it was an antisemitic attack, so this is not something that’s really still being debated."

"The impact here was pretty clear: A Jewish person was killed, over a dozen were hurt, and it was one of the biggest and most prominent antisemitic attacks on Jews throughout the world," he continued. "So the inability to see and to hear our community when we are asking for level of care and empathy was incredibly hurtful to hear."

Rattiner met with Kiros ahead of the primary to share his community’s concerns. While he thought they had a good conversation, Rattiner said he felt betrayed when Kiros appeared on anti-Israel podcaster Hasan Piker’s livestream two weeks later and "did the opposite of everything that we had discussed."

"I had asked for nuance and she spoke in absolutist positions," Rattiner said. "I had asked for empathy and compassion, and she seemed to only allow that for one side of the conflict."

Kiros, a former attorney turned doctoral student and barista, launched her campaign on progressive promises like universal healthcare, housing reform, and universal child and elder care. But her positions on Israel became a polarizing flashpoint.

While national progressives view her win as proof that voters want bolder policies, local Jewish leaders say that normalizing extreme language makes everyday life less safe for their community.

Susan Rona, regional director for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), told Fox News Digital that this rhetoric fuels violence against Jewish people.

"When political leaders refuse to name something as a targeted antisemitic attack, it creates some distrust of leadership and causes additional fear because it minimizes and causes dehumanization of Jews, which leads to violence," Rona said.

"We’re seeing that pretty clearly in Colorado," she continued. "There’s a direct line to all this antisemitic rhetoric we’re hearing and violence happening toward the Jewish community."

Antisemitic incidents are skyrocketing in Colorado, according to the advocacy group, having reached the third-highest on record since ADL began tracking them in 1979.

ADL’s most recent report tallied 167 incidents in 2025 — a massive jump from ten years ago when the region saw fewer than 12 cases in a year.

What makes 2026 particularly alarming, Rona said, is the rise in the violent nature of these attacks. She cited the Boulder firebombing, a child being physically assaulted with a makeshift lasso and subject to antisemitic slurs, and a visibly Jewish woman being assaulted in a laundromat.

The ADL says that criticism of Zionism and the state of Israel is central to the Democratic Socialists of America’s platform.

The ADL released an update to its report on the DSA political movement after its wave of primary wins this year, highlighting the DSA’s "explicitly anti-Israel platform." The report noted the DSA’s formal endorsement of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, and declaration that Zionism is equivalent to racism. According to ADL, at its national convention, the DSA also passed a resolution mandating that its candidates refuse any affiliation with "Zionist lobby groups" or the Israeli government.

"I'm concerned that antisemitism is becoming mainstreamed in politics. It's becoming institutionalized [and] normalized," Rona said.

Community leaders stressed that their issue isn't simply disagreeing with someone over their criticism of Israel or its leadership.

"It is always OK to criticize Israel the same way it's OK to criticize any country; that is part of the democratic process," Rabbi Lehrfield said. "There's nobody more critical of Israel than Israelis… But there's a big distinction between criticizing Israel and demonizing it and saying it doesn't have a right to exist."

"When it turns into hate speech and starts this normalization of targeting and dehumanizing Jews, it's where we really [cross] a line, and we have to call it out for what it is," Rona agreed.

Not everyone agrees that Kiros’ rhetoric is anti-Jewish. Ian Zuckerman, an associate professor of history at Regis University who says he’s a "proudly Jewish Coloradan," published an op-ed in Colorado Newsline saying he was "thrilled" by Kiros’ primary win.

He adamantly disagreed with those who called her rhetoric antisemitic, using examples from history to say that a rejection of political Zionism is not equivalent to antisemitism. He accused the candidate's critics of "splitting hairs," arguing Kiros did ultimately condemn the violent attack against individuals over their beliefs.

"Kiros got it right: Respect for basic human dignity means that no one should be subjected to violence because of their beliefs or their ascriptive identity," he wrote. "Though the scale is incomparable, our condemnation of the attacks in Boulder and our horror at the genocide in Gaza stem from the same moral principle."

In response to Kiros’ victory, a Jewish independent candidate, Dr. Shimon Blau, quickly gathered signatures to get on the ballot for the general election. While winning a third-party campaign in Denver is an uphill battle, Rattiner said his candidacy speaks volumes about the mood of the electorate.

"The best way to understand his candidacy is this is a community that is feeling isolated, vilified, and in pain," Rattiner said.

Blau called Kiros’ campaign a danger to the Jewish community. He also suggested he was entering the race to stand up against socialist policies.

"I believe in human rights for everyone," Blau told the Denverite. "I believe in healthcare reform, in fiscal responsibility. I believe in a certain level of personal responsibility, and I'm a little bit wary of government overreach if it's a little bit too far. I am absolutely not a socialist."

Republican candidate Christy Peterson, a local accountant, is also running in the Nov. 3 general election, which Kiros is widely expected to win given the district's strongly blue lean. In 2024, Kamala Harris won 77 percent of the vote in the district en route to winning Colorado.

Despite the tension, some community leaders like Rattiner say they aren't giving up on dialogue if Kiros is elected in November.

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"The Jewish community doesn't want to be in a state of permanent warfare with any representative," Rattiner said. "I sincerely hope that Melat Kiros will listen to our community and educate herself about the policies and positions that she has and the implications in the Jewish community. But I think what she may have even more of an opportunity to do is use her credibility on the left to help elevate concerns of the Jewish people so that when the Jewish people do call out in pain, when they express their fear and concern, it's not written off."

Kiros' campaign was backed by several progressive groups, including the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Justice Democrats, and the Working Families Party. She became the 28th candidate endorsed by a far-left group to win a Democratic primary election this cycle as the socialist movement continues to increase its influence across the nation.

Kiros' campaign, Shimon Blau, and the DSA did not return Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.