Election news is still coming in, but this live blog is now closed. Make sure you’re on the Denverite email list to keep up with more news on results — and of course as we head toward the runoff election in June.
Thank you for following along with us in this very busy week!
Wednesday, April 5 updates below
It’s the day after Election Day!
? 8:00 p.m.: Closing out Day 2
Another day down, another 44,000 votes down.
Denver Elections still has more than 21,000 votes to tally. Most of the ballots being counted are from Election Day voters.
Lisa Calderón might still have a shot in the Denver mayor’s race if enough of those fall in her favor.
More about what we’re expecting to see from the votes left to count here. We’ll be back on it tomorrow.
Good night, Denver!
— Alex Scoville
? 5:55 p.m.: Sarah Parady moves into second place in the City Council at-large race
More vote counts were released at 5 p.m. and showed that Sarah Parady has pulled ahead of Penfield Tate and Travis Leiker to take the second spot in the race for City Council at-large, while Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez has kept her lead in first with 19.95% of votes counted so far.
“I’m proud of our city,” said Gonzales-Gutierrez in a statement Wednesday evening. “My family legacy in Denver inspired my career of service, and I’m incredibly proud to be a part of the heritage of public leadership that stretches back generations in our family.”
The top two at-large candidates get elected to Council without a runoff. Here’s where things stand among the leaders:
- Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez: 19.95%
- Sarah Parady: 16.4%
- Penfield Tate: 15.77%
- Travis Leiker: 15.36%
— Rebecca Tauber
? 5:45 p.m.: Several City Council races will go to runoff elections
After a new batch of votes were released at 5 p.m., several council district races have shifted around. District 7, 8, and 10 will go to a runoff race on June 6. It’s too early to say whether District 9 will head to a runoff race because both candidates are inching towards the 50% threshold that triggers a win.
Here’s where each district stands now:
District 7
Flor Alvidrez still leads with 38.69% of the vote. The previous second and third place have made a slight switch: Nick Campion is now sitting in second with 18.91% and Adam Estroff has moved to third with 18.51%. About 54 votes separates Campion from Estroff. Guy Padgett is still further behind with 16.56% of the vote.
District 8
Shontel Lewis has taken the lead with 34.7% of the vote. Brad Revare is in second with 34.47%. Lewis leads by 28 votes.
District 9
Current Councilmember Candi CdeBaca leads with 43.95% of the vote. Her challenger Darrell Watson has 43.56%. CdeBaca leads with 54 votes.
District 10
Councilmember Chris Hinds still leads with 36.3% of the vote. A similar switch has occurred in second and third: Shannon Hoffman now sits in second with 26.17%, while Noah Kaplan has moved into third with 25.53%. About 93 votes separates Hoffman from Kaplan.
— Desiree Mathurin
? 2:30 p.m.: More votes counted
With the latest vote count released at 2 p.m., here’s where things stand:
The mayor’s race
The lay of the land in the mayor’s race is the same. Mike Johnston leads, followed by Kelly Brough and Lisa Calderón. About 12,000 new votes have been tallied in the mayoral race. Last night, Denver Elections said they had 65,000 ballots to work through, so still more to come.
Kelly Brough’s lead on Lisa Calderón has shrunk by about 1 percentage point. Calderón said this morning she was feeling confident she could make it to the runoff.
The sole Republican in the race, Andy Rougeot, conceded, as did environmental activist Ean Thomas Tafoya.
District 7
Flor Alvidrez still leads with 38.51%. Results are unofficial until April 20, but as of now, Alvidrez’s lead is enough to get her to the June 6 runoff.
But the second seat in the runoff is still up for grabs. Adam Estroff sits with 18.6% of the vote and in third, Nick Campion has 18.18%. About 43 votes separates Estroff and Campion. Guy Padgett has fallen a bit more behind with about 16.83% of the vote.
The district was stacked with candidates vying for Councilmember Jolon Clark’s seat after he decided not to run this year.
District 9
Incumbent Candi CdeBaca has narrowed the gap between her and challenger Darrell Watson a bit. Watson still leads by about 2% with just over 200 votes.
It looks like the District 9 race will head to a runoff. Remember, candidates need more than 50% of the vote to secure the win. CdeBaca and her challenger Darrell Watson will continue vying for the north seat until June 6. Watson currently leads in the north district race with 44.95%. CdeBaca sits in a close second with about 43% of the vote.
CdeBaca has experienced a runoff race before. In 2019, she faced then-incumbent Albus Brooks. She was also in second place during the initial election.
District 10
Numbers in the District 10 race are also getting closer. With 11,579 votes counted, incumbent Chris Hinds leads in the central district race with 37.97% of the votes.
Hinds isn’t a stranger to runoff races. In 2019, he challenged then-incumbent Wayne New and won, becoming one of three candidates in that election to defeat an incumbent, a rarity in Denver politics.
Who Hinds will face may be up for grabs depending on what the remaining ballots have to say. According to city data, there are about 42,571 still being processed. Noah Kaplan sits in second with 25.57% of votes, while Shannon Hoffman sits in third with 23.84% of the votes.
The next batch of results will be released at 5 p.m.
— Alex Scoville, Obed Manuel and Desiree Mathurin
? 2:15 p.m.: A very close City Council at-large race
One notable thing from the most recent round of results that were released at 2 p.m. today is that Sarah Parady moved ahead of Travis Leiker in the race for Council at-large. Parady is now in third place, only 0.26% behind Penfield Tate in second. Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez kept a steady hold of her lead in first with 18.77%.
The top two vote getters win the seats, and with only around a 3% spread between the top four candidates and more votes still being counted, this is a race to watch. Here’s how things look:
- Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez: 18.77%
- Penfield Tate: 16.27%
- Sarah Parady: 16.01%
- Travis Leiker: 15.73%
— Rebecca Tauber
? 10:26 a.m.: Four more people to read up on today
Another thing we’re eager to learn more about: The Denver City Council At-Large election results.
Yesterday’s counts separated a pretty clear top four: Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, Penfield Tate, Travis Leiker and Sarah Parady.
As Denverite reporter Rebecca Tauber wrote last night:
“The at-large race does not have the option to go to a run-off, which means the top two vote getters win outright, even if they earn less than 50% of the vote.
“As of now, it’s a close race between the four front-runners: Gonzales-Gutierrez leads with 18.05% of the vote, followed by Tate with 16.55%, Leiker with 15.93% and Parady with 15.86%.”
If you want to take a closer look at the folks with the best chance of representing the whole city on council, here are Denverite’s previous profiles on them:
If you, like mayoral candidate Lisa Calderón (see the post below this one), suspect that the remaining 65,000 votes to be counted will strongly favor progressive candidates, you might expect to see Parady close in on Tate and Leiker as those votes are tabulated, possibly including the batch to be announced at 2 p.m. today.
Tate, who was celebrating the apparent defeat of the proposed Park Hill Golf Course redevelopment last night, told Rebecca that he’s “guardedly optimistic” about his chances.
Side note: These four happen to also be the first four candidates listed on the ballot.
— Dave Burdick
☕ 7:39 a.m.: How to keep up on Wednesday
Naturally, plenty of things are still up in the air. The Denver Elections Division resumes counting today at 9 a.m., they said, and the next batch of updates will likely come out around 2 p.m.
The biggest thing to watch for today as those vote counts come in is the mayoral race and whether Lisa Calderón — currently third in counting (16,416 votes) for the two spots in Denver’s mayoral runoff election in June — makes up significant ground on Kelly Brough (24,095), who Denver Elections currently shows as having the second-most votes counted, behind Mike Johnston (26,779).
We’re told there are some 65,000 more ballots still uncounted.
Last night, Brough’s campaign manager Sheila MacDonald confessed to being a “fretter by nature” and that until more votes come in, she’ll be concerned. But she’s also optimistic that Brough’s numbers will hold.
Calderón, at her watch party last night, said, “We know our people didn’t vote until [Monday and Tuesday] so let them celebrate tonight as if they are winning because we know the progressive wave is coming. Whether it takes tomorrow or Thursday, we are going to run this city…. We are going to be just fine.”
If you were overwhelmed by 16 or 17 candidates before, you might spend a bit of time between now and 2 p.m. reading up specifically on Johnston, Brough and Calderón.
In order of their vote tallies as of right now, here’s some Denverite background on all three:
Johnston
Former state Sen. Mike Johnston is running for mayor of Denver (Nov. 16)
How Mike Johnston answered our mayoral questionnaire (March 9)
Big out-of-state money is flowing to support Mike Johnston again (March 31)
Brough
Kelly Brough, longtime CEO of Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, is running for mayor (Aug. 15)
How Kelly Brough answered our mayoral questionnaire (March 26)
Calderón
Former Denver mayoral candidate Lisa Calderón is running for mayor again (Oct. 13)
How Lisa Calderón answered our mayoral questionnaire (March 9)
— Dave Burdick, with reporting by Desiree Mathurin and Andy Kenney
Tuesday, April 4 updates appear below
It’s Election Day! (Looking for our voter guide? It’s here.)
Polls closed at 7 p.m. and the early results are in. Read on for the latest updates.
OK! On to the live updates:
? 11:55 p.m.: We’re signing off for the night
Denver Elections tweeted that their staff was heading home for the night, but will resume counting votes tomorrow. With 65,000 more ballots still uncounted, many races remain too close to call until all votes have been processed. We’ll be back tomorrow with live updates as more results come in. Until then, here are where some of the major races and measures stand tonight.
- Referred Question 2O results: early vote shows Denverites are against Park Hill Golf Course development
- Denver mayor’s race results: Mike Johnston likely headed to runoff, Kelly Brough remains in a close second
- Denver City Council races results: incumbents facing challengers in districts 1, 2 and 5 look headed for reelection
- Denver City Council District 8: Brad Revare and Shontel Lewis look set for runoff
- Referred Questions 2M and 2N results: zoning and protest petition rules likely to be updated
Catch you all tomorrow.
— Sarah Bures
? 10:23 p.m.: At Leslie Herod’s watch party, a Cupid Shuffle
After an uneventful 8:30 p.m. vote release, people started to trickle out of Leslie Herod’s watch party. Herod, an early leader in the mayoral race, was in fifth with 8.91% of the votes. Those remaining at the party began doing the Cupid Shuffle, and while Cupid sang “to the right, to the right; to the left, to the left” the projector showing mayoral campaign results went into sleep mode. When the 10 p.m. results came out, Herod remained in fifth place with 9.36% of the vote and her supporters shifted into the Electric Slide.
— Rebecca Tauber
⛳ 10:05 p.m.: A Park Hill Golf Course contradiction
One of the interesting contradictions we’re seeing in tonight’s results — at least so far — is that Westside Investment Partners’ Park Hill Golf Course mixed-use development appears to be losing. But voters are backing supporters of that development, both Mike Johnston, who has received money from Westside’s head Andy Klein, and Kelly Brough, who has the most developer and real-estate money of anybody in the race.
— Kyle Harris
? 9:55 p.m.: Johnston and Brough take early leads in mayoral race
Both Mike Johnston and Kelly Brough are basking in first and second place after the second vote results dropped, with Johnston taking more than 24% of the votes and Brough following close behind with 23%, as of 8:30 p.m.
Both candidates have delivered celebratory speeches, with Johnston outright declaring his position in the runoff.
“Denver chose optimism and hope and change tonight,” Johnston said in his self-proclaimed victory speech. “Denver declared that they believe in bold ideas with real, concrete plans to actually accomplish those bold ideas. And tonight the work begins.”
“Tonight, we were blessed to have an incredible field of candidates in this race,” he added. “Not just an incredible group of people, but an incredible group of ideas. One of the things I was humbled by was how much I learned from them, how I was inspired by them, and how I believe that we can take all the good ideas out of this campaign and carry them forward.”
While Brough and her campaign were optimistic, they’re not declaring second-place yet.
“And while we have to wait a little while, I would just say to all of you, we’ve already won,” Brough said. “So many Denverites believe that their stories too have an ending like mine and a future here in this city for every one of them.”
Brough’s campaign manager Sheila MacDonald confessed to being a “fretter by nature” and that until more votes come in, she’ll be concerned. But she’s also optimistic that Brough’s numbers will hold.
“She’s the only one in the top five that’s not been in office or has never run for office,” MacDonald said. “So I think voters that have voted, recognize her authenticity and her expertise in the city.”
Both Johnston and Brough have benefited from enormous money from wealthy donors funding Independent Expenditure Committees backing them.
This election was the first time the city used the Fair Elections Fund — nine-to-one taxpayer matches on some donations — designed to level the playing field. Brough was the only candidate to max out her contributions.
Voters will be asking after the election whether the playing field was leveled if the two candidates with the most billionaire support, who could afford to run TV ads, still won.
— Kyle Harris
? 9:05 p.m.: Tight City Council races
Several City Council races were packed with candidates vying to lead the districts.
In District 7, candidate Flor Alvidrez is leading with 37.35%. In a tight second place, Adam Estroff sits with 18.62% and in third, Nick Campion has 18.11%. So far, 7,536 votes have been counted.
In District 8, with 6,898 votes counted, Brad Revare leads with 36.24% of the votes. Shontel Lewis is in a close second with 31.06% of votes. There was no incumbent in this race.
With 7,697 votes counted in District 9, Darrell Watson leads with 45.6% of the votes. Incumbent Candi CdeBaca is in a close second with 42.93% of votes. CdeBaca is no stranger to a runoff face, having defeated incumbent Albus Brooks in 2019.
In District 10, incumbent Chris Hinds leads with leads with 38.72% of the votes. Noah Kaplan is in a distant second with 26.07% of votes. Shannon Hoffman is in a close third with 21.86% of the votes.
If a candidate doesn’t reach more than 50% of the vote, the race will head to the runoff election on June 6.
We’re expecting the next batch of results at 10 p.m.
— Desiree Mathurin
? 8:20 p.m.: The City Council at-large race
It’s a tight race between four front-runners in the race for City Council at-large, which will elect two candidates without a run-off. After the first batch of results were released at 7 p.m., Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez leads with 17.45% of the vote, followed by Penfield Tate with 16.41%, Travis Leiker with 16.16% and Sarah Parady with 15.77%. Tim Hoffman trails slightly, with 11.95%.
With a large portion of votes submitted on Election Day, there are many more votes to be counted. And in the tight competition between those top four, it’s not yet clear who will win the top two spots.
— Rebecca Tauber
Editor’s note: Tim Hoffman’s name has been corrected in this update.
? 8:05 p.m.: At the Leslie Herod watch party
Denverite reporter Rebecca Tauber is at Leslie Herod’s watch party where Herod addressed the crowd. “We still have a lot of votes to count,” Herod told the crowd. “I am so proud of the race we have run, thus far,” Herod said after thanking her team. “We have really gone out there and showed Denver what can be and who really are… I am still so very optimistic for Denver.”
After the first batch of results were released at 7 p.m., Herod was in fifth place with 8.83% of the vote.
— Sarah Bures
? 7:45 p.m.: At the watch party for the campaign against Park Hill Golf Course development
Early returns have the campaign against development on the Park Hill Golf Course feeling “cautiously optimistic.”
With nearly 90,000 votes counted just after 7 p.m., results showed the “no” campaign leading with a roughly 60 percent to 40 percent margin.
It’s a “good lead,” said Brenda Morrison with the Yes for Parks and Open Space campaign, adding: “It’s our responsibility to look 100 years down the road and make sure we leave healthy open space for those that come after us.”
If the measure fails tonight, it’s not at all a sure thing that the Park Hill Golf Course would become a park or other public open space. The company that owns the land has signaled that it would run a golf course there
— Nathaniel Minor
? 7:35 p.m.: At the DSA watch party
As the first batch of results came in at the Denver Democratic Socialists of America watch party in Arts District on Santa Fe, Denverite visual journalist Kevin Beaty photographed Tiffany Caudill, a candidate for City Council District 2, and supporters reacting to the results. In early results, Caudill had 15.22% of the vote.
— Sarah Bures
?️ 7:20 p.m.: Early results on Referred Question 2O
The fight over a conservation easement protecting 155 acres of Northeast Park Hill, the former Park Hill Golf Course, has been one of the blistering issues of the 2023 general election.
What’s so controversial about a shuttered golf course? Well, both sides are pitching the land as a site to solve some of Denver’s biggest problems: housing affordability, a food desert, equitable business opportunity and global warming.
Proponents promise development. The other side promises open space and hopes for a park — though the most likely outcome is a privately owned and run golf course. At least, that’s according to the landowners who want to develop the site.
Weighing Referred Question 2O, voters are deciding whether to lift a conservation easement that protects the land as an 18-hole golf course and open space to make way for development, retail and a park.
As of the first ballot count drop, the anti-2O campaign has a considerable lead with almost 53,557 votes to 35,317 votes.
— Sarah Bures
?️ 7:10 p.m.: Early results in the mayor’s race
As the first round of results comes in for the Denver mayor’s race, no candidate is receiving more than 50% of the vote. That’s what it would take to win outright.
Instead, after tonight, Denver is likely headed to a June 6 run-off election where the top two vote-getters will compete.
Here’s how the 7 p.m. vote results look.
Former State Sen. Mike Johnston, who has lost a string of elections yet consistently earns his reputation as “a fundraising machine” thanks to out-of-state billionaire support, is in the lead with about 24.5% of the counted votes.
Kelly Brough, the former head of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, former Mayor John Hickenlooper’s longtime chief of staff and the developer’s pick for mayor, is in second place with 23% of the counted votes.
Criminal justice reform activist Lisa Calderón, who is the current head of Emerge Colorado, an organization working to get Democratic women elected to office, is in third place with 14% of the counted votes.
— Sarah Bures
? 7:03 p.m.: At the Town Hall Collaborative watch party
Denverite reporter Desiree Mathurin is at the Denver Democratic Socialists of America watch party where several candidates, including mayoral candidate Lisa Calderón, are waiting for results to come in.
Calderón said she’s feeling confidant. “Voters are ready for a woman mayor and they are ready for a community leader that understands them,” she told Desiree. “One way or another we are going to make history tonight or at least in the next two days… I don’t consider myself a politician, I consider myself a public servant and that comes from my organizing days… Rather than political ambition someone like me was not supposed to be running for mayor, much less being a top contender. That’s thanks to my community carrying me along.”
— Sarah Bures
⏲️ 6:30 p.m.: Less than 30 minutes till polls close
With polls closing soon, here’s what Denverite reporters are watching as results come in tonight.
Kyle Harris
The big issues that have defined the 2023 election have been homelessness, housing affordability and public safety. Candidates have presented competing visions, with some emphasizing market-based solutions and others more focused on public solutions. Another big issue has been the urban camping ban and whether it should be abolished or more aggressively enforced.
Rebecca Tauber
One interesting takeaway from this election will be to what extent City Council aligns politically with the mayor. The mayor has more power, but Council could definitely make life difficult for the mayor if they don’t see eye-to-eye. That hasn’t happened in recent years, but with lots of seats up for grabs, the dynamics could shift.
But we won’t know tonight. And with so many races with the potential for runoffs, we might not know until June.
Kyle Harris
Tonight we’ll be looking at whether money talks. Mike Johnston has received a massive influx of cash from out-of-state billionaires. Kelly Brough has received the bulk of Denver developer money. This year, the Fair Election Fund was put into place to level the playing field when it comes to money. Taxpayers spent millions on nine-to-one matches. But will that actually impact how the race turns out, or will the candidates with the biggest Independent Expenditure Committees backing them win?
Desiree Mathurin
We’ve heard about the mayoral race but let’s not forget the city council races. Eight seats are in contention (not including the at-large seats), including five races against incumbents. Four of those districts (District 2, 7, 8 and 9) may even head to runoffs due to the number of candidates.
A runoff is triggered if a candidate does not reach more than 50% of the vote.
Rebecca Tauber
The mayoral race isn’t the only city-wide election tonight. There’s also City Council at-large, which elects two representatives without a runoff. As we get a clearer picture of who will make the mayoral run-off, I’m curious if those candidates will align politically with who wins at-large, since both races are elected by the entire city. If more centrist candidates make the mayoral run-off, will we see similar at-large results? Or will the races split?
— Sarah Bures
? 5:51 p.m.: How old are voters?
Here’s what we know about voter turnout by age right now: Nearly 50% of residents 65 and older have voted. That’s based on 2021 U.S. Census data, which are the most recent population totals we have available. Turnout rates fall for each younger group, but it doesn’t mean older Denverites have necessarily won the participation game. We’re hearing a ton of votes came in today, and we won’t know how this shakes out until every ballot has been processed.
— Kevin Beaty
? 5:30 p.m.: Who’s voting?
Voters from wealthier and whiter neighborhoods closer to the center of Denver are more likely to have turned in their ballots than those in poorer neighborhoods in West Denver and northeast Denver, according to a map from the Clerk and Recorder’s Office showing ballot returns by precinct.
Wealthy neighborhoods like Cherry Creek, Hilltop, Country Club and Cheesman Park have among the highest rates of voter participation — in some cases above 50%. Meanwhile, neighborhoods like Athmar Park and Sun Valley have lower turnouts.
The discrepancy loosely follows the “Inverted L,” or the shape created by the I-70 and I-25 corridors through the city that divides whiter communities from areas with more people of color; Wealthier communities from poorer communities; And areas where people have greater access to grocery stores and trees from neighborhoods where people don’t have that same access.
That trend has continued in what has been reported both before election day and today.
— Kyle Harris
?️ 1:45 p.m.: We met some more day-of voters
Denver’s Elections Division reported just over 21% percent of registered voters had cast ballots as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the city’s online dashboard. That number is likely to jump by a lot due to last-minute voters, officials said.
(Denverite has previously reported that in the 2011 election – the last time the mayor’s seat was wide open – only 26% of registered voters cast ballots in the general and only 28% bothered with the runoff.)
RTD’s I-25 and Broadway station ballot box saw a steady stream of voters the morning of Election Day.
Baker resident Ron Houchens, who’s retired, braved the snow and cold to vote.
He said the crowded mayor’s race motivated him the most. He spent a few days vetting each of the 16 candidates on the ballot.
“I want our mayor to do something really meaningful about homelessness,” Houchens said. “You can have good ideas, but are you gonna make it happen? What are you gonna do to make it happen?”
Many voters said the potential development of a former golf course in Northeast Park Hill was top of mind.
Chris Espinoza, a Ruby Hill resident, said the fate of a decades-old conservation easement on the 155 acre property felt important to him.
“There’s a lot of people all over the city that are retired and getting pushed out of their apartments or homes because it’s too expensive,” he said. “All politicians talk about affordable housing, but it doesn’t happen in Denver.”
— Matt Bloom
❄️ 11:00 a.m.: We got the guy-voting-in-shorts-in-the-snow photo
Nice to get it taken care of early.
Also a few more voting scenes:
— Dave Burdick
⏳ 9:31 a.m.: Up to 14 people will find out they won’t be mayor today
In a way, it’s been Election Day for about a month (since ballots were sent out), and will continue being Election Day for two more months (when we will inevitably have a runoff election for at least one office) but for now … for now, it is your Election Day.
Today is the day that polls will close — at 7 p.m. — and votes will start being tallied, with running totals being posted to the Denver Elections website.
Technically, no one will be announced the winner of anything today, but there’s a darn good chance we’ll have a pretty solid idea of the outcomes of several things by the time we all go to sleep tonight — likely several of the remaining 16 candidates for mayor will see the writing on the wall — and there’s also a good chance that some campaigns looking at their own vote tallies later tonight will formally and publicly concede that they cannot mathematically win.
— Dave Burdick
☕ 9:25 a.m.: Choose your own adventure
IF YOU’VE ALREADY VOTED
A few stories you might want to revisit:
Here’s how much power the mayor has and how many hires and appointments the office makes.
And here’s the long and fascinating history of how 155 acres of Northeast Park Hill became a golf course you keep having to vote on.
And, lastly, here’s what happens in the (very likely) case that candidates in the mayoral and city council races fail to get more than 50% of the vote.
(And you could also send the Denverite voter guide to your friends who haven’t voted yet and remind them that the ballot is actually pretty short this time!)
IF YOU HAVEN’T VOTED YET
Your friends and neighbors were mighty busy using Denverite’s election guide this weekend, so here’s that link one more time.
Or you can jump straight to the guide to the candidates for mayor, the guide to candidates for city council at-large, and these guides to different city council districts:
[ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 ]
Finally, here’s the city’s official map of ballot drop-off boxes.
— Dave Burdick