Denver mayor's race: What you need to know about the candidates
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Denver's mayoral race is so crowded the candidates would fill half a city bus. (Seriously, we checked.)
State of play: 17 candidates qualified for the April 4 election and another handful are write-in contenders.
- A handful of candidates are emerging at the front of the pack. Kelly Brough, Leslie Herod and Mike Johnston are dominating the fundraising campaign and narrowly edging other candidates in polling.
- One – Kwame Spearman – later dropped out of the race.
- If the winner doesn't receive more than 50% of the vote, the top two-contenders will compete in a run-off election June 6 to replace term-limited Mayor Michael Hancock.
Be smart: Keep reading for a quick primer on the candidates for Denver mayor in the 2023 election.
Go deeper:
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- Denver mayoral candidates split on rent control in first major debate
- Denver election dominated by big-money donors
- The first thing the next Denver mayor will do once elected
- Political Pulse: LoDo indictment splits Denver's mayoral candidates
- Poll shows Denver's mayor's race is scrambled
- What the next Denver mayor would say on the DIA train
Meet the candidates
The top candidates are listed in order of how they appear on the ballot, which was decided by random selection.
Lisa Calderón
About: Calderón is the executive director of Emerge, a nonprofit that trains Democratic women to run for political office. Calderón has also worked as chief of staff to Denver City Council member Candi CdeBaca. She also has worked as a university professor for 15 years.
What to know: She challenged Hancock in 2019 and finished third with less than 20% of the vote.
Go deeper:
- Complaints allege finance law violations by Denver municipal candidates
- Meet Lisa Calderón in 13 fun questions
- Watch: Calderón talks with our partners PBS12
Trinidad Rodriguez
About: A longtime volunteer for progressive causes, Rodriguez worked in the public finance sector most recently.
What to know: Rodriguez once worked as a bike messenger before getting a job with state government.
Go deeper:
- Meet Trinidad Rodriguez in 13 fun questions
- Watch: Trinidad Rodriguez talks with our partners PBS12
Thomas Wolf
About: Wolf is the managing director at investment firm Crewe Capital and served on local volunteer boards, including at MCA Denver.
What to know: He ran for mayor in 2011 and finished seventh.
Go deeper:
- Meet Thomas Wolf in 13 fun questions
- Watch: Thomas Wolf talks with our partners PBS12
Terrance Roberts
About: A former Bloods gang member, he is the subject of the award-winning book "The Holly" about his transformation into a community activist and anti-violence leader. A jury found Roberts not guilty of attempted murder in 2015.
What to know: His campaign slogan is "Save Our City" because he believes "corporate greed" has pushed the city into a housing and public safety crisis.
Go deeper:
- Meet Terrance Roberts in 13 fun questions
- Watch: Terrance Roberts talks with our partners PBS12
Kwame Spearman
About: A late entry to the race — he joined Jan. 7 — Spearman is the co-owner and CEO of the Tattered Cover. He worked in the corporate world after receiving degrees from Yale and Harvard.
- He later dropped out of the race.
What to know: He is endorsed by Jamie Giellis, who finished second to Hancock in the 2019 mayoral contest.
Go deeper:
- Kwame Spearman, CEO of Tattered Cover, exits Denver mayoral race
- Watch: Kwame Spearman talks with our partners PBS12
Chris Hansen
About: Hansen is serving his second term as a state senator representing parts of downtown and the central east side of the city. He previously served two terms in the state House.
The intrigue: He is positioning himself as the environmental candidate, leaning on his experience in the renewable energy sector as an engineer, and wants to make the city government more green.
Go deeper:
- Denver mayoral race ramps up with fresh attacks against Chris Hansen
- Meet Chris Hansen in 13 fun questions
- Watch: Chris Hansen talks with our partners PBS12
Mike Johnston
About: Johnston served two terms in the state Senate until 2017 and previously worked as a high school principal.
- He most recently was CEO of Gary Community Ventures, a local nonprofit that pushed Proposition 123 in the 2022 election to increase affordable housing.
What to know: He ran unsuccessful campaigns for governor in 2018 and U.S. Senate in 2020.
Go deeper:
- Mike Johnston running for major office for third time in five years
- Meet Mike Johnston in 13 fun questions
- Watch: Mike Johnston talks with our partners PBS12
Ean Thomas Tafoya
About: He works as an environmental activist in Colorado and across the globe, as state director for Green Latinos
What to know: He ran for city council in 2015 and lost.
Go deeper:
- Meet Ean Thomas Tafoya in 13 fun questions
- Watch: Ean Thomas Tafoya talks with our partners PBS12
Andy Rougeot
About: A former U.S. Army officer, Rougeot owned a small business that did maintenance for self-storage facilities before selling the company in July. He is a registered Republican.
What to know: He is self-funding his campaign, loaning himself $500,000 — giving him more campaign cash than all candidates entering the election year.
Go deeper:
- Why Republican Andy Rougeot has a chance in Denver's mayoral race
- Meet Andy Rougeot in 13 fun questions
- Watch: Rougeot talks with our partners PBS12
Leslie Herod
About: First elected to the state House in 2016, Herod is a longtime Democratic player, dating back to her days at the University of Colorado. She is the first LGBTQ African American elected to the state Legislature.
What to know: Her legislative record focuses on overhauling the criminal justice system and helped lead efforts to boost police accountability after the murder of George Floyd.
Go deeper:
- Inside Leslie Herod's leadership that some say led to toxic workplace culture
- Meet Leslie Herod in 13 fun questions
- Watch: Leslie Herod talks with our partners PBS12
Deborah "Debbie" Ortega
About: As an at-large member of the Denver City Council, Ortega is the only candidate who has been elected citywide — three times, in fact. She previously served on the council from 1987 to 2003, when she was termed out.
What to know: Her daughter is a major in the Denver Sheriff's Department.
Go deeper:
- Meet Debbie Ortega in 13 fun questions
- Watch: Debbie" Ortega talks with our partners PBS12
Kelly Brough
About: Brough most recently served as CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, leading the economic development organization for 12 years.
- Before that, she worked as a chief of staff to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper for three years before he became governor. She says that experience gives her the edge because she knows how to run a city.
Of note: A lesser known side of Brough is her difficult upbringing after her father was murdered when she was an infant and her family needed government assistance for food and school lunches.
Go deeper:
- Kelly Brough makes a political about-face in Denver mayor's race
- Meet Kelly Brough in 13 fun questions
- Watch: Kelly Brough talks with our partners PBS12
Other candidates
Of note: Candidates need only 300 registered voter signatures to qualify, a low bar that makes it easy to get on the ballot. Other candidates who qualified for the ballot but are running less visible campaigns:
- Renate Behrens
- Al Gardner
- Aurelio Martinez
- Robert Treta
- James Walsh
Worthy of your time
- Early voting behind pace a week ahead of major Denver election
- Political Pulse: Denver mayor candidates report large incomes
- Who's winning the money race for Denver mayor: 5 numbers to know
- Some Denver mayoral candidates call for more control over schools
- The top takeaways from the PBS12 debate moderated by Axios Denver
- Denver's next election could be its most consequential
- Denver mayoral candidates pitch downtown comeback
- Shootings push leaders, mayoral candidates to revisit police in schools
- Denver's public campaign financing system providing key funding to mayoral race
Editor's note: This story has been updated with new information and links.