​Melat Kiros critic submits petition signatures for unaffiliated run for Congress

An unaffiliated candidate who launched a campaign to represent Colorado’s Denver-centered 1st Congressional District gathered in three days more than the required number of petition signatures to qualify for the ballot, he said. 

Shimon Blau said in a Facebook post that his campaign submitted almost 2,200 petition signatures to the Colorado secretary of state’s office Thursday. Candidates must submit 1,500 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. He said in the post that he is optimistic he will qualify. The secretary’s office must still verify the signatures.

Other unaffiliated candidates had their petitions verified about a week after they submitted signatures to the secretary of state’s office. 

Blau, a doctor, announced his candidacy Sunday in a Facebook post. He said in a video on his Facebook Tuesday that he is a “true independent” who leans left on social issues and right on fiscal issues. His “historic accomplishment” was made possible by people who don’t feel heard, seen or included, he said. 

“It was thousands of Coloradans saying they are tired of division, tired of extremism from every direction, and tired of hateful rhetoric,” Blau said. 

Concern for what he views as antisemitic rhetoric from Democratic nominee Melat Kiros is what motivated Blau, who is Jewish, to run for Congress, he said in the Facebook post. Maintaining a strong alliance with Israel is a priority of his campaign, as well as healthcare and childcare reform. 

Kiros was fired from her job as a corporate attorney in late 2023 after she posted an open letter defending students protesting Israel’s war in Gaza from charges of antisemitism. Throughout her campaign, she has been critical of Israel’s military operation in Gaza, which U.N. bodies and human rights groups say amounts to a genocide. She faced criticism for an interview in which she declined to call the June 2025 firebombing attack in Boulder an act of antisemitism.

In the Democratic primary election last week, Kiros, a 29-year-old democratic socialist, defeated U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a 15-term incumbent who took office four months before Kiros was born, by more than 20,000 votes. Her upset victory followed progressive wins in New York congressional primaries. 

Blau has yet to file a statement of candidacy with the Federal Elections Commission. The next quarterly filing deadline is July 15. 

The general election is on Nov. 3. Republican Christy Peterson is also running for the seat. The district heavily favors Democrats.