This New Democrat Says America Needs a Very Specific Kind of Immigrant in Power — and Her Reason Is Explosive

Democratic socialist Melat Kiros, who defeated longtime Rep. Diana DeGette in Colorado’s primary, told a Denver audience that the United States must elect more immigrants from the “Global South” to force a fundamental shift in the international system.

“There’s a certain reckoning that we are going to have to have with the global world order as it exists today,” Kiros said at the Wa’Ela Tigrai conference. “The responsibility that we have as Americans… of the exploitative and extractive nature that we play on the global scale… is only going to be challenged if we are getting represented by people who understand that on a fundamental level.”

She added, “And that means getting more immigrants into office. That means getting more people who have heritage in the global south into office.”

Kiros herself arrived from Ethiopia after her father received a Diversity Visa Lottery green card. Research consistently shows higher foreign-born populations correlate with stronger Democratic voting patterns.

Surveys of naturalized citizens in 2024 found solid majorities preferred the Democratic presidential nominee. Analysts have long noted that rapid demographic change through immigration has tilted many congressional districts toward permanent Democratic majorities.

Kiros’s remarks place explicit political strategy behind the push for expanded representation from specific regions of the world.