UPDATE April 6 at 2:49 p.m.: The latest vote results show Mike Johnston and Kelly Brough in the top two spots. Read the latest here.
Lisa Calderón might still have a shot in the Denver mayor's race if enough of the votes to be counted fall in her favor.
As Denver Elections continues to count votes, the window between currently second-place Kelly Brough and Calderón is narrowing.
The latest unofficial vote results, released Wednesday at 5 p.m., show Brough in second place still with 30,850 votes, about 20.64%, and Calderón with 25,956 votes, or 17.37%.
Former State Senator Mike Johnston remains in first place with 36,622 votes, or 25.51%.
There are more than 21,000 votes left to be counted in Denver. That number comes from the city's ballot return data and the latest unofficial vote results released at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
"We are still in this and looking forward to the final vote count!," Calderón wrote on Twitter celebrating the latest vote results.
Denver Clerk & Recorder spokesperson Lucille Wenegieme told Denverite that most of the ballots being counted now are from Election Day voters.
"We got 55,000 [ballots] from 5-7 p.m.," Wenegieme said of late voter turnout Tuesday night.
On Election Night, Brough had a formidable lead. But her campaign spokesperson Sheila MacDonald acknowledged it still wasn't guaranteed that she'd make the runoff.
Brough has widespread support in the 65-and-up demographic, according to her campaign. And that group votes early.
Calderon took comfort in the surge of voters turning in ballots on the day of the election and has argued that progressives vote late.
"Be patient," she said on election night. "Believe in our community. We build power, not overnight, but through our collective momentum. Believe in one another. Believe in the progressive candidates. We know what we are doing and we'll see you on the other side.
In fact, on Tuesday night, Calderon said she expected the late turnout from her base as she sought to upset two well-funded candidates.
While Johnston and Brough are the two top fundraisers in this election, Calderon comes in seventh place with less than $300,000 in donations, including Fair Elections Fund nine-to-one matches.
"Just know our people tend to vote last," she said. "I didn't vote for myself until yesterday, and my vote's still not counted...I know my people, so when you know how progressives organize and how people of color get their votes in, you don't worry about things you can't control...I am a candidate of working people...I just know that I am much more relatable to the average Denverite who is struggling in the city. I feel like our message has gotten through. It's just going to take some time for the votes to catch up with that."
The next round of results will come at 2 p.m. on Thursday, Wenegieme said.
Denverite reporter Desiree Mathurin contributed reporting to this story.
