The Democratic nominee in Colorado's Fifth Congressional District, Jessica Killin, has racked up endorsements from left-wing women's groups. That support wouldn't normally raise eyebrows, but in this case, Killin served as former second gentleman Doug Emhoff's top aide when he admitted to having an affair with his nanny and was accused of physically assaulting an ex-girlfriend.
Killin, who served as Emhoff's chief of staff from 2023 until the end of the Biden administration, has been endorsed by EMILYs List, which describes itself as "the nation's largest resource for women in politics," and from Moms Fed Up, which aims to elect mothers who will "enhance the lives of families across the nation" and build a society "where the voices of mothers are heard" and "valued." And after Killin received backing from Elect Democratic Women, she said, "As a woman who has navigated challenges in both professional and personal life, I understand firsthand the need for leaders who will stand up for women and families."
Yet Killin seemed to eschew those values when she stood by Emhoff, husband to former vice president Kamala Harris, as his top aide, while scandals surrounding his treatment of women unfolded. In August 2024, Emhoff admitted he had an affair with his children's nanny during his first marriage, contributing to his eventual divorce. Progressive women's groups, including EMILYs List, remained silent, Fox News Digital reported.
Shortly thereafter, Emhoff's ex-girlfriend alleged that he "slapped me so hard I spun around" and said she was "disgusted" by his "persona of a perfect spouse." (Emhoff denied ever hitting a woman.) She also accused him of "intentionally objectifying me to diminish me" by giggling over a picture he took of her in a bikini that omitted her head. "That's the kind of person he is," she told the Daily Mail.
Emhoff's former colleagues at the white-shoe law firm Venable described him as a "misogynist" as well, alleging he "retaliated against" young female staffers who "didn't flirt" back and hired his unqualified "trophy secretary," part-time model Katya Calderone, because she was "pretty," the Daily Mail reported. Emhoff also held male-only, in-office "cocktail parties" and acted "very flirty" toward young female staffers, the former colleagues said.
Killin, a former Army paratrooper, did not respond to a request for comment, nor did any of the liberal women's groups that endorsed her.
Support from the women's groups comes as Killin faces a difficult but increasingly competitive bid to unseat Republican Rep. Jeff Crank, with a July poll the Democrat bankrolled showing that she trails her opponent by just 1 percentage point. While Republicans have held the fifth district since it was established after the 1970 census, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee believes it's winnable this year and has thrown its support behind Killin. The GOP's historically wide victory margins have narrowed in recent elections—Crank's 14-point victory in 2024 was the tightest recorded—and Colorado Springs, which sits in the district, elected an independent mayor in 2023, marking the first time a non-Republican won the seat in at least 45 years.
Emhoff's reported treatment of women and bitter attacks against President Donald Trump stand in stark contrast with Killin's rhetoric on the campaign trail. She calls herself part of "Team Normal" and says she's "exhausted by the chaos, uncertainty, partisan bickering, tribalism."
"I'm running for Congress because Washington needs leaders who are focused on actually getting things done — not partisan name-calling and bitter culture wars," Killin, whose title included deputy assistant to former president Joe Biden, said when she launched her campaign.
Emhoff, meanwhile, has called Trump an "agent of chaos and cruelty" and "unhinged, unfit, and un-American." Harris denounced the president as a "petty tyrant" who was "unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance and out for unchecked power" and attacked him as a "fascist."
Former president Joe Biden not only levied his own attacks against Trump but insulted Americans on the campaign trail, calling an Iowa man "fat" and describing a New Hampshire woman as a "lying dog-faced pony soldier." He also called Fox News's Peter Doocy a "stupid son of a bitch."
Killin's other endorsements are also noteworthy. Giffords PAC praised her support for "commonsense gun safety measures" like strengthening background checks, waiting periods, and "extreme risk protection orders," also known as red flag laws. In 2019, El Paso County, most of which sits in the fifth district, passed a resolution declaring itself a "Second Amendment preservation county" in opposition to a red flag bill before the state legislature.
More recently, in 2026, El Paso County sheriff Joseph Roybal called new restrictions the legislature passed on certain semiautomatic firearms "the most egregious and unconstitutional anti-Second Amendment bill in Colorado's history," the Pikes Peak Courier reported. A gun shop owner in Colorado Springs, where residents are regularly seen open-carrying, told the publication his store was "jam-packed" in response to the law and sold so many firearms that "all my bills are paid," and that he'd already run out of inventory and had to restock three times.
