On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) responded to Democratic U.S. House nominee Melat Kiros’ refusal to call the Boulder attack antisemitism and putting some of the responsibility for the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. by saying that “I don’t agree with everything that Ms. Kiros is claiming and fighting for. But I believe in a big tent” and “we’ve got to have a big tent.”
Host Jake Tapper began by asking, “Why do you think you were able to hold off an opponent from the left when other incumbents this cycle have not been as lucky?”
Hickenlooper responded, “Let me tell you, we pushed on what pretty much everyone’s pushed on, which is the corruption at the White House, the chaos that President Trump has created.”
After Tapper asked about Kiros’ primary win, Hickenlooper said that that district is “mostly” a “very liberal, very progressive component of Colorado. I was running for the whole state.”
Tapper then asked, “So, the winner, Melat Kiros, she declined, during her campaign, to call the attack on the Boulder, CO march for Israeli hostages, she declined to call it an act of antisemitism. She has also told local news that America shares responsibility for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. And she’s not the only DSA candidate to make more controversial remarks like this. Do you have any concerns that some of these DSA candidates who have views that are more controversial like this might actually hurt your party, even while they are also bringing energy and enthusiasm?”
Hickenlooper answered, “[Y]ou and almost everyone I’ve talked to today really wants to talk about what are the differences, are we okay with the differences? I’ll tell you what we are united about. We are united that we all have to work to make sure we win the Senate back in November. We’ve got to win back and we’re united to win back the House, and we’re united to win back and push back against the White House. And I think — I don’t agree with everything that Ms. Kiros is claiming and fighting for. But I believe in a big tent, that, if the Democratic Party is going to really represent farmers and ranchers and middle-class workers and be able to compete in states like Indiana, Kansas, and Nebraska, we’ve got to have a big tent. And we’re not going to agree on everything. And we’re going to make our arguments within our party and fight hard for what we believe. But the bottom line is, we are united that we have to win back the Senate and the House.”
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