Primary Elections: Saira Rao, First Congressional District Candidate

Saira Rao is a first time candidate who appears on the Democratic Primary Ballot, challenging Diana DeGette who has represented Colorado’s First Congressional District for over 20 years. Rao says she was inspired to run for office to shake up the Democratic establishment.

“The status quo gave us Donald Trump, so what we saw in November 2016 was tons of Democratic voters didn’t show up. So who didn’t show up? Voters of color, young voters, the rust belt didn’t show up, the Obama coalition fell apart. People decided you know what? we’re tired of voting in the same people over and over again and getting worse results. So I decided you know what, it’s  time to actually shake up the status-quo and actually fight for equity.”

Rao is part of a wave of candidates challenging established Democratic candidates in the upcoming primaries. She attributes this wave to the role of corporate money in the Democratic party, “When you take money from corporations you answer to corporations, you don’t answer to people.”