Denver 2023 Municipal Election Endorsements

Ballots in Denver's 2023 municipal elections will hit mailboxes in a few days.

Each Denver voter has nine votes to cast in five candidate contests (one or two of which are uncontested depending upon your city council district) and three local ballot issues in this spring's Denver Municipal election. 

All of the races are non-partisan, so there is no party preference cue. The winners serve four year terms. Many of the races have no incumbent due to term limits.

The race for city council at large will be concluded in the first round with the candidate receiving the most votes winning. 

In the races for Mayor, Auditor, Clerk & Recorder, and in City Council District races, a candidate who fails to receive a majority of the votes cast (which could theoretically happen even in uncontested races if there are two strong write in candidates), the race goes to a runoff election of the top two candidates in the first round.

There are 58 candidates in all running for city offices in Denver this year including candidates in uncontested races. There are 17 candidates for mayor, 2 for auditor, and 9 for city council at large, but the race for clerk and recorder is uncontested. There are 11 city council district races, 8 of which are contested and 3 of which are uncontested. There are 26 city council candidates running for the 8 contested city council district seats (including 5 candidates in my city council district number 7). 

There are so many candidates in addition to the three ballot issues that I don't have time to spell out in detail the pros and cons of each candidate in a timely manner. So, instead, here are my Denver Municipal election endorsements with brief comments on why I like my choices:

Mayor: Leslie Herod

Herod is a seasoned politician who has represented Denver well in the state legislature, who is familiar with Denver, and is one of only three Mayor candidates to consistently vote in almost all recent elections. Her positions on the issues (e.g. housing and homelessness) are solid. 

Denver Mayor (a position whose incumbent serves more people than the entire state of Wyoming or the District of Columbia) is not a job for a novice.

Auditor: Erik J. Clarke

Clarke is running against incumbent Timothy M. O'Brien. While O'Brien has done an adequate enough job, he has not been sufficiently pro-active to address looming problems that came to pass in management of Denver's supervisory role in DIA, in its waste management system, and in identifying corruption issues in the police department and in the Hancock administration that were ultimately flagged by Hancock's political opponents instead. Clarke would provide a fresh, more pro-active individual, in this trouble shooting role with no strong political ties to established interests.

Clerk & Recorder (unopposed): Paul D. Lopez

Lopez has done an better than adequate job and there is no reason to run a write in campaign against him.

City Council At Large (vote for two): Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez and Penfield Tate

Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez appears to be just right on all of the issues. Penfield Tate (whose mayoral ambitions I have previously supported) is a level headed elder statesman of Denver local politics with the patience and depth of knowledge demonstrated by his long service on the Denver Water Board to handle the often highly technical or history laden issues that Denver city government faces.

City Council District 7: Adam Estroff

Estroff's YIMBY political philosophy is what Denver's land use and affordable housing problems need right now.

Ballot Issue 2M (Housekeeping charter amendment re zoning case procedure to move to ordinance): Yes.

This is a vanilla house keeping measure that fixes charter provisions that are broken in light of new developments, that also removes minutia that doesn't belong in the city charter from that document so it is more easily kept up to date without voter input going forward.

Ballot Issue 2N (Standing to protest zoning limited to property owners ans other housekeeping changes regarding the city council's role in the zoning process): Yes

This clarifying measure will prevent future litigation over ambiguities in the city charter in the manner that they are likely to be resolved anyway.

Ballot Issue 2O (Disregard Park Hill Golf Course conservation easement, contrary to voter action in previous municipal election, to allow for a planned mix use development of part of the former golf course): No. 

All other things being equal, I would favor a mixed use development of the former Park Hill golf course. But this land is subject to a conservation easement that the city thinks it can and should ignore because it has an arguable technical drafting glitch. Two ballot issues addressing the Park Hill conservation easement (proposing essentially opposite resolutions of the issues) were put to voters in the last municipal election and voters soundly supported honoring the conservation easement for the former golf course and against mixed use development for the property. In this context, I can't support ballot issue 2O.