Melat Kiros defeated 15-term incumbent Diana DeGette in the Colorado First District Democratic primary this summer. Speaking with Higher Heights programs vice president Eboni Taylor, the socialist candidate described roads, schools and fire stations as examples of the ideology and said she wants similar security extended to health care, workplaces and housing.

She said her family includes Black leftists who view racial and economic fairness as inseparable, adding that institutions must be held accountable because small steps will not produce the needed results. On PBS Firing Line with Margaret Hoover she argued the philosophy fulfills founding American ideals more effectively than market systems and credited safety-net programs, not private enterprise, with reducing poverty.

Her platform also includes a Trans Bill of Rights and treats abortion access as an economic as well as personal matter that should be made a constitutional guarantee so elected officials cannot restrict it.