For years now, turmoil has dominated the district’s Board of Education. Board meetings are fueled by interpersonal drama rather than the important business of the district, at a time of deep unrest for students, teachers, principals, and parents.

We urge Denver voters to consider a new path for the school board in the Nov. 7 election as they consider candidates to fill three school board seats – one at-large and two for the districts in southeast and central Denver.

Mercifully, the at-large incumbent board director, Auon’tai Anderson, is not seeking re-election leaving that seat open for change.

John Youngquist and Kwame Spearman are running neck and neck for the seat, and either will be a great improvement over current conditions if they stick to their pledges to be apolitical and make board business (staid and true) the only priority. A third candidate, Brittni Johnson, does not have a competitive public campaign effort. The fourth candidate Paul Ballenger has dropped out of the race, but his name is still on the ballot.

Can Youngquist and Spearman leave drama off the board and focus exclusively on the fundamentals a district must get right to best educate students and keep them safe?

The proof is in their records.

Youngquist has decades of experience as a principal and as a senior executive running urban school districts in both Aurora and Denver. He is best known for his two five-year stints as principal of East High School. In 2017, he returned to help stabilize East after a principal retired early amid a scandal that rocked the school. By all accounts he was successful.

He has two daughters attending East, which became a flash-point for district safety concerns following multiple shootings: student Luis Garcia was killed in his car in front of the school and two principals later survived being shot by a student who fled only to kill himself as police searched for him.

All this points to Youngquist having the experience to lead this district out of chaos and into safety and stability. However, Youngquist has made his disdain for the current board no secret — nor have we — but we do worry Youngquist will struggle to work hand-in-hand with board members whom he has spent months criticizing on the campaign trail. Youngquist will have to find a way to rebuild burnt bridges with board members whom he already shares a philosophical divide with on key policy issues. Youngquist will push for the board to return to transparency and accountability, including providing parents with data about their school’s performance on standardized tests.

Youngquist says he supported the reforms implemented by former superintendents Tom Boasberg and Michael Bennet, including giving parents options for school attendance. These reforms pushed the district to have some of the top-performing schools in the state, but also one of the most segregated districts both racially and economically. Youngquist has a record of working with high-poverty schools to improve equity, a fact lauded by the Denver teacher’s union even as it endorsed his opponent.

The union, which has opposed many of the reforms introduced under Boasberg and Bennet, supports Spearman for what they praised as a deep understanding “that when educators have the vital support that they need, students are able to reach their full potential.” Post-pandemic, student mental health has deteriorated and behavioral problems have surged, meaning teachers and principals need more support than ever.

Spearman has limited his criticism to the incumbent board member he is trying to replace, saying most of the board’s problems have been created by that one divisive personality who was formally censured by the board for his behavior. Spearman pitches himself as a uniter on the board — someone who supports school and teacher accountability and school choice, but who has won the support of the union.

However, Spearman’s track record is at odds with that appeal. As the CEO of Tattered Cover bookstore, a struggling local chain that Spearman expanded while he was in charge, he frequently found himself at the center of controversies. Much of the negative press that followed Spearman at Tattered Cover were unforced errors that reflected poorly on the company, similar to the self-manufactured problems the school board has struggled to overcome. Spearman has said he learned a lot from his recent unsuccessful bid for mayor and is prepared to be a steady force on the board.

Whether it’s Spearman or Youngquist, we are excited for fresh voices on the board and know the improvement will be greatest if voters in southeast Denver’s District 1 decide to ditch the incumbent Scott Baldermann and if voters in central Denver’s District 5 move away from incumbent Charmaine Lindsay.

Because as it stands, the dynamics on the board threaten to undermine decades of support, trust, and success in Denver Public Schools.

The mailer was sent to Denver residents by an independent expenditure committee called Better Leaders, Stronger Schools, which has spent at least $1 million on advertising in the race for three seats on Denver Public Schools’ Board of Education. The election is on Nov. 7.

“I think that is some nasty personal attacks that are coming out,” said Rob Gould, president of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association.

RELATED: Colorado voter guide: Stories, explainers and endorsements for the 2023 election

He said he feels the mailer is racist because it features an upset white child on one side and calls Spearman a bully on the other side, implying that Spearman, who is Black, is bullying the kid. Gould called the advertisement “pretty gross.”

Spearman, in a news release, called the mailer “a ‘dog whistle’ to fuel racial divisions.”

Better Leaders, Stronger Schools is largely funded by Denver Families Action, a deep-pocketed political group with charter school ties, according to Chalkbeat Colorado.

Denver Families has endorsed three candidates: John Youngquist, who is running against Spearman in the at-large race; Kimberlee Sia in District 1; and Marlene De La Rosa in District 5.

Better Leaders, Stronger Schools has paid for mailers and other advertisements to support those three candidates. But it also sent out mailers attacking the three candidates with union support, including Spearman and incumbent board members Scott Baldermann and Charmaine Lindsay.

The mailer attacking Spearman says he “has a record of being a bully.” It mentioned he stepped down as chief executive officer of the bankrupt Tattered Cover bookstore chain after employees accused Spearman of sexism and abusive language.

The Denver Post reported last year that the Tattered Cover hired a third-party investigator to look into workplace bullying and ageism allegations, both of which Spearman fervently denied. The book chain’s board did not take action after the investigation was complete, and neither the board nor Spearman made the final report public.

RELATED: Education reform takes backseat to safety concerns, big outside spending in Denver school board race

The mailer also said Spearman has embraced right-winged policies, such as calling on federal immigration officials to deport undocumented workers, and that in college he wrote newspaper articles that “objectified” women.

“It literally was just a personal attack going back to my days in college writing a satirical column,” Spearman said in an interview about the mailer.

When asked about criticism that the mailer is racist, Daniel Aschkinasi, the registered agent for Better Leaders, Stronger Schools, did not directly address the issue.

“What the piece highlights are statements that Kwame has made,” he said. “I thought that it’s very important for voters to read and hear his words. He’s running for public office.”

Clarence Burton Jr, chief executive of Denver Families for Public Schools, said he could not comment on any spending by an independent expenditure committee in the race.

Despite the money flowing into the election, the messaging this cycle has focused on school safety and board dysfunction more so than traditional focal points of education reform policies or charter schools.

Spearman has previously questioned the intention of Denver Families Action and its parent organization Denver Families for Public Schools. He noted that the latter is partly funded by The City Fund, a national organization that supports charter schools and school reform.

“The reason why they are doing that… (is) they can’t talk about the issues they actually want to implement,” Spearman said of the focus on school safety. “They can’t talk about privatizing our schools, so they are going to talk about other issues.”

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But while the Denver Classroom Teachers Association and Denver Families Action, a deep-pocketed political group with charter school ties, each endorsed their own slate of candidates, the messaging this election cycle has not centered around school choice, charter schools or Denver Public Schools’ reform-era practice of closing and restarting low-performing schools.

Instead, the emergence of another persistently vocal group — parents — is driving conversations around the race for three seats on the Board of Education.

RELATED: Colorado voter guide: Stories, explainers and endorsements for the 2023 election

Parents have rallied since the March shooting inside East High School, forming two groups — Resign DPS Board and the Parents Safety Advocacy Group, or P-SAG — that some election observers said are wildcards previously unseen at this level in a Denver school board race.

And at the forefront of their minds are school safety, the district’s discipline policies and school board dysfunction. Parents even have questioned Superintendent Alex Marrero’s leadership — something that surprised at least one previous school board member.

“Never have I seen so many decisions by the superintendent really affect the community’s awareness of the governance process. That’s new in an election process, ” said Lee White, who served on the school board in the mid-1990s and is part of the executive committee of Educate Denver, a coalition of former board members and politicians.

The parents who are calling for new leadership to take the helm of Colorado’s largest school district cross union and education reform lines and all “believe this board has not been a good board for Denver,” said Heather Lamm, the founder of Resign DPS.

Asked about school reform, she said, “Honestly, who the eff cares when we have safety and academic challenges that are as great as we do?”

Candidates, pollsters and others believe the increased interest in the school board will galvanize more people to vote in this election. And the momentum could be enough to give the three open board seats back to reformers, said pollster Floyd Ciruli.

Even if that happens, union-backed members still will hold a majority of seats on the board.

“Many people believe the DPS election is as important as the last mayor’s race for Denver’s reputation and future,” Ciruli said.

Money flowing into the election

The full impact of the parent groups’ efforts won’t be known until after the election on Nov. 7, but already their influence is appearing in the political advertising circling the city.

An independent expenditure committee called Better Leaders, Stronger Schools that’s funded largely by Denver Families Action has spent $1 million on advertising to support reformed-backed candidates John Youngquist, Kimberlee Sia and Marlene De La Rosa — outspending the teachers union by about 4 to 1, according to Chalkbeat Colorado.

Better Leaders, Stronger Schools also sent out mailers attacking the three candidates with union support — Scott Baldermann, Charmaine Lindsay and Kwame Spearman — according to the most recent filings with the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office. The group even paid $250,000 for a television ad — a rarity in a Denver school board election — featuring Mayor Mike Johnston, who also endorsed Youngquist, Sia and De La Rosa.

The mailers sent to Denverites’ homes in the races featuring incumbents Baldermann and Lindsay mostly discussed school safety, including attacking them for a closed-door meeting the school board held after the East shooting. Those mailers, viewed by The Denver Post, didn’t mention school choice or charter schools or anything reform-like — even the one critical of Baldermann, who has been outspoken about school autonomy and whose opponent Sia is the former head of the KIPP Colorado charter school network.

The race for Baldermann’s seat in a district that represents southeast Denver often “gets boiled down to reform vs union,” said Daniel Aschkinasi, the registered agent for Better Leaders, Stronger Schools. But, he said, “This is a different year.”

“I have never seen a year where DPS was in the news so much for so many of the wrong reasons and I think a lot of that is tied to the current actions of the school board,” Aschkinasi said, adding, “This isn’t about reform vs. union. This is about electing a new group of leaders that represent a diverse background and values.”

But not everyone is convinced that there’s not an effort by reformers to reign again.

“(What) the reform group is doing — they’re trying to pivot to safety, which isn’t genuine,” said Spearman, who is running for the at-large seat held by Auon’tai Anderson, who is not seeking re-election. Spearman is a former mayoral candidate and ex-CEO of the Tattered Cover bookstore chain.

“The reason why they are doing that… (is) they can’t talk about the issues they actually want to implement,” he added. “They can’t talk about privatizing our schools, so they are going to talk about other issues.”

Spearman, who is backed by the teachers union, pointed to the fact that Denver Families for Public Schools, the parent organization of Denver Families Action, is funded in part by a group outside of Colorado. Denver Families, which launched two years ago, receives funding from The City Fund, a national organization that supports charter schools and school reform, Chalkbeat Colorado reported.

Clarence Burton Jr., chief executive officer of Denver Families, pushed back, saying that the debates of DPS’s past are “not what folks are talking about right now and that’s not what our work has been steeped in.”

The three candidates endorsed by Denver Families Action don’t have a single ideology that unites them, he said.

“There are always going to be those who have something to gain by trying to pull us back into some of the discussions, the politicization of these education conversations that have existed in the past in Denver because they find that advantageous,” Burton said.

“You had the sense that there was real dissent”

Denver was once known as an education reform darling, but the school board flipped in 2019 when members backed by the teachers union won a majority of seats. By 2021, the union’s hold on the board was cemented.

But since last year, the school board has been beset by infighting as directors have disagreed over how to operate under a new governance model.

And in the aftermath of the East shooting, in which a student wounded two administrators, parents, educators and other community members have criticized DPS administrators and the board for having discipline policies that are perceived as too lenient.

They also have criticized the board for its unanimous decision in 2020 to remove school resource officers, or SROs, from Denver school buildings. Board members voted earlier this year to reinstate armed police in schools.

A lot of people thought that parents’ concerns about safety would have fizzled out by the time the election rolled around, but that hasn’t been the case, said Paul Ballenger, a former school board candidate and founding member of P-SAG.

“You have seen an outpouring of interest, anger, frustration from parents — real parents — not people that are in the education sector normally other than having their kids in schools,” Lamm, of ResignDPS, added.

For months, signs from ResignDPS — which has called for the resignation of the entire board — have dotted yards across the city. Parents and others in the community have shown up to school board meetings in the group’s T-shirts.

“You had the sense that there was real dissent,” said Ciruli, the pollster, adding that the East shooting is “one of those events that’s probably going to change the district.”

“That era of Denver Public Schools is over”

The teachers union is also frustrated with the school board, despite having endorsed every current member at some point, Denver Classroom Teachers Association president Rob Gould said.

“We have had some school board members that we have endorsed in the past that have not lived up to our expectations or others’,” he said. “We took our time this round.”

Spearman, who called himself the “polar opposite” of Anderson, said the union’s endorsement of his campaign shows that DCTA  “probably wouldn’t make that same decision again” — a sentiment Gould agreed with.

“Kwame Spearman isn’t running against Auon’tai Anderson so it would be helpful for him to actually focus on his campaign,” Anderson said in response.

But the union’s endorsement of Spearman also has raised eyebrows as he seemed more like a reformer, said Paul Teske, the dean of the University of Colorado Denver’s School of Public Affairs.

“I wouldn’t say either one is so firmly in one camp or another,” he said of Spearman and Youngquist.

If the board were to swing more to the reform side than it currently is, the change likely could affect how the district responds to declining enrollment and future school closures, including whether to shut down charter schools, Teske said.

Spearman said he supports school choice and believes charter schools still have a place in DPS.

“But I also believe that we’ve opened up a lot of charter schools. Some have worked, some have not, and there needs to be more accountability,” he said. “And we need to embrace the notion that some charter schools are really, really hurting our neighborhood schools, and where that is occurring, I’m going to side with our neighborhood schools.”

Youngquist said he isn’t a traditionalist or a reformer.

“There’s a need to figure out our finances and figure out whether and how schools need to close and what other options there are,” he said. “And there’s need to create a definition of what it means to function well as a school.”

Ultimately, the election is coming down to individual candidates and not the organizations that are supporting them, because the lines between reform and union support are getting blurred, said Anderson, who is running for a seat in the Colorado legislature in next year’s election.

“We have to get out of this framework that you have to be pro-this or anti-that when our kids go to charter schools, when our kids go to district-run schools and our kids go to innovation schools,” Anderson said. “Every single one of those students are our students and they need board members that are willing to represent them and not get caught up in this fight of organizations. That era of Denver Public Schools is over.”

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The new measure on ballots for the Nov. 7 election is aimed at authorizing the now-17-year-old tax in perpetuity, without a need to ask voters to renew it.

A narrow margin of Denverites in 2006 approved the initial 0.12% sales tax that launched the Denver Preschool Program, setting a rate that amounts to 12 cents on a $100 purchase. That tax came with an expiration date 10 years later.

In 2014, two years ahead of that, the Denver City Council referred a measure to the ballot that proposed to increase the tax to 0.15% — 15 cents on a $100 purchase — and extend the expiration by another decade, to 2026. Voters approved that measure with 55% support.

Now, three years ahead of time, the City Council is asking voters to vote on the tax a final time — unless there’s a need to raise the rate in the future. The council voted unanimously in May to ask the city’s electorate to continue the tax at its 0.15% rate permanently, with no set expiration.

Here’s a quick look at the ballot measure.

What would Referred Question 2P do?

The ballot language states it plainly: If approved, the existing 0.15% sales and use tax that funds the Denver Preschool Program would be permanently extended instead of expiring on Dec. 31, 2026. It includes the caveat that the tax could be altered or repealed by the City Council or city voters. But any increase in the tax would require voter approval.

Where do the preschool tax proceeds go?

Since its creation, the Denver Preschool Program says it has supported nearly 70,000 children by helping cover the cost of preschool. The program granted $18.3 million in tuition support to families last year, according to the Yes on 2P campaign, bringing the program’s total over the years to $150 million. The program is run by a nonprofit with city oversight.

All Denver families are eligible, but the tuition support provided is based on income, with priority for families with the greatest economic needs. The program says families can choose between more than 250 eligible preschools.

Doesn’t the state pay for preschool now?

Gov. Jared Polis signed a law in 2022 designed to provide funding for universal preschool for Colorado kids, an idea that voters backed by increasing tobacco and nicotine taxes in 2020. The state program launched this school year and covers at least 15 hours of free preschool per week, or more for children who meet certain qualifications.

On its website, the Denver Preschool Program says DDP support can be used to pay for more hours of preschool than the state program might cover. As the state program begins, the city program also has been expanded to offer tuition funding for 3-year-olds whose families have the highest level of financial need.

What do supporters say?

Arguments in support of Question 2P, as summarized by the city’s ballot information booklet, focus on the program’s impact, with 55% of families who receive tuition credits facing “significant economic hardship.” It cites research indicating that preschool attendance can be a key factor in children’s future success.

“Kids with access to high-quality preschool are better prepared for kindergarten, read earlier, graduate high school at high school at higher rates and go to college more often,” supporters wrote in arguments submitted for the booklet.

What do opponents say?

No committees have been formed to oppose Question 2P, and nobody submitted arguments against it for this the city’s ballot information booklet.

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The former school principal and state senator emerged from a crowded field of mayoral challengers in the city’ spring election on the wings of a substantial fundraising advantage and bold promises like ending street homelessness in Denver in his first four-year term.

Moments after he took the oath of office to become the city’s 46th mayor, Mike Johnston asked all Denverites to take oaths as well.

“An oath to dream, to serve, and to deliver,” the 48-year-old told an audience inside the Ellie Caulkins Opera House during his inaugural address Monday. “To dream a Denver bold enough to include all of us, to serve our city above ourselves and to march on shoulder to shoulder, undeterred by failure, until we deliver results.” 

From the time he jumped in the race last fall, Johnston’s campaign focused on presenting a hopeful vision for the city’s future. Riding that hopeful message — and with an avalanche of outside spending supporting him — Johnston separated himself from a crowded field to be elected the city’s first new mayor in a dozen years in June. That vision calls for a future in which families return to a bustling downtown and don’t think twice as their children play on a sidewalk along the 16th Street Mall. It also calls for a city where firefighters, teachers, nurses and construction workers can afford to buy a home and raise a family in the city limits.

Now officially sworn in, Johnston will be tasked with carrying out the vision and delivering on big campaign promises like ending street homelessness in his first four-year term in office.

Dressed in a dark suit, a black and white striped tie and a metallic belt buckle with the city flag on it, Johnston started his inaugural address by describing some of the painful scenarios that have played out across the city in recent years whether it was watching older loved ones lose their lives to COVID-19 or watching others fall into a life of addiction and homelessness.

But Johnston emphasized the city can overcome its challenges with him at the helm and residents all pulling in the same direction.

“Our dream of Denver is that when you land at your lowest, without a job or a place to stay, shackled by addiction or struggling with mental illness, we will not judge you or abandon you. We will not give up on you. We will get you a home. We will get you help. We will get you healed,” Johnston said.

The new dream of Denver was the main theme of Johnston’s address. It’s a refrain he returned to when describing a city that is affordable and supportive for working-class people and again when talking about reinvigorating a downtown area struggling to stay relevant amid shifting tides of modern work.

“Today, we dedicate ourselves to two essential American ideas: That every problem we face is solvable and we are the ones to solve them,” Johnston said.

The former school principal and state senator takes the reins from outgoing Mayor Michael Hancock at a time when a recent rise in crime and growing homelessness have many Denver residents feeling uncertain about the future. At the same time, sky-high home prices and rising rents threaten a cost-of-living crisis for working-class people. 

His address did not get into specifics about policies and actions Johnston plans to take to make good on his campaign pledges but more of that is coming soon, he vowed. The new mayor said that the 28 advisory committees he convened during the post-election transition period to offer perspective on issues and priorities for city departments all turned in reports on Sunday. He’ll be reading those and getting ready for his next steps over the next few days. A press conference is planned for Tuesday.

“We’ll start fast,” Johnston told reporters in a post-inauguration question-and-answer session Monday. “We’re ready to get to work tomorrow and we will be coming back to you tomorrow morning with some plans for our first 100 days.”

The new City Council and re-elected Clerk and Recorder Paul López and City Auditor Timothy O’Brien were also sworn in on Monday. City Council President Jamie Torres highlighted some of the milestones reached by the new council during the inauguration ceremony.

In addition to incumbents Torres, Amanda Sandoval, Kevin Flynn, Amanda Sawyer, Paul Kashmann, Chris Hinds and Stacie Gilmore, six new members were sworn in Monday. They are district representatives Diana Romero Campbell, Flor Alvidrez, Shontel Lewis and Darrell Watson and at-large members Sarah Parady and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez.

Torres pointed out that that group includes six Latinas, the most Hispanic members of City Council of any gender in Denver history. It also includes the first two out LGBTQ Black members ever in Lewis and Watson. Finally, with nine female members, women now hold a super majority on the council, Torres said.

“Which coincidentally is the number needed to override a mayoral veto,” she said with a smile.

“Everyone on this stage is here today because as community members we felt compelled to serve, to solve problems and to find solidarity for improvement somewhere in this city,” Torres said. “And I know we can because we have and because it’s the only way that we have moved forward on some of the most dire issues and for our often overlooked and underserved communities.”

Later in the day, Torres was re-elected for another year term as the council president and Sandoval was re-elected as council president pro tem.

On Monday evening, people were invited to celebrate Johston’s inauguration at a celebration dubbed the Denver Vibes Festival outside Union Station. The free festival was set to feature musical performances by Denver artists including Isaac Slade, former frontman of The Fray, Flobots, The Motet and more. It was the party before the hard work begins. 

Johnston, who as a child used to memorize and recite speeches by Martin Luther King Jr. in his family living room, closed his inaugural address with a call for unity in the face of the city’s challenges.

“The essence of democracy is that it calls on our ability to do something that feels unnatural: to love those who are different than us. To believe in them, to work with them, to sacrifice for them, to deliver for them,” he said. “That is our dream of Denver. That is our promise to our people. That is our pledge to each other. That is how we put our arms around those stuck in a cycle of hurt and it’s how we pull this city back into a cycle of hope.”

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Johnston announced Ridder’s hire on Friday. The incoming mayor called Ridder a dedicated public servant who is committed to his agenda of building a more equitable and vibrant city. She was a senior advisor to his successful mayoral run, according to a news release.

“As we confront both big challenges and big opportunities, there’s no one better to help us steer the ship than Jenn,” Johnston said in a statement.

Ridder, 35, is from Denver, graduating from East High School in 2005. The news release announcing her role in the incoming administration highlighted her love for skiing.

Ridder’s professional background is in working on campaigns for Democratic politicians. That includes managing Gov. Jared Polis’ first gubernatorial campaign in 2018 when he defeated Johnston in the Democratic primary.

She is a previous director of the mountain west division of the Democratic National Congressional Campaign Committee. In 2020, she held a senior role in President Joe Biden’s campaign as he unseated incumbent Donald Trump.

She was in talks to work for Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign when she was offered and accepted Johnston’s chief of staff position, she said.

“I was deep in talks with Biden world. If you had told me eight weeks ago this is where I would land, I’m not sure I would have believed you,” she said of accepting the job offer. “I was really excited and where I felt I could have the most impact was here in my home city.”

Johnston won’t officially take the reins of the city from term-limited Mayor Michael Hancock until he takes the oath of office at a swearing-in ceremony scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House downtown. One of Ridder’s first tasks will be overseeing an ice cream social in the city’s Wellington Webb Municipal Office Building on Monday afternoon at which Johnston will introduce himself to some of the city’s rank-and-file staffers he will now lead.

Being chief of staff will mean managing the mayor’s office but Johnston also intends to hire a chief operating officer to work with and help manage the day-to-day needs of city departments, Ridder said.

She will be part of the conversations around hiring department heads, positions that have been subject to a wide-reaching public input process over the last few weeks. But the decisions on who will lead critical arms of the city like the public safety, housing and health departments are ultimately up to Johnston himself, she said.

“We’re looking forward to having conversations with folks who are both new and folks who have been part of the Hancock administration,” she said.

Step 1 for the mayor-elect: Announcing the people who will helm his transition team and plan his inauguration. They include some well-known Denver faces Mayor Federico Peña, state Sen. Julie Gonzales and State Rep. Leslie Herod.

“What we know is we want to make sure that this is a city that hears everybody, that represents everybody and that includes everybody and that will be the focus of this transition,” Johnston said Friday morning while standing in César Chávez Park, a few blocks from his campaign headquarters in the city’s Berkeley neighborhood.

Five people will co-chair Johnston’s transition committee. They include Peña and Gonzales, both of whom endorsed Johnston in his runoff race against former Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce CEO Kelly Brough.

Greg Moore, the former editor of The Denver Post, Kourtny Garrett, the CEO of the Downtown Denver Partnership, and Makisha Boothe, founder and CEO of Sistahbiz Global Network, an incubator for Black women-owned businesses, round out the team.

The group represents five values Johnston says will guide his transition into power; transparency, innovation, collaboration, equity and transformation.

Herod, a rival in the first round of the mayor’s race who gave Johnston’s campaign some progressive credentials early in the runoff with an endorsement, is chairing his inauguration committee.

With a background supporting the Denver arts world that predates her time in the legislature, Herod is promising an event that showcases all the city has to offer.

“Denver is a vibe,” she said Friday.

She’s not as well known as other members of the group, but Ami Desai will serve as the executive director of the transition committee. She is the first woman of color to lead a mayoral transition in Denver’s history as far as Johnston knows, he said.

Desai is the chief operating officer of Gary Community Ventures, the $400 million philanthropic organization that Johnston led as CEO for three years before running for mayor. The two go back much further than that. She worked with him when he was the principal of the Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts in Thornton almost 20 years ago.

There is a lot to be done on the hiring front. It is not work that Desai expects to be done by the time Johnston takes office on July 17.

“There’s over two dozen departments and lots of people inside of the mayor’s office. So I mean, it could be up to, gosh, 60-some plus positions,” Desai said.

Keeping with a campaign promise to work closely with the community when staffing his administration, Johnston’s transition team will be convening 28 committees to offer input on that transition, he said. They will include groups dedicated to specific city departments and agencies but also major issues including homelessness, migrants coming into the city from the southern border and how the city works with Denver Public Schools.

The goal, Desai said, is to convene those committees quickly so they can at least provide input on the opportunities for each position and the attributes they would like to see in the people who fill them before Johnston is sworn in. Denver residents interested in joining a committee can fill out an interest form on the transition website VibrantDenver.com.

Johnston’s campaign focused on delivering “transformational change” in Denver but that doesn’t mean disrupting everything all at once, Desai said. Members of the Hancock administration who might be interested in staying on will be given consideration if they fit the vision.

“The current mayor’s team has really done a good job of preparing healthy and comprehensive transition notebooks for us,” she said. “So we’re in the process of reading all of those and kind of leaning on their perspectives as well.”

Prior to the Denver mayor’s race, Johnston hadn’t won an election since 2012 when he was re-elected to his state senate seat. The 48-year-old has never held an executive branch office before. Now he’ll be tasked with leading a city of more than 11,000 employees after defeating Brough by more than 10 percentage points.

Peña defeated incumbent Mayor Bill McNichols in 1983 by running as a visionary under the slogan “Imagine a great city.” He was later part of the transition efforts for Bill Clinton and Barack Obama when each of them was elected president and served in Clinton’s cabinet. Peña thanked the voters of Denver for having confidence in Johnston despite his relative lack of experience.

“We’re taking a chance like we took a chance on me because I had no city experience,” he said. “But you believe in imagining a great city and you believed in Mike’s vision of making Denver the best city in America which was part of his campaign. Let’s get to work.”

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In the end, the vote was not particularly close. Johnston led by nearly 7 percentage points when initial results were released at 7 p.m Tuesday. By the time final unofficial results were posted on Wednesday afternoon, that lead grew to more than 10 points, a gulf of more than 16,700 votes. 

From the perspective of Robin Kniech, the at-large City Councilwoman who did not endorse either candidate, the key to the race started with Johnston’s messaging and strategy.

“Mike ran as a Democrat in a Democratic city and he had a Democratic record,” Kniech said. “I think it’s that simple.”

City races are nonpartisan but both Brough and Johnston are aligned as Democrats. The two had plenty in common beyond that, often struggling to draw distinctions between themselves in the nine weeks between the general election and the runoff.

But Johnston had a few positions — committing not to arrest unhoused people even as a last resort when enforcing the city’s camping ban, embracing unionization for city workers — that allowed him to line up comfortably to Brough’s left.

That matters in a liberal city that elected a candidate (Sarah Parady) endorsed by the local chapter of the Democratic Socialist of America to an at-large City Council seat in April.

Johnston also presented a hopeful message during the campaign focusing on ways the city could improve and tackle its big challenges under new leadership. Brough’s campaign focused on her experience running the city as a former chief of staff to then-Mayor John Hickenlooper and her competence as an administrator of complex organizations like the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.

“This was a race between a visionary and a manager and voters chose a visionary,” Kniech said.

Massive money disparity

With little in the way of public polling before election night, observers had to rely on other signals to get a sense of who was in the lead in the runoff. The conventional wisdom was that Brough was playing from behind throughout and not just because Johnston got 7,600 more votes than her in the first round.

Financial backing was a glaring indicator Johnston had the edge. While both candidates raised a little more than $2 million in direct contributions and matching public Fair Election Fund dollars, Johnston supporters buried Brough when it came to dark money.

A single donor to his independent expenditure committee — LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman — contributed at least $1.95 million, eclipsing by half a million dollars all the money doled out to Brough’s outside spending group in the race.

Independent expenditure committees can accept and spend unlimited amounts of money on races but can’t coordinate with the candidates they are working to elect. In total, the committee backing Johnston spent more than $4.9 million compared to the committee backing Brough’s $1.4 million.

“We were up against really big money. We were against outside billionaires trying to influence this race,” Brough campaign spokesman Nico Delgado said on election night.

Brough’s campaign did receive support from at least one billionaire, conservative businessman Phil Anschutz, but he only gave $10,000, according to campaign finance records.

Records matter

A massive advantage when it comes to being able to send mailers and buy TV and social media ad time doesn’t guarantee voters will be convinced to vote for a candidate, Kniech contends.

“Money buys you repetition, it doesn’t buy you the message,” she said. “Kelly had enough money to get her message out there. I don’t think we can say the voters did not hear her message.”

Brough’s record while leading the chamber — a 12-year period that saw the business advocacy organization oppose legislation and ballot initiatives to create a paid family program in Colorado, allow cities to set their own minimum wage and other liberal priorities — dogged her throughout the race. She attempted to overcome the perception that she would not be a champion for working-class people by sharing her personal story and hardships including a time when her family was on public assistance while she was in high school.

“When you’re running for a policy job, the voters get to interview you on your policy record. What’s in your heart is private, what’s in your record is eligible in your interview,” Kniech said. “Her personal story did not overcome, for these voters, that record.” 

Johnston, an Ivy League graduate whose family owns a hotel in Vail, meanwhile touted a record that included supporting stricter gun control measures when he was serving in the Colorado Senate and championing a statewide ballot measure last year that will create a dedicated revenue stream to build more affordable housing.

The Brough campaign challenged Johnston over his record, which critics say he embellished to improve his credentials. One independent expenditure-funded ad went so far as to call Johnston a liar for the way he portrayed his role on gun control bills and as part of the state’s COVID-19 testing program.

Those jabs didn’t land with enough voters to stop Johnston’s momentum.

Endorsements played a role

Endorsements mostly matter on the margins of races, in the experience of Seth Masket, the director of the Center on American Politics at the University of Denver.

But with thousands of voters whose candidates lost in the first round of Denver’s mayor’s race looking for a signal of who to vote for in the runoff, netting the endorsements of prominent progressives like State Rep. Leslie Herod and nonprofit CEO and long-time criminal justice reform advocate Lisa Calderón likely had more weight than usual in Masket’s estimation.

On election night Johnston recognized Herod, Calderón and other previous challengers-turned-endorsers from the stage during his victory speech. He told reporters in the room later that he believes endorsements matter in races like his.

“I think they show the breadth of the coalition you can build, from a (former Denver Mayor) Federico Peña to a Leslie Herod to the labor supporters that we have, to the business leaders. … That looked like Denver to people, and I think that mattered,” Johnston said.

Calderón also clearly felt her decision to back Johnston, lukewarm as it may have been, contributed to his win. She congratulated Johnston on Twitter on Wednesday morning adding, “Please do not let progressives down. And – you’re welcome.”

Herod’s endorsement became one of the few controversies of the runoff. In the waning weeks of the race, Brough accused Herod of offering to endorse her in exchange for a prominent position in a potential Brough administration. Herod steadfastly denied that allegation. Johnston and statehouse colleagues rushed to Herod’s defense and any implication that Johnson was willing to engage in quid pro quo for Herod’s endorsement never really gained momentum.

Denver political analyst Eric Sondermann noted that Brough’s most impactful endorsement may have been one she did not seek, welcome or advertise, that of the Denver Republican Party.

“The Republican voters were likely already with her. The only people who picked up on that cue were undecided left-leaning voters,” Sondermann said. “That’s not on Brough and Brough’s campaign.”

Denver Post staff writers Jon Murray and Saja Hindi contributed to this report.

The closest of the runoff elections decided Tuesday went to Shontel Lewis who held a narrow lead over Brad Revare for the council’s District 8 seat. As of Wednesday afternoon, Lewis had 51.22% of the vote to Revare’s 48.78%, unofficial results show. A total of 356 votes separated the two candidates, well outside the automatic recount threshold of 37 votes.

Throughout the April election and June runoff only one incumbent council member – District 9’s Candi CdeBaca – lost their seat. Unofficial results from the Denver Clerk and Recorder’s Office show that Darrell Watson held a 60.71% lead to CdeBaca’s 39.29%.

And incumbent District 10 Councilman Chris Hinds fended off a challenge from Shannon Hoffman with a 55.37% lead to her 44.63%.

The results appear to be less a repudiation of progressive candidates as much as a desire from voters to elect candidates who projected a desire for collaboration and compromise, Paul Teske, dean of the University of Colorado Denver’s School of Public Affairs.

“Denver’s a liberal city, left of center,” Teske said. “And with this City Council race we’re just talking about how far left.”

If the biggest upset of the election season is CdeBaca’s loss to Watson, Teske noted that not only had the councilwoman run into repeated conflicts with her colleagues but also she had a well-funded and experienced opponent.

Council President Jamie Torres expressed optimism for the incoming class of council members, and said the first few months will likely set the groundwork for their time in office, cementing priorities and learning how to work with incoming Mayor Mike Johnston’s new administration.

Torres, who ran unopposed in the April election, recalled that just months after she took office the COVID-19 pandemic shut the entire country down.

“Barring any major national catastrophe, they’re going to have the time and space to really connect with their constituents in a way that our class didn’t,” Torres said.

The council’s newest lineup will also be even more diverse, Torres said, which means greater representation for Denverites.

“Six Latinas, the most this council has ever seen,” Torres said.

In addition, Watson is the first openly gay man elected to the council.

“There’s a really amazing representative dynamic that this council has brought to the table,” Torres added.

The councilwoman said she’s eager to get to work with her new colleagues and the incoming administration.

“Nobody works alone on this council,” Torres said. “And when you do it’s difficult and likely unsuccessful.”

That message of collaboration from candidates likely landed with voters who have grown frustrated over a lack of substantial progress with homelessness, affordable housing and public safety in recent years, Robert Preuhs, chair of Metropolitan State University’s Political Science Department, said.

“I think the voters really were looking for some alternative,” Preuhs said. “Usually that becomes a little more of a moderate, perhaps business-oriented, traditional approach to things.”

Recent redistricting also likely hurt CdeBaca in particular, pushing the boundaries of District 9 to include north and south Park Hill, Preuhs added.

Despite the turnover, Torres said the incoming council will have the energy and willingness to work with Johnston’s administration and tackle the issues at hand.

“Things are so serious right now, we’ve got to hit the ground running,” she said.