Melat Kiros took the steps of the Colorado State Capitol on Sunday afternoon and turned a rally that had been moved twice into a final show of force for her campaign. Hasan Piker, who had been promoted as part of the event, did not appear after already arriving in Denver.
The rally, called Power to the People: Young, Bold and Unbought, drew several hundred people and came less than three weeks before the June 30 primary elections. Kiros, 29, is challenging Diana DeGette, 68, who has represented Denver in Congress since 1997.
People in the crowd held white Kiros campaign signs and wore Hot Girls for Melat Kiros T-shirts while Justin Pearson and Donovan McKinney spoke before her. Susan Levy stood with her 18-year-old son, Xander, who said this year would be his first time voting. She said she was learning from him and that it was time for change.
Kiros used about 10 minutes to press for universal health care, universal child care and the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She told the crowd that the event had been canceled at multiple venues because the movement was bringing together people who refused to accept the world as it is, and she accused DeGette of using her donor class to try to silence it.
The rally had first been set for ReelWorks in Five Points, then moved to the Ogden Theater on Colfax before Kiros announced on Sunday that it would instead be held at the Capitol. Julie Gonzales was also scheduled to participate but did not show up, citing safety concerns, leaving Kiros at the center of an event that had been advertised as broader than the campaign itself.
That shift mattered because the night was meant to sell a larger progressive coalition, not just one candidate. With Hasan Piker absent and Gonzales gone, the rally became a clearer test of Kiros's own draw, and the size of the crowd suggested she has enough energy behind her to stay competitive heading into the primary.
