Colorado's 2026 House races reveal Democratic Party tensions between progressive and moderate candidates

DENVER — The future of the Democratic Party is on display in Colorado. The state's choices for U.S. House candidates for the 2026 election feature a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and another whose platform might be mistaken for that of a Republican as she runs in a district considered a safe seat for the GOP.

Most of the state's eight congressional seats are solidly Democratic or Republican, and safe seats often attract candidates at the extremes of their parties. As candidates aligned with democratic socialist ideals have picked up primary wins across the country this year — including Melat Kiros in Colorado — some Democratic Party traditionalists have become concerned with the leftward shift, fearing it could harm chances of winning enough seats in November to assume a majority in the House, Senate or both.

Colorado is a state with a widely varied electorate that's becomes more solidly Democratic in recent decades, but which still holds a strong conservative and libertarian streak.

Kiros, a 29-year-old lawyer, was one of the first democratic socialist candidates to make waves on a national level when she upset longtime Rep. Diana DeGette for the Democratic nomination in Colorado's 1st Congressional District in June.

The Democratic Socialists of America platform calls for freeing Palestine, healthcare for all and abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, among other things, putting it well to left of center in the current American political system.

"There was a certain anti-incumbent energy that was felt all across the country that helped us a great deal," Kiros said about her primary victory, talking with CNBC at a coffee shop in Denver's Hale neighborhood. "What we were doing was getting volunteers and just actually meeting voters where they were at."

She added, "the fight that we have is with the system itself and with campaign finance laws, and I think that gave people a more hopeful thing to hold on to, rather than finding reasons to be upset about this incumbent who actually did a lot of great things for us and for our district."

DeGette's office didn't respond to requests for an interview. She has represented Colorado in the U.S. House since 1997.

Democrats are hoping to win the House and possibly even the Senate at a time when President Donald Trump's popularity is at historic lows.

Far-left candidates may pose a risk to that effort, on the theory that a smaller portion of the electorate will be willing to vote for them. At the same time, the Tea Party insurgency in the Republican Party starting in 2010, where many right-wing candidates succeeded, shows there is a pathway for someone on one edge of the political spectrum to win higher office.

More voters would be more likely to support a democratic socialist candidate than a Make America Great Again supporter or a candidate endorsed by Trump, according to a CNBC All-America Economic Survey released in July.

And DSA-affiliated candidates are making strides around the country. Kiros is favored to win the general election in the heavily Democratic district. A bigger test will be in Michigan, where far-left candidate Abdul El-Sayed beat a more moderate candidate to win the Democratic nomination for Senate and will now need to face voters statewide.

But nationally, Democrats are nervous. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and House and Senate party leadership have usually supported more moderate candidates — including El-Sayed's main rival. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday that he doesn't support DSA's agenda, though he noted that they will all be part of the party's caucus if elected.

Rahm Emanuel, a former congressman from Illinois, chief of staff for President Barack Obama and Chicago mayor, has been a frequent critic of far-left candidates, saying they won't help turn seats from Republican to Democratic.

Back in Colorado, a 20-mile drive south from Kiros at a coffee shop in Highlands Ranch, another — very different — Democratic candidate sat down with CNBC.

The 4th District seat comprises most of Colorado's Eastern Plains plus some Denver suburbs. Republicans outnumber Democrats by about 2 to 1, but around half of voters are unaffiliated. It's held by Rep. Lauren Boebert, a high-profile on-again, off-again Trump ally who moved to the safer 4th District from the 3rd after a very narrow victory in 2022.

Eileen Laubacher, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral who has five children, is working to change that after winning the Democratic nomination in the district.

"Someone with my background, 34 years serving in the military, it puts me into a different category for a lot of people," Laubacher said in an interview. "They can't doubt my patriotism and my love of my country. I talk about my family that we raised here. I talk about my faith."

Laubacher said when she returned home after retiring from the Navy, she initially hadn't expected to run for office, but things changed.

"I was just watching all these institutions and organizations that have just given my whole life more to just be torn apart," she said. "And I just thought, I've got to do something in this moment for my country. … Your job is to represent the people of your district. What the job isn't is trying to become internet famous or rich or powerful, it's about service, and I just felt that we needed more of that."

Laubacher faces an uphill battle for the seat that the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter rates "solid" for Republicans, but she had $3.6 million on hand as of June 30 compared with Boebert's $247,000, according to the Federal Election Commission.

Boebert's office didn't respond to requests for an interview.

Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat who is exiting his post in January after eight years in office, said Colorado's unique dynamics may help Democratic candidates this year.

The political environment is as much a reaction to what's going on in the Republican Party as with Democrats, Polis told CNBC in his office in Colorado's Capitol Building. "We're not a state that supports tariffs and taxes and socialism like Donald Trump is bringing at the national level. We are a state of limited government, freedom, first state to legalize marijuana, one of the first states to legalize psilocybin. That's very much in the political culture."

"Republicans like Mitt Romney, he was a businessman, created value," Polis said of the 2012 presidential candidate. "They do they do well here, but people like Donald Trump, you know, who just want government-owned businesses, don't do well here."