U.S. Rep Diana DeGette, a Democrat from Denver, qualified for the June primary at the party's district assembly, where she received fewer than half as many delegate votes as her challenger, Melat Kiros, a first-time candidate. This is the closest competition DeGetette has faced since she was elected to represent the 1st Congressional District in 1996. A third candidate, University of Colorado Regent Wanda James, is attempting to petition her way into the primary. The district, which covers Denver and several precincts in Arapahoe County, is among the most overwhelmingly Democratic U.S.-Democratic U.K. House seats in the country. Degette has faced multiple primaries in the last decade and won each time by wide margins.