Denver mayor election results: Mike Johnston vs Kelly Brough in runoff

Two moderate candidates, Mike Johnston and Kelly Brough, will face each other in a runoff election to name Denver’s next mayor.

In the latest round of results from the 2023 municipal election, Johnston had 24.5% of the vote, tops among the 16 candidates who appeared on the mayoral ballot. Brough meanwhile claimed 20% to come in second place.

With just over 2,400 ballots left to be counted, Johnston, a former state senator and failed gubernatorial and Senate candidate, has claimed 41,926 votes. Brough, the former head of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and chief of staff to then-Mayor John Hickenlooper, has 34,375, according to the latest tabulation released by the city’s elections division at 2 p.m.

With no candidate claiming the more than 50% majority needed to win the office outright, Johnston and Brough will now move on to a runoff election as the race’s top two vote-getters. The runoff will be decided via a second round of voting that concludes on June 6, naming the city’s first new mayor in 12 years.

A handful of military and overseas ballots may still be returned before the deadline for those voters next week but Johnston and Brough’s margins appear safe based on the outstanding vote. The results of the first round won’t become official until they are certified on April 20, elections division officials emphasized.

Brough held on to beat out the much more progressive Lisa Calderón to make the runoff, according to unofficial results.

Calderón, a professor and criminal justice reform advocate who was endorsed by the Denver chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, had just 14.4% of the vote when the first batch of early voting results was released at 7 p.m. Tuesday but surged as ballots turned in on Election Day were tabulated.

As of the latest release, Calderón had 18.2% support. Her 31,164 votes are 3,211 shy of Brough’s second-place total, exceeding the number of outstanding ballots.

Johnston was in first place when initial results were released Tuesday and his share of returns remained steady throughout the counting process.

By Wednesday, the former state senator was already talking about ways his campaign could attract voters who backed other candidates to his camp to win a majority in June. By Thursday, his campaign was announcing endorsements from former Speaker of the Colorado House Terrance Carroll and others.

Johnston felt that his focus on providing detailed plans to tackle the city’s biggest problems, especially its housing shortage, helped propel him into the runoff.

“I think Denverites really resonated with our sense of optimism and hope and change,” he said.

While pleased with her early returns on Tuesday night Brough said she would wait until every vote was counted before celebrating. On Thursday, she finally got to exhale.

In a statement released by her campaign, she jumped right into her runoff pitch.

“I am the only candidate whose public and private experience makes me uniquely positioned to hit the ground running on Day 1 and get things done,” she said. “Our residents want and need an optimistic, hands-on leader with real-world executive experience.”

Johnston vs. Brough sets up as a race between two candidates with plenty of similarities.

Both are well-established in Denver political circles even if Brough had never run for office before.

Both have suggested standing up more sanctioned, short-term housing solutions for people living homeless on the city’s streets. In Brough’s plan, that would take the form of designated campsites while Johnston is proposing 10 to 20 “micro-communities” of tiny homes. Neither has endorsed repealing the city’s camping ban, meaning sweeps of encampments could still happen.

Brough’s position stands out against Johnston’s in that she has said her administration would arrest people as a last resort if they refuse to move to city-offered campsites or reject services like drug treatment programs.

There is one obvious difference between the two: Brough is a woman. Should she win in June, she would become the first woman mayor in Denver history.

Calderón finished in third place for the second time in as many Denver mayoral elections. In a statement released after results were updated Thursday, she thanked the coalition of “unhoused activists, progressive leaders, socialists, dreamers and radicals” that got her within 2 percentage points of the runoff.

“I ran this campaign because corporate-backed candidates will never get us to liberation, racial equity or gender justice for marginalized groups and working people,” she said. “No effort is wasted. We must continue to build a movement that is strong, resilient and focused on the goal of liberation.”

Brough was the race’s top fundraiser with $1.4 million including $750,000 from the taxpayer-supported Fair Elections Fund, the most a mayoral candidate could collect through the program that matches small donations on a 9-to-1 ratio. Johnston was second with $1.3 million including $613,539 in Fair Elections Fund dollars.

Johnston has by far the largest independent expenditure committee backing him, with more than $2.2 million in spending recorded as of Election Day. That included major spending from Reid Hoffman, the founder of Linkedin, among others. The committee backing Brough meanwhile has spent just shy of a million dollars, including a big investment by the National Association of REALTORS Fund. Those committees aren’t allowed to coordinate with candidates but are also not subject to campaign finance limits.

Brough and Johnston moving on to the next round is juxtaposed with Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez and Sarah Parady claiming the two at-large seats on the City Council. Both women are progressives endorsed by the Colorado chapter of the Working Families Party.

Calderón can still influence the race because it’s her progressive base of voters that may ultimately decide if either Johnston or Brough wins, said Prof. John Ronquillo of the University of Colorado Denver School of Public Affairs.

“I think one of the biggest things people will need to pay attention to is how either a Mayor Brough or a Mayor Johnston will work with that progressive contingent,” Ronquillo said. “I think both can speak with the language they need to to court those voters and work with those members.”

Both Brough and Johnston already have strong ties to the city’s business community. Beyond his political career, Johnston also served as the president and CEO of Gary Community Ventures, the most high-profile philanthropic nonprofit in the state. But outreach to other candidates and their voters will be key, Ronquillo said.

Progressives may be repelled by the two candidates’ support for the camping ban, but there may be opportunities to sway the candidate for mutual benefit.

“I think what people are hoping for is the art of compromise and working with people who might not be in lockstep with your ideological views is not lost on these two,” Ronquillo said.

Runoffs coming in four council districts as at-large race concludes

In the third day of vote tabulation for Denver’s municipal election, two candidates have emerged at the head of the pack for the tight race for a pair of open at-large seats on the City Council.

With the latest batch of votes, counted and published Thursday afternoon, Gonzales-Gutierrez and Sarah Parady held on to their lead over the crowded field of candidates. Unlike the mayoral race, the at-large election won’t head to a runoff election in June. The top two vote-getters win the open seats whether they enjoy majority support or not.

As of 2 p.m., Gonzales-Gutierrez and Parady had 20.57% and 16.6% support, respectively. Penfield Tate III (who previously was in second place) and Travis Leiker trailed behind with 15.61% and 15.11% of the vote.

Gonzales-Gutierrez holds a seat in the Colorado House, to which she was elected in 2019, and Parady is a partner and co-founder of the Lowrey Parady Lebsack legal practice. Tate is a former state representative and senator and Leiker is the senior director of development at the University of Colorado.

Runoff elections were certain in four Denver City Council district races as Denver neared the end of ballot counting Thursday, including in several that could reshape the lawmaking body.

District 7:

This race will go to a runoff between Flor Alvidrez and one of two contenders for the No. 2 spot, with Nick Campion currently leading Adam Estroff.

The seat was open after second-term Councilman Jolon Clark decided not to seek another term. The mostly south-Denver district spans neighborhoods from Speer and a portion of Capitol Hill south to Ruby Hill, Overland and Rosedale. Running in the crowded race were Alvidrez, a small business owner; Campion, a software CEO; Estroff, a sales consultant; Arthur May, a software product manager; and Guy Padgett, an operations director for a news website.

As of Thursday, Alvidrez had 5,820 votes (38%), Campion had 2,909 votes (19.2%), Estroff had 2,814 votes (18.6%), Padgett had 2,493 votes (16% percent) and May had 1,108 votes (7.3%).

District 8:

This race will go to a runoff between Shontel Lewis and Brad Revare. The seat is open because Councilman Chris Herndon was term-limited. The northeast district includes Northeast Park Hill, East Colfax, Central Park and a portion of Montbello. Running in the crowded race were Tyler Drum, a nonprofit fundraiser; Lewis, a small business owner and former Regional Transportation District board director; Revare, a nonprofit leader; Christian Steward, a community advocate; and Leslie Twarogowski, the director of a business improvement district.

As of Thursday, Lewis had 5,038 votes (36%), Revare had 4,743 votes (34%), Twarogowski had 1,904 votes (13%), Drum had 1,286 votes (9.1%) and Steward had 1,057 votes (7.5%).

District 9:

This race will go to a runoff between first-term Councilwoman Candi CdeBaca and Darrell Watson. The district includes Five Points, Globeville, Elyria-Swansea, Clayton and a portion of Park Hill. She was challenged by Watson, a small business owner, and Kwon Atlas, a nonprofit director. After trailing Watson since Tuesday night, CdeBaca pulled ahead Wednesday afternoon.

As of Thursday, CdeBaca had 7,330 votes (44.2%), Watson had 7,122 votes (43%), and Atlas had 2,118 votes (13%).

District 10:

This race will go to a runoff between first-term Councilman Chris Hinds and one of two contenders for the second spot, with Shannon Hoffman currently leading Noah Kaplan. Hinds is seeking reelection to represent central neighborhoods from downtown and Golden Triangle to City Park West and Congress Park. He is challenged by Hoffman, a nonprofit administrator; Kaplan, an educator; and Margie Morris, a social impact consultant.

As of Thursday, Hinds had 6,016 votes (36%), Hoffman had 4,563 votes (27%), Kaplan had 4,333 votes (25.7%), and Morris had 1,979 votes (12%).

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