Mike Johnston, riding a wave of progressive endorsements and buoyed by a multi-million-dollar sea of outside campaign spending, defeated Kelly Brough in the runoff race to be Denver’s first new mayor in a dozen years.

Brough conceded shortly after 10:15 p.m. Tuesday.

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Introduced by his wife Courtney, an animated Johnston took the microphone on stage inside Union Station’s cavernous Great Hall to double down on his message of hope at a time when Denver is facing monumental challenges around housing affordability, growing homelessness, school safety and an uncertain economic future for its downtown.

“We believe in a Denver where everybody that loves this city and serves this city and believes in this city ought to be able to afford to live in this city,” Johnston said. “We believe in a city where kids will be safe on playgrounds and in schools and in neighborhoods in our downtown corridors. Because in every neighborhood, you ought to be able to walk out your front door and know this is your home — and in your home, you feel safe.”

He urged his supporters not to give in to the voices of doubt that might creep into their thoughts amid Denver’s recent struggles. He urged them, instead, to dream of what they want Denver to become.

“Let’s now go to work to build this into America’s best city,” he said, before wrapping his arms around his three children.

Johnston beat Brough 55.15% to 44.85%, according to final unofficial results released by the Denver Clerk & Recorder’s Office. With roughly 1,500 discrepant ballots still eligible to be cured and counted and a small number of military and overseas ballots potentially yet to arrive at the elections division office, Johnston’s margin of victory was 16,738 on the afternoon after Election Day. He got 89,644 votes to Brough’s 72,906, per that tally. The results won’t be certified until June 20.

Turnout in the runoff landed at 163,598 voters, according to the unofficial final count. That’s roughly 31% of the city’s total number of registered voters and down from the 175,588 Denverites who cast ballots in the April 4 general election. In the city’s 2019 runoff race, more than 165,000 voters cast ballots, good for a participation rate of 35% of what was then a smaller electorate.

Johnston, 48, will be sworn in as Denver’s 46th mayor on July 17.

Outgoing Mayor Michael Hancock, who is serving the last of three terms allowed by Denver’s charter, congratulated Johnston, saying in a statement that he was “confident the city will be in good hands, and my team stands ready to support the incoming administration.”

Brough addressed a crowd of supporters on the dancefloor in the ReelWorks event hall in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood moments before Johnston gave his victory speech. She said the room was filled with the type of energy that money couldn’t buy.

“I still believe in this campaign and the work we did,” she said. Her advice to young people in the audience was, “Go for everything you want in life.”

When she called Johnston to concede, she said, she “wished him Godspeed in the work ahead, because our city is challenged and it needs a lot of work.”

Wearing the green blazer that became her trademark on the campaign trail, she walked off the stage to chants of “Kelly! Kelly! Kelly!”

After a crowded first-round election on April 4, the runoff featured two of the more moderate contenders — Johnston, a former state legislator and nonprofit leader, and Brough, a former top aide in the Denver mayor’s office and then leader of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.

Johnston’s victory marks a comeback after two previous unsuccessful attempts to win higher office, first by running for Colorado governor and then the U.S. Senate.

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“I feel very moved and inspired by where the city has ended up,” Johnston told reporters late Tuesday. “I loved being out of politics. And then I thought there was a vision for what the city could do and where it could go. This seemed like a moment where the city would be compelled by someone who both cares deeply about those communities that have been most underserved, and (who) can lead complex organizations that deliver transformational results. And that’s what we’re excited to do. I can’t wait to build a broad coalition to take that on.”

Johnston opened early lead in results

Johnston opened with a significant lead in the first results Tuesday night, and his margin only grew as the counting continued. The crowd at his Union Station event erupted in cheers just after 7 p.m. as a TV screen displayed the first batch of results. A short time later, the song “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers played on the speakers.

“I feel very positive about the people who are here,” former Denver Mayor Federico Peña said, referring both to the party and the runoff coalition Johnston had built. “This is a very diverse group of supporters. They are very energetic, they’re optimistic, and I’ve talked to several people today who have been walking (campaign) walks for weeks for Mike.

“And Mike set the tone — he’s the one who has the highest energy of everybody.”

Less than two miles to the north, at ReelWorks, the crowd of Brough supporters milled about under a disco ball as early results painted a grim picture.

While campaign manager Sheila MacDonald preached patience, Brough aide Hashim Coates confronted the possibility of defeat. Her campaign faced an uphill climb to overcome the white male patriarchy and a substantial money disadvantage, he said.

“This is not a total loss if it doesn’t go the way I want it to go,” Coates said. “She’s a breath of fresh air. People want an honest politician; people want someone not to sell them on dreams. That’s Kelly Brough.”

Johnston won as high as 59% support in later batches of results added to vote totals, according to The Denver Post’s analysis, suggesting that ballots turned in later broke significantly in Johnston’s favor.

He was boosted during the runoff by endorsements from several progressive first-round candidates, including third-place Lisa Calderón and fifth-place Leslie Herod, a state representative. Herod fired up the crowd in two moments Tuesday night before Johnston took the stage, getting them to chant “Mayor Mike!”

Johnston said he felt those endorsements, and others from prominent Denver figures and groups, mattered.

“I sure believe that they do,” he said after his victory speech. “I think they show the breadth of the coalition you can build, from a 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.”

With the election’s outcome, Denver’s streak of never having elected a woman mayor will continue. The city’s persistent glass ceiling was only a small part of a long runoff race, despite the Brough campaign’s efforts to emphasize that fact to voters.

Candidates struggled to mark contrasts

The runoff period lasted more than twice as long as the second round in past Denver elections, owing to city voters approving a recent change that moved up the general election to early April from early May. The long inter-election period may have contributed to a muted campaign between the two moderate Democrats, who at times struggled to differentiate themselves from one another and from the Hancock administration.

They have policy differences when it comes to homelessness. Both intend to keep enforcing the city’s urban camping ban, but Brough has said she would use arrests as a last resort to clear homeless encampments when Johnston said he would not incarcerate people.

“This has actually been, by election standards, a pretty boring election,” said Alton Dillard, a former spokesman for the Denver Clerk & Recorder’s office who is now a private consultant. “The two corporatist Democrats pointing fingers back and forth over who has local money vs. national money — but it all spends the same.”

Johnston is a former state senator, school principal and, most recently, the past CEO of the politically active philanthropic organization Gary Community Ventures. His work on education reform earned him dedicated supporters in the liberal donor class and an advisory position with President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. That work, particularly a 2010 bill he sponsored that tied teacher evaluations to student academic growth, has also brought plenty of criticism from people who view him as an adversary to public education.

In recent years, Johnston has been a serial candidate for higher office. He lost to Gov. Jared Polis in the Democratic primary in 2018 and dropped out of the 2020 U.S. Senate race in Colorado after eventual winner John Hickenlooper entered.

Johnston ran a campaign centered on ambitious plans to address the city’s more pressing challenges, including housing affordability and homelessness. His pledge to solve unsheltered homelessness in his first term in office hinges on his ability to deliver 10 to 20 “micro-communities” of tiny homes that would allow the city to relocate entire encampments of people living on the street to safer, more stable places with on-site services.

The Brough campaign sought to paint that idea as a pie-in-the-sky overpromise. Relying on a combination of one-time federal stimulus funding, dedicated sales tax revenue and money from Proposition 123, a statewide property tax redistribution measure Johnston championed while running Gary Community Ventures, he’s stood fast by that goal.

“It’s very reasonable you could do it in four years,” Johnston said of ending homelessness in Denver.

Johnston’s plans, including addressing gaps in housing affordable for moderate-income earners, won him the endorsement of YIMBY Denver, a pro-housing development group.

Alison Torvik, a YIMBY group lead, said at Johnston’s Election Night party that she had the sense that Brough had hopes to address housing, while Johnston had firmer plans.

“There’s so many people who are just balancing on the edge — like my friends who are (restaurant) servers, or teachers or firefighters,” Torvik said. “You shouldn’t have to drive until you can afford it,” by moving to the suburbs.

“So I hope that all of his promises and all of his plans will come to fruition,” she said. “I think we’re going to have a great opportunity to get some missing middle (projects) — or just more housing.”

Brough, 59, ran a campaign anchored by her deep experience with city operations. Being ready to step into the mayor’s role with no learning curve was one of her central electoral sales pitches.

“What I know, with me, is I’ve done that before. I know how to do it. And so I think we can move faster to make progress on some of the critical issues we face today,” she told The Denver Post of her ability to manage the city.

Being the first woman chosen to do that job would also mean extra scrutiny and a higher threshold for what success looks like, she said.

Born and raised in Montana, Brough often said on the campaign trail that every good thing that came in her life was a result of her decision to move to Denver with her late husband in 1986. Her career included time spent as an analyst for the Denver City Council and as a director of the city’s human resources department.

She rose to the level of chief of staff in then-Mayor John Hickenlooper’s administration, working on delicate projects such as helping to plan for the 2008 Democratic National Convention and renegotiating contracts with the city’s police, fire and sheriff’s department unions amid the Great Recession. Fifteen years later, those unions endorsed her in the mayor’s race.

But Brough’s most recent high-profile job — a dozen years as president and CEO of the chamber of commerce — proved to be her most consistent political hurdle.

While she was in charge, the chamber opposed legislation and ballot measures that would require paid sick leave for workers, boost renter protections, specify greenhouse gas reduction targets and allow Colorado cities to set a minimum wage, among other issues.

She argued that the work she did at the chamber didn’t always match her personal beliefs — even confronting Johnston after a debate last month for what she viewed as repeated misrepresentations of her positions and background.

Many progressive political leaders and labor unions backed Johnston and opposed Brough in the race’s final stages.

Runoff narrowed largest mayoral field in at least 50 years

Brough and Johnston made it into the runoff after advancing from a field of 16 candidates in the first round of the race.

It was the most mayoral candidates Denver has seen in at least 50 years. And with the recent adjustments to the election calendar, voters weighed in earlier than in prior municipal elections, shortening the campaign a bit. The June runoff date didn’t change.

The city’s Fair Election Fund program was a significant driver behind the crowded field. Making its maiden electoral voyage after Denver voters approved it in 2018, the fund provided participating candidates with matching taxpayer dollars on donations of up to $50 from Denver residents. It distributed more than $7.1 million to would-be mayors, City Council hopefuls and other candidates during the cycle.

With that public funding in the mix, the mayoral field was also more diverse than any in recent memory. Candidates included an IT professional and former boxer from Curtis Park, an anti-gang activist from Park Hill and a political science professor from the University of Colorado Denver.

In the end, the two best-funded candidates advanced to the runoff. Johnston, in particular, pulled in vast amounts of outside money, including nearly $2 million alone from Reid Hoffman, the billionaire co-founder of LinkedIn.

In terms of direct fundraising, Brough and Johnston each raised just over $2 million as of the end of May. Brough’s total included $937,500 in Fair Elections Fund dollars, the maximum amount a mayoral candidate could draw from the program, while Johnston’s matching funds reached $766,923. 

By participating in the matching program, Brough and Johnston agreed to $500 contribution limits in the race. Those limits do not pertain to independent expenditure committees, the outside spending groups that can accept unlimited contributions but aren’t allowed to coordinate with the campaigns of the candidates they are working to elect. 

Johnston benefitted from more than $4.9 million in outside spending backing his candidacy, including major payouts from Hoffman, former New York City Mayor and media mogul Michael Bloomberg and Kent Thiry, former head of Denver-based dialysis company DaVita. 

Brough, meanwhile, was backed by $1.4 million in outside spending, led by more than $470,000 underwritten by the National Association of Realtors’ political fund.

In the 2019 mayor’s race in which Hancock won a third term by defeating Jamie Giellis in the runoff, his campaign raised just shy of $3 million and benefited from just $67,000 in outside spending.

The dark money disparity spurred the Brough campaign to host an event in Civic Center Park in the last week of the race in which supporters chanted, “Denver is not for sale.” 

Denver political analyst Eric Sondermann noted there was just no way for Brough to keep up with Johnston when a single donor in Hoffman gave more than her independent expenditure committee was able to raise in the entire race. Johnston also had an edge in liberal Denver by being endorsed by labor unions and several more progressive former challengers, including Calderón and Herod.

“Having eliminated those two and being faced with a choice of two very Anglo, very establishment types, (voters) chose the one that was two degrees or three degrees to the left of the other one,” Sondermann said.

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