In a Denver mayor’s race unlike any other in city history, 16 of the people vying for that office gathered on the Regis University campus in northwest Denver Thursday night for a debate that featured questions on housing, homelessness, crime, growth and the environment.

There are less than two months left until that giant field is narrowed to one mayor, or, more likely, two candidates that will face off in a runoff election on June 6.

With people packing the seats of a small auditorium, candidates sparred over topics including the root causes of the metro area’s homelessness crisis, how to address the city’s skyrocketing car thefts, the best strategies to improve the city’s air quality and more.

There would have been 17 candidates on the stage, but Al Gardner decided not to attend after his daughter gave birth to his granddaughter earlier in the day. The audience applauded when moderator Dominic Dezzutti shared that news.

All told, about 30 questions were put to the candidates. During a rapid-fire segment of yes-no questions, candidates were asked to stand if they supported lifting the conservation easement that protects the Park Hill golf course property from redevelopment. Four candidates, Mike Johnston, Chris Hansen, Andy Rougeot and Thomas Wolf, stood. That question will also be put to Denver voters in the April 4 election.

The full, two-hour debate can be viewed on the YouTube channel for CBS News Colorado, which live-streamed the event.

Each candidate was given one minute to deliver a closing statement. Here are their full statements in the order they were delivered. They have been edited for clarity.

Leslie Herod

Thank you, and I want to thank everyone for being here and my colleagues who are candidates here as well. I have a tattoo on my wrist. It says “Nil sine numine.” That’s the Colorado state motto; nothing without providence or nothing without god. But for me, that means nothing without faith. Nothing without faith (in) ourselves, faith (in) our neighbors, you know, faith to do things. And we can get things done. And as I stand here today, I know so many times people have said things that we cannot do. Over and over and over again, including some of my colleagues here today, things that can’t be done. Don’t believe that. If I believed (things) couldn’t be done, I wouldn’t be standing before you as a state representative today. I went to CU (the University of Colorado) not MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). If I believe what they told me about myself we wouldn’t be fighting for things like police accountability and have led the country in that fight right here because of protests that were happening day in and day out. And if we believe what they want you to believe today, they will say that we cannot tackle affordable housing and our unhoused neighbors and the crises that are happening on our streets right now. We can. We can get more housing for people. We can get the job done for Denver. We will deliver.

James Walsh

Thanks, everyone, for being here. This has been an amazing experience for me. I’ve never run for office. So this is kind of a crazy thing. And I’ve been biking all over the city. I call it my bread and roses tour, the old labor saying for those of you who have had any labor education. And there’s this old labor song called “Which Side Are You On?” Has anyone ever heard it? And that is the foundation of my campaign. Which side are you on? Why have we never had a mayor on the side of workers in this city? What’s going on? So I hope to be that mayor. I hope to support collective bargaining rights of all public employees. I hope to raise union density in this city. I have to support worker-owned cooperatives. I have to support worker centers so that our immigrant brothers and sisters have more protections, universal basic income and harm reduction for all public health issues. Denver workers first.

Renate Behrens

I would like to change the language of the government, especially on the ballot, so that every normal or average citizen can understand it. Secondly, I would ask you not to look down at the homeless people if you were not homeless yourself. And third, I would like to ask the homeowners to get rid of their lawns. They are very energy-intensive and water-intensive and they are good for nothing. Grow a little garden or have somebody grow the garden on your property. And if you do not need the produce give it to the homeless or the homeless kitchens. And the last one: I think you should vote that Denver gets a mayor that we all need. Thank you.

Terrance Roberts

It’s time in Denver that we move past “yes, we can” and we need to implement “yes, we will.” Last year our public safety budget was $566 million. That was 39% of our general fund. Only 2% of that went to housing. But every municipal candidate is focused on housing; affordable housing. Affordable housing is affordable for who? We need more public housing. We need to make Denver a 24-hour city. No more three-term mayors. No one up here deserves to be mayor for 12 years. It’s too hard to unseat an incumbent mayor. We need to change our city charter to add more democracy to our city. We need elected police officials. We need an elected sheriff. When you select a city attorney. We need to add more democracy to the city of Denver. Our housing issue is our main issue. It should not have only 2% of our budget going to housing. We need a double-digit housing, and we need a public banking system to pay for more retrofitting or newly built public housing that will lower our violence. Thank you very much. TerranceRobertsforMayor.com.

Aurelio Martinez

First, I want to thank you all. Thank you for listening. And what I want to say, I mentioned earlier that my whole reason for running is for the residents that live in Denver, for the neighborhood organizations, for the workers and the small businesses in Denver. They have to be able to have a word in what happens to them in this administration. That’s the reason I’m running. So I want to tell you one thing that I’m going to do that’s going to make that happen is I will put together an office of ombudsman and liaison, because the current administration that has community outreach people hasn’t worked for 30-40 years, and it’s not going to work. The job description of an ombudsman is to field every complaint inquiry that comes into them and they have to come up with resolution. They cannot just let it get stale and forget about it. They have to come up with resolution and have to put that resolution (into) my office, and it has to happen. Your word will be what happens in the city and happens in your neighborhoods. Thank you. AMFDM.com.

Lisa Calderón

I am running to be the first truly progressive candidate of Denver. We have had false choices for the past two administrations that have not put workers and residents first. And instead, I would like to share power with the community. We need to decentralize Denver government by moving resources into neighborhoods. We need to embed our services where people naturally congregate. So libraries, rec centers. We need to have one-stop shops for people who are struggling in this city. This is a race between the past powerbrokers and the future. And I want to fundamentally change the way power is wielded in this city. We should not have the same people who have been running the mechanisms in this city backing other candidates. That’s simply changing faces. We need a total transformation of the leadership of Denver and I’m the candidate to do that.

Robert Treta

Oh, yeah. You bet we need a transformation. We’ve needed a transformation for 15 years now. The city of Denver has almost put me out of business three times, not giving me my permits to do work. It’s spilling over into everything. When I have to wait a year for building permits, I’m passing that cost along to you guys. You’re going to pay $100,000 for every new building you see out there. Building practices that are ridiculous. The regulation is insane. The bureaucracy involved is crazy. It’s adding to the homeless problem, I mean, every day. We need real change. I know how to do it. Climate, air quality, renewable energy; I lead by example. I don’t just talk. I’m not a politician. I want some real results. And I want them now. And I will do them as soon as I take office. Thank you.

Thomas Wolf

So I’m running because I know Denver needs to be safe, clean and smart. And I think the city’s anything but that. And the reason is it needs strong, competent, fresh management, fresh leadership. I have an analytical background. I was a student in science as well as finance. I’m not very good at pop politics. I’m not very good at sound bytes. But if you want to get to the core of issues and solve them and solve them so they stay solved, I’m your person. An example on this is encampments. If you’re OK with encampments, it’s killing our property values in downtown Denver. If you’re OK with that, that means a 50% decrease. … It’s 50% of the budget for (Denver Public Schools). It’s 11 or 12% of my city budget as your mayor. If you’re OK with the encampments, head’s-up. That’s coming. So you need to know that as well. Thomas Wolf, thank you.

Kelly Brough

Thank you all so much for giving us this chance tonight to spend time with you. I’ve told you a little about what I intend to do. I want to share with you how I work. Because my approach to solving issues is really about bringing the most diverse voices together, people who see the world differently, experts who’ve worked in these spaces, learning from our past, looking at what other cities have done, using data to guide our decisions. That’s my approach to solving really challenging problems. It’s why those five mayors in the metro area endorsed my homeless plan. It’s why former manager of safety and police officer Al LaCabe,, former executive of the (American Civil Liberties Union) Denise Maes,, former governor and district attorney for Denver Bill Ritter have endorsed my public safety plan. It’s recognizing the only way we’re going to address these issues is if we come together as a community and find a path forward. Like others, I’ve never run for office before, either. And I’m not going to run for another. This is it. But I have run the city of Denver and I would love the chance to do it again with you.

Chris Hansen

It’s such an honor to be with you tonight. I’m state Sen. Chris Hansen, and I’m running to be your next mayor because I want to build a city that works. Right now. I’m feeling pretty frustrated, like many of you in the building and online joining us tonight. I’m feeling frustrated because the city is not working. I’m an engineer. I’m a private-sector leader. I’m a public-sector leader. I’ve gotten big things done over and over at the state Capitol. I’ve managed multibillion-dollar budgets in the private sector in the public sector. I know how to get things done. And I’m asking for your support tonight to move Denver forward. I want to end with a story though, one that’s deeply personal. A couple of months ago, I took my boys downtown. We jumped on the 15 (route bus). And I immediately started getting questions. ‘Dad, why is there a drug deal at the bus stop? Dad, why are there encampments all the way downtown? Why don’t I feel safe in downtown?’ As a father, that’s heartbreaking. We can’t continue in this direction. I want to build a city that works and I’m asking for your support. Thank you. Chris Hansen for Denver mayor.

Ean Thomas Tafoya

I want to close by saying hi, mom. I know you’re watching at home. But to all the RNOs who put this together, thank you so much. I’ve been an RNO president, and I’ve been involved in RNO, registered neighborhood organization, politics, for more than a decade. My name is Ean Tafoya. I was a teacher. I’ve worked for three branches of local government. I’ve worked at all three levels of American government. I brought people together to pass more than a dozen laws that have impacted the people of Denver when our leaders have failed. I believe that we do need to call everyone together. That is an ancestral belief of me as a Native American man. We have to call in all four directions, black, white, yellow, red; elders, youth. It’s time that we do bring people together, and you need to elect people who rolled up their sleeves and went and picked up the trash during the pandemic. My name is Ean Thomas Tafoya. You can find out more about me at Tafoyaformayor.com. You’ve seen the work that we’ve been able to do together. Imagine if we could do it every day. Because together we rise and we do build back better. Thank you.

Debbie Ortega

I want to thank Regis for hosting this tonight and all of the RNOs who are part of bringing this together. My commitment to service started when I was a young child when my dad would help other miners, coal miners, who were injured and I would go with him to help deliver food and money to those workers. And that same service that he provided to them (was) reciprocated to my family when my dad died when I was 5 years old. He was involved in an on-the-job injury. And just seeing the impact that he had on those families and those families had on mine, that is the commitment to service that I’ve had to this city over the years that I’ve been an elected official. I’ve worked in the trenches with our neighborhoods. I’ve been working to solve environmental and housing issues, and I could go on and on. But now is the time when this city needs someone who understands how the city works and has the skill set to make that happen. DebbieOrtega.com.

Mike Johnston

Thank you. When we all walk out of this debate tonight, we’re gonna walk back out into a city that we love. But the truth is tonight in that city we love, half of us that live in the city can’t afford to live here. Tonight in that city we love, 100 people will go to bed and wake up tomorrow and have their car gone. In that city we love tonight 1,400 people are out right now trying to look for a place to sleep outside of the street. Why are we letting that happen? This is our home. The spirit of Denver is that we are not the victims of our own story; we are the authors of our story. So the question is what chapter are we going to write next? Are we going to write another chapter about this city as a city that didn’t house all of us? Or protect all of us, or include all of us? Or are we going to write a chapter about this city, which is one where your kids can dance all through downtown and not worry about their safety? Where teachers and nurses and firefighters can live in this city again? Where we know that everyone can feel safe? We’ve built this city once. We can rebuild it into a city that we love. That’s the chapter I intend to write. I’d love to be your next mayor.

Kwame Spearman

I’d like to ask everyone to do me a favor. Go home tonight and think about your neighborhood. Think about two things you love about your neighborhood. And think about two things your neighborhood needs to improve. I love our neighborhoods. We are an amazing city because of our neighborhoods. And I want to create a government where we go into our neighborhoods and we listen to our residents. We allow our residents to empower the city to its greatness. We ask our residents, “What are your thoughts on safety? On housing? And on the local economy for your neighborhood?” And then I want to create a city government that is responsive to that, that has goals around that. Because I can tell you, as a CEO, the only way that you’re gonna accomplish great things is you’ve got to have a strong vision, a strong team, and you’ve got to make everyone feel seen and be heard. We can do that in this city. And we’re going to do it through our neighborhoods. KwameForDenver.com. Thank you, bye.

Trinidad Rodriguez

I was born and raised in West Denver by a hard-working single mom. It was a neighborhood that was rich in love but money was tight. We had faced housing instability, addiction and violence, personally. But this city helped us actually through those tough times, and I wanted to pay it forward. So when I started my career in finance 25 years ago, I started giving and serving the entire time our city’s most important and efficient civic and nonprofit organizations. My financing and my leadership helped build affordable housing communities, hospitals, clinics and schools that went on to serve tens of thousands of Denverites. We are ready to build my vision of a city where every Denverite, regardless of the neighborhood they’re in, can go on to their version of success. Trinidadfordenver.com.

Andy Rougeot

So my name is Andy Rougeot. I’m running for mayor of Denver because I love this city. It’s the city where I settled down after the Army. I came to Denver when came back from a deployment to Afghanistan with the rangers and I moved in with my now wife. It’s the city where I built a business. I grew a business from 12 employees to nearly 50; a blue-collar business fixing gates for self-storage units where I’d come home covered in sweat and grease and I couldn’t hug my wife until I had taken a shower. It’s the city where I’m raising a family. I’ve got two amazing little girls. And our mayor and our City Council and some of the politicians behind me are taking that opportunity away from the next generation. They’re taking the opportunity away by letting skyrocketing crime, skyrocketing homelessness and unaffordability of the housing in our city to crowd us out. As mayor, I will fight for our future by making sure we’re adding more police officers to our streets, by making sure we’re enforcing our camping ban and by making sure we’re building enough housing in our city. Join me at me Andyfordenver.com and learn on how I’m going to fight for our future. Thank you.

The candidates are scheduled to debate again on Thursday, Feb. 16, in an event co-hosted by 9News and Metro State University on the Auraria campus.

Updated Feb. 13, 2023, at 1:10 p.m. This story was updated to include links to the campaign websites for all candidates who have them. If a candidate did not mention their campaign’s web address in their closing statement, the link is attached to their name.