Joe Neguse, son of Eritrean immigrants and a House Democratic leader, is re-elected in Colorado
The first Eritrean American in Congress started out founding a youth voter group. He took about 75% in early counts.
Boulder — Joe Neguse, the first Eritrean American elected to Congress, has won re-election in Colorado's 2nd District.
The Associated Press called the race for the Democrat on Tuesday night. Early counts put him at about 74.9% to 23.5% for the Republican Kelley Dennison, with about 73% of the expected vote in.
A family from Eritrea
Neguse was born in Bakersfield, California, in 1984. His parents came from Eritrea and met in the United States, and the family moved to Colorado when he was six. He studied at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he was student body president, and then took a law degree there.
From campus to Congress
He founded New Era Colorado, a group that works with young voters, and in 2008 he was elected a regent of the University of Colorado. He lost a race for Colorado secretary of state in 2014. A year later, Governor John Hickenlooper appointed him to run the state's Department of Regulatory Agencies.
In 2018 he won his seat in Congress with about 60% of the vote, becoming Colorado's first Black member of the US House.
Rising through the House
In 2021 he was the youngest impeachment manager in US history, during Donald Trump's second impeachment trial. Since 2024 he has served as the House's assistant Democratic leader.
Tuesday's win will be the start of his fifth term.
Source: AP via Yahoo News, NBC News, BusinessDay, Wikipedia, November 2026.
