Media outlets gasped last week at the socialist movement’s success in the New York congressional Democratic primary elections.

That success headed west Tuesday, to Wyoming’s southern neighbor of Colorado.

Democratic socialist Melat Kiros, 29, defeated 15-term incumbent U.S. House Rep. Diana DeGette in Tuesday evening’s primary election.

Colorado Public Radio called the ouster “a stunning blow to the Democratic establishment in Denver and continuing a run of leftist victories in major cities.”

Former Wyoming Gov. Mike Sullivan, a Dvemocrat, told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday that he wasn’t surprised at the move by Denver voters, but he doubted the proximity of a House socialist – if Kiros wins the general election – will affect Wyoming much.

“We have our own issues, and we’re certainly more sensitive to certain issues than others,” Sullivan said. “And it doesn’t necessarily divide us or make us closer to anybody else.”

Could Deepen ‘Don’t Colorado My Wyoming’ Sentiment

Liz Brimmer, longtime Wyoming politico, agreed in general, but said having a socialist congressional neighbor could galvanize Wyoming even harder into a tendency it already has: spurning anything that looks like Colorado governance.  

“I think Wyoming uniformly and strongly feels, you know, ‘Don’t Colorado my Wyoming’,” Brimmer said. “And I think if anything, it deepens that sentiment.”

Brimmer said the ouster speaks of “these times, where there’s no doubt an anti-incumbent strain.” But no one will know all the reasons, nor should presume too much, until the voter data return, she said.

The Republicans saw the anti-incumbent strain surface differently, with newcomers ousting President Donald Trump’s foes in GOP primary elections.

State Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, who is finishing off his final legislative term, voiced fascination with the election outcome.

Brown, a self-described political junkie, lives about 14 miles from the Colorado border.

He said the ouster shows Denver is increasingly dictating the rest of Colorado’s fate, and that the state is growing more polarized.

On the Republican gubernatorial primary side, The Associated Press was showing a half-point lead for Victor Marx as of Wednesday.

“He’s just as crazy as a democratic socialist on the left,” said Brown.

As for DeGette’s defeat, it’s not as symptomatic as one would think, he added.

“She was running a ‘Hey, I’m the incumbent and I’ve been here 30 years’ (campaign),” he said.

That hurt her. As did a growing divide on the left over Israel’s approach to its many foes — and Congress’ funding of Israeli war and defense efforts, said Brown.

Israel was also a fulcrum in the May primary loss of libertarian-leaning incumbent Rep. Thomas Massie, of Kentucky. But the Republican voters took the inverse approach on that one, nominating the candidate who supports funding Israeli war efforts.

Jack Speight, the GOP strategist who helped Wyoming Gov. Stan Hathaway to victory in 1966, told Cowboy State Daily Kiros’ win is alarming.

Speight was a Democrat when he graduated from the University of Wyoming law school. But the allure of capitalism and the prevailing logic of his good friends pulled him to the Republican side, he said in another interview last month.

The socialist victories of 2026 are “sad for this country. It may well affect the results of this fall, and nationwide,” he said. He called it a shift of California transplants into the Rockies, and a symptom of a growing entitlement.

Look North

Colorado isn’t the only Wyoming neighbor with socialist momentum.

Sam Forstag, a smoke jumper endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-New York, won his primary bid for Montana’s U.S. House District 1 on June 2.

Forstag may be less favored than Kiros going into the general election: No Democrat has won that Montana House district this century.

The New York Times called Forstag’s candidacy a “test for left-leaning politicians” who have been arguing for a populist surge in the blue party.

Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.

LARAMIE, Wyo. — A bull moose was spotted roaming the streets of Laramie early Tuesday morning before being safely tranquilized and relocated by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

Photos from the University of Wyoming Police Department and Laramie residents show the creature curiously wandering through the university campus, where he was tranquilized before heading to a strip mall along Grand Avenue and taking a nap.

“Biologists got the call this morning that the moose was wandering in the UW Apartments neighborhood,” Laramie Region Game and Fish Information and Education specialist Hannah Smith said. “They responded to the scene and were able to dart the moose.”

While he was darted near the apartments, he didn’t stand around and wait for the tranquilizer to take effect. Smith said he worked his way east for about 20 minutes before ending up, coincidentally, in front of Sportsman’s Warehouse.

Lilly Avila, a Laramie resident working at a nearby coffee shop, told Cap City News the animal was sluggishly wandering the parking lot and rubbing against cars before the tranquilizer got to him.

“They brought him to the office and got him cooled down,” Smith said. “They don’t want to be in town. It’s a stressful situation for them, too. They can overheat really easily, so we get them cooled down before we transport them.”

Game and Fish couldn’t say as of Tuesday where the moose came from. Smith said he could have come east from the Pole Mountain area between Laramie and Cheyenne or up the Laramie River from the Snowy Range. Either way, his new home will be around Medicine Bow Mountain.

He also shouldn’t be feeling the effects of the tranquilizer for too much longer. Biologists gave him a reversal drug that should have prepared him to return to the wild.

“He should be pretty normal in terms of the medication. I think, in terms of his day, hopefully he goes back to living his happy moose life munching on some willows and doesn’t go for too many more walkabouts,” Smith said.

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