Diana DeGette has represented Denver in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1997. She is the longest-serving member of Congress from Colorado. As far as anyone can remember, she has never lost a caucus vote in her numerous reelection campaigns.

That changed over the weekend.

A first-time candidate, 28-year-old Melat Kiros, trounced DeGette in the Democrats’ Denver County assembly vote Saturday, suggesting the incumbent will just barely meet the threshold to make it to the ballot for the June 30 primary election. It’s even possible she could be knocked out of contention at the party’s congressional district assemblies next week.

Kiros’ success has much to do with her own talents, positions and tactics. But it’s also an example of what is happening in the Democratic Party across the state and the nation. Voters are exasperated, and while the Democratic base is motivated in part by fury in the face of the mad-king Trump administration, it is also sick of party leaders it thinks have done nothing to improve their lives or the country. If a former shoo-in like DeGette is at risk, what other Democratic incumbents should be wary of anti-establishment momentum?

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John Hickenlooper, for one. The junior U.S. senator from Colorado is running for reelection, and he’s almost certain to win the Democratic primary on the strength of his name recognition and fundraising dominance. But not necessarily his performance. In that area, many voters in the base would rather he be booted. He recently chose to drop out of the caucus and assembly nominating process in favor of the petition process — allowing him to avoid putting the fate of his campaign at the mercy of the party’s most engaged members, who appear to prefer Democratic challenger Julie Gonzales, a progressive state senator.

Progressive Democrats held their noses to vote for Hickenlooper even during his first run for the Senate in 2020. Their disdain for him has only grown during the second Trump term as he has sometimes been complicit with the MAGA agenda.

The other U.S. senator from Colorado, Michael Bennet, is running for governor. Though he’s the favorite to win he’s seen by many Democrats as incapable of bold leadership, and he’s vulnerable to a strong challenge from the left by Phil Weiser, the attorney general. Bennet, like Hickenlooper, chose to seek ballot access by collecting signatures on a nominating petition rather than venture into Democratic caucuses and assemblies to ask for votes. Weiser showed up at caucuses. Plus, tellingly, Weiser is trailing Bennet in fundraising but it’s hardly a blowout.

Across the country, incumbents and career politicians from both parties are threatened by a wave of anti-establishment anger. On the Democratic side, the party is split over issues such as Israel policy, rising costs of living, and, especially after an infirm President Joe Biden was forced to drop his reelection bid, the age of candidates — Hickenlooper is 74, DeGette is 68 and Bennet is 61; their top Democratic challengers are all younger.

Democratic candidates who base their campaigns solely on opposition to Trump are missing the point.

“Democrats know that they’re also to blame, and we should improve our party before we just go after Trump,” said Deep Badhesha, a Denver political activist and Kiros campaign volunteer. “It’s not enough just to be anti-Trump. You have to have your own vision.”

Kiros, a democratic socialist who was born in Ethiopia, offers a clear vision that evidently resonates with the base in Denver. Her website mentions such familiar progressive planks as Medicare for all and universal child care as priorities, along with housing as a human right and an Israel arms embargo. But the vision starts with impatience with careerists like DeGette.

During an interview in December on “The Majority Report with Sam Seder,” Kiros was asked about the state of the Democratic Party in Colorado.

“It’s this relationship between corporations and establishment Democrats that’s responsible for the crises we’re facing today,” Kiros said. “The only way we can actually address this problem is by voting them out. We have existential crises that we’re facing, especially my generation, with democracy, with the economy, with the planet right now. We can’t afford to wait for our turn. We can’t afford to ask for permission. We just have to run, remove them from power and change the balance of power in Congress.”