The Denver Post interviewed all 17 mayoral candidates to find out why they are running and what their priorities would be if they were elected to the top job. Click a candidate’s name to learn more.
Andy Rougeot
Rougeot came to Denver in 2013 after a deployment in Afghanistan. In his view, the city leadership has failed over the past several years to address crises around crime, homelessness and housing affordability. They are problems he is promising to help fix via much stricter enforcement of the city’s camping ban and a drive to hire 400 more police officers. Read more about Rougeot’s plans for Denver here.
Debbie Ortega
Ortega might seem like the safe, establishment pick for mayor. But during nearly three decades as a City Council member, she’s often proved a wildcard — a skeptical voice and self-described taxpayer advocate who, at times, has been a thorn in the side of three mayors. Read more about Ortega’s campaign here.
Ean Thomas Tafoya
If elected as mayor, Tafoya said he’d work to lower energy bills, protect air and water quality and improve the city’s infrastructure, particularly its transportation network, which he called “inherently dangerous.” Read more about the fourth-generation Denverite here.
Kelly Brough
Since arriving in Denver in 1986 from her native Montana, she has compiled a long resume that touches on everything from day-to-day government operations to economic development work on a regional level. She’s pitching herself as the experience candidate. Read more about her work in Colorado politics here.
Leslie Herod
Herod was the first ever Black, out-LGBTQ woman ever elected to the state’s general assembly. She has held that northeast Denver seat ever since, most recently winning re-election in November. Here’s why she wants to run for Denver’s mayor.
Lisa Calderón
Calderón, who is running for mayor a second time, said she’s spent most of her career as an educator, community activist, city employee and frequent critic of the term-limited Mayor Michael Hancock, steeped in the world of policing and crime. Here’s more about her vision for the city.
Mike Johnston
Johnston last held political office in 2017 when his second term in the Colorado Senate ended. But he has made his presence known both in politics and the daily lives of many Coloradans since then. Read more about why he wants to be Denver’s next mayor here.
Thomas Wolf
Wolf’s campaign is focused on the city’s homeless. He promises to end unauthorized camping by homeless people, something that’s eluded outgoing Mayor Michael Hancock’s administration while spurring fights in the courts. Read more about his plans for Denver here.
Trinidad Rodriguez
Rodriguez said he’d declare homelessness a state of emergency and set up a temporary field hospital, near which he’d want his mayoral office to be set up. Read more about his campaign.
Kwame Spearman (has dropped out)
Spearman, the co-owner and chief executive officer of the Tattered Cover Book Store chain since December 2020, is adamant someone with his experience is just what the city needs in its next mayor. Learn more about him here.
Chris Hansen
In a State Capitol full of policy wonks, Chris Hansen, a senator now running for Denver mayor, stands out for having an engineer’s zeal for details. He wants to find the city solutions for safety and housing. Read more about his campaign here.
Al Gardner
Gardner said if elected mayor he’d move to change the culture within Denver’s law enforcement agencies, ensuring that whoever helms the departments is willing to disrupt how they’ve operated in the past. He’d want to update how officers are recruited and how they’re trained as well. Read more here.
Aurelio Martinez
If Martinez wine, he would draw on decades of experience in neighborhood advocacy and as a small business owner. He is pitching a program that would provide downpayment assistance loans, offering deferred repayment or even forgiveness in some cases. Read more about his platform here.
James Walsh
Walsh is an educator running one of the long-shot campaigns to be the city’s next chief executive.He says his students pushed him to run in the race and he’s counting on them to be his base. Read more about the CU Denver political science professor’s plans for the city here.
Renate Behrens
Behrens stands out in Denver’s crowded mayoral race. She has no campaign website, has done almost no fundraising and has bold ideas including fighting pollution by offering free public transportation. Read more about her here.
Robert Treta
Denver mayoral candidate Robert Treta says the key to solving the city’s problems is in its building department. Here’s how he plans to fix Denver’s housing woes.
Terrance Roberts
Roberts sees running for office as a continuation of his community work. He’s using his new platform on debate stages to push for a surge in public housing and less punitive homelessness policies. He argues Denver needs drastic changes to policing, too. Here’s more about his agenda if elected the city’s mayor.
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