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DU Clarion [www.duclarion.com]
May 15, 2019 Volume 126 Issue 6
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2019 Denver Election results
Photo courtesy of Denvergov.org Marshall Marrs | Contributing Writer
D
enver voters headed to the polls on Tuesday to elect a whole slate of municipal leaders from mayor through city councilmembers. Also on the ballot were Initiated Ordinances 300, to lift the city-wide ban on urban camping, and 301, to decriminalize the possession of psilocybin mushrooms. Denver voters turned out in remarkable numbers, given the off-year cycle of municipal elections with just over 60% of those registered casting a vote
in the top-participated race, the at-large city council seat won by long-term incumbent Councilwoman Debbie Ortega. This turnout was well above the national average (53.4%) in even the 2018 congressional midterms, one of the highest-voted elections in recent history. At the top of the ballot, twoterm Mayor Michael Hancock, who has been serving since 2011, asked Denverites for a third term but was opposed by a crowded field of five challengers. Denver’s mayoral race is non-partisan, but Hancock is a Democrat. Given
this background, the common narrative around elections did not hold as some of his most prominent challengers were also registered Democrats. Hancock faced Penfield Tate, Kalyn Rose Heffernan, Jamie Giellis, Seku Evans and Lisa Calderón. By the time of this article, 177,975 votes had been cast with Hancock winning 38.65%. In second place was Jamie Giellis who attracted 24.88% of voters to her campaign followed by Lisa Calderón with 18.45% of the vote. Tate managed to grab 14.73% of the vote and the rest of
the field received less than three percent of votes cast. The strong showings from Giellis, Calderón and Tate prevented Hancock from garnering more than 50% of votes needed to become mayor, forcing him into a runoff election with Jamie Giellis, scheduled for May 20. This makes Hancock the first incumbent Mayor to be forced a into runoff election since Wellington Webb in 1995. Webb would go on to serve until 2003. Continued on page 3