Melat Kiros, Democratic candidate for Colorado Congressional District 1, told senior Politico reporter Dasha Burns on Oct. 18 that she condemns the Boulder bombing “at every juncture that I have the opportunity to.”
Actually, Kiros has avoided a number of opportunities to condemn the attack, because she appears to be refusing to engage with her Jewish constituency.
The IJN has reached out to Kiros a number of times in a variety of ways since mid-June, 2026. Kiros has yet to respond.
Thus far, Kiros has communicated to the Jewish community in two ways. The first is to engage only with people who she knows personally or who have already stated their support for her. The other way is to engage in backroom, off -the-record one-on-ones with some Jewish communal leaders.
When a candidate for political office ignores its constituency — or refuses to debate his or her opponent — it is deeply troubling. It means that candidate cares more about his or her power and agenda than about the people he or she purports to want to represent. Is it a representative democracy if representatives engage only with preferred constituents?
These are the questions the IJN communicated to Kiros:
Politics aside, what special skills, temperament and mindset do you possess that qualify you to represent CD-1 in Congress?
How can Congress impact CD-1 challenges, such as housing?
What role should Immigration and Customs Enforcement have?
With the rise in anti-Semitism worldwide, including CD-1, Jewish organizations are spending significant amounts of money on security at their buildings and events. The Jewish American Security Act would provide $1 billion in funding for the federal Nonprofit Security Grant Program to help offset some costs. If this is not passed by the current Congress and you are elected to the House of Representatives, will you cosponsor the bill in the next Congress?
Would you join a Jewish federation-led delegation to Israel and the Palestinian territories?
Will you support aid to Israel? Under what conditions would you support aid?
The Boulder firebombing deeply impacted the local Jewish community. Earlier this year, you told Kyle Clark (Channel 9) that you could not describe the perpetrator’s actions as anti-Semitic. At the time, the perpetrator had been convicted of hate crimes. Do you stand by your comments? Did you disagree with Judge Amy Salomon’s remarks at the sentencing?
The comments you made to Kyle Clark have raised concern among many CD-1 residents. Are you concerned for Jewish safety and if so, what actions will you take to ensure that community’s safety?
How would you support local journalism while still adhering to the First Amendment?
When a candidate will not respond, constituents wonder, What is this candidate trying to hide?
Kiros’ Politico interview goes a long way to answering that question. She told Burns that “what happened in Boulder was a horrific attack,” that it was a “political act,” that “it was a crime to incite terror in the Jewish community and that is wrong no matter what.” When pressed by Burns, however, Kiros would not call the attack anti-Semitic.
She also said that Jews are unsafe everywhere in the world because of Israel, that Israel’s war in Gaza means that “we” cannot protect Jews in Denver, and that the attack on Run For Their Lives “puts Jewish people in harm’s way because Israel portends [sic] to speak for and act on behalf of all Jewish people.”
In short, per Kiros: “I think it is really important that when we talk about these particular attacks that we are clear about why these attacks are happening so that we can actually prevent them from ever happening again.”
In short, per Kiros: Run For Their Lives was attacked with a deadly firebombing because of Israel. The way to stop terrorism? Per Kiros, Colorado Jews can only be safe if Israel stops defending itself.
Kiros may be deeply disturbed by the firebombing of Pearl Street on June 1, 2025, but her refusal to acknowledge it as anti-Semitic combined with her lack of interest in engaging with the impacted constituent group, make her unfit to represent Coloradans.
© IJN 2026
