Political ads · 2026 · CO

Colorado House District 1 2026: the ads, and who's paying for them

Melat Kiros won · 78.3% to 14.1% · Called by AP on Nov 3

Follow Melat Kiros in office

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Melat Kiros (Democrat) and Christy Peterson (Republican) are the nominees for Colorado's 1st congressional district in the November 3, 2026 general election. By their latest FEC reports, Melat Kiros's campaign had raised $1.3 million (through October 14, 2026) and Christy Peterson's campaign $9,000 (through October 14, 2026). Outside groups have reported $498,000 for Melat Kiros and $675,000 against.

Melat Kiros (DEM), Christy Peterson (REP). 3 others filed with the FEC; any ads they ran are below. 0 ads analyzed, 0 with at least one technique in the copy. Newest first. The paid-for-by line is the advertiser's own filing.

Also on every Colorado ballot: 14 statewide ballot measures → The ballot wording and the official arguments, read for rhetorical techniques.

How to vote in Colorado

From Colorado's official election office. Each line links to the official page it came from.

Registration	Register by Mon, Oct 26 (To receive a mail ballot; in-person registration at a VSPC through Election Day). Same-day registration: In person at a VSPC (passed)Source: coloradosos.gov ↗Source: coloradosos.gov ↗
Early voting in person	Mon, Oct 19 to Tue, Nov 3 (Minimum required VSPCs open; counties mail ballots by Oct 9) (passed)Source: coloradosos.gov ↗
By mail	Anyone can vote by mail; return it by Tue, Nov 3 (Received by the county clerk by 7 p.m.; postmarks do not count) (passed)Source: coloradosos.gov ↗
Election Day	Tue, Nov 3. Polls: 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. (passed)Source: coloradosos.gov ↗
ID at the polls	ID required in person; photo not required (e.g. utility bill, bank statement within 60 days)Source: coloradosos.gov ↗

Check your registration and polling place ↗ Colorado's official election site ↗

Checked October 8, 2026. Rules can change; confirm with the official site before you go.

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Money in this race

From FEC filings for 2025–26. Outside spending is money a group spends on its own about a candidate — TV and online ads, mail, canvassing. It is not a donation to the campaign, and the candidate does not control it. Supporting means it was spent to help that candidate win; Opposing means it was spent to defeat them, usually on attack ads. Groups report it within 24 or 48 hours as the election nears. Raised is the campaign's own fundraising, as of its latest quarterly report. Largest donors come from each outside spender's own FEC receipts, with each donor's share of its itemized receipts; donors under $100,000 are not named. People are shown with the employer and occupation they reported. A donor that is itself a political committee is shown with its own largest donors. Companies and nonprofits don't report their funders to the FEC, so the trail ends there, and the page says so.

Melat Kiros (DEM)

Raised: $1.3M through 2026-10-14 individuals $1.2M · PACs $66K · candidate's own money, incl. loans $5,036 · cash on hand $76K
Outside spending: $675K opposing Kiros · $498K supporting Kiros · latest reported 2026-07-22
Largest outside spenders: PROJECT 218 — $400K opposing Kiros Largest donors: DEMOCRACY MATTERS $5.9M (50%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC); Keith Behner $250K (2%), Retired; Amos Hostetter $250K (2%), Retired; James Millstein $250K (2%), Millstein & CO., Consultant; Samuel Walton $250K (2%), Restoration Works, Executive JUSTICE DEMOCRATS PAC — $306K supporting Kiros Largest donors: Saikat Chakrabarti $2.0M (34%), NEW Consensus, President; D BAILEY, JAMES $840K (14%); THE INSTITUTE FOR MIDDLE EAST UNDERSTANDING (IMEU) POLICY PROJECT $785K (13%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC); Allen Liu $650K (11%), NOT Employed, Retired; RASHIDA TLAIB FOR CONGRESS $550K (9%) PRO-CHOICE MAJORITY ACTION — $275K opposing Kiros Largest donors: EDW ACTION FUND $5.6M (>99%) AMERICAN PRIORITIES (AP) — $150K supporting Kiros Largest donors: Mohammad Waqas $1.1M (14%), Showcase Commerce Inc., CEO; Omer Hasan $1.0M (13%), Retired; Hussain Mahrouq $925K (12%), MEI Group, CEO; FIG AND OLIVE ACTION $620K (8%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC); Afaq Ahmed $500K (7%), Self-Employed, Investor SF SOLIDARITY PAC — $27K supporting Kiros Largest donors: CHAKRABARTI, SAIKAT $8.8M (77%); Saikat Chakrabarti $2.5M (22%), NEW Consensus, President; VALENTIC, JACOB $161K (1%) and 3 more

Bundled through PACs: $2,000 through 1 PAC · FEC bulk data of 2026-11-01 A NEW POLICY PAC — $2,000 from 2 gifts

9 PACs gave directly — alphabetical; the legal limit is $5,000 per election

COMMUNICATIONS WORKERS OF AMERICA - COPE POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS COMMITTEE $2,500
FIG AND OLIVE ACTION PAC $1,644
JUSTICE DEMOCRATS PAC $5,000
MONICA FOR DPS $250
PROGRESSIVE VICTORY PAC $2,113
PROGRESSIVE VOTERS OF AMERICA $5,000
SUNRISE PAC $382
UNITED FOOD AND COMMERCIAL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION ACTIVE BALLOT CLUB $5,000
WORKING FAMILIES PARTY PAC $5,000

All filings at the FEC ↗

Christy Peterson (REP)

Raised: $9,446 through 2026-10-14 individuals $8,296 · PACs $0 · party $1,150 · cash on hand $7,393
Outside spending: none reported

Bundled through PACs: none reported · FEC bulk data of 2026-11-01

All filings at the FEC ↗

No campaign ads analyzed for this race yet.

What this page is

An ad is on this page because its own "Paid for by" line is a campaign in this race; or it comes from a national Senate group and ran mostly in CO; or it ran mostly in CO and names a candidate — unless its sponsor is a campaign for some other office. Ads from outside groups appear alongside the campaigns' own.
Campaigns run one text as many separate ads. Identical text from the same sponsor is one card here, marked with its number of variants.
A technique is a specific rhetorical move in the wording, found by our model and explained in one line. It is not a claim that the ad is false.
Claims are checked when a reader asks: press "Check this ad's claims" on a card. Running a check and seeing its verdicts are part of Semblen Pro, because each check costs money to run; anyone can see which claims an ad makes. The ten ads with the most money behind them in each race are checked ahead of time.
Claim verdicts say what the cited sources say. A verdict that an ad is wrong or misleading is shown only when it cites an established fact-checker or an institutional record — Congress, a federal agency, a court — and its confidence is not low; a weaker one is not shown at all. Each verdict shows what it rests on and how confident it is. If we got one wrong, press Disagree: a verdict that readers dispute and no one defends comes down.
Video ads come from the campaigns' own YouTube channels; the transcript is analyzed. Meta ads are analyzed on their text; their video and images are not, yet.