In early returns Tuesday night, Sarah McCarthy and Debra Johnson appeared headed for a runoff election to determine Denver’s next clerk and recorder.
McCarthy, who has held various administrative positions in both the public and private sectors, led former Aurora City Clerk Johnson 32.33 percent to 29.06 percent.
If results posted at 11:30 p.m. hold, the campaign-long favorite will not make the runoff. Attorney and former manager of the Children’s Museum in Denver Tom Downey racked up a list of endorsements that included Secretary of State Scott Gessler and former Denver Mayors Wellington Webb and Federico Peña, but was running a close third at 28.22 percent Tuesday night.
Former Denver Deputy City Clerk Jacob Werther was running last in the four-candidate field at just under 10 percent.
“I’m very excited about it,” McCarthy said of the early results. She credited strong grassroots support for her strong showing in the early returns.
McCarthy said the lack of an incumbent made the race wide open, so she wasn’t fazed by Downey’s front-runner status.
Johnson said she was “ecstatic,” and that the race played out according to her expectations.
“I expected to be 2nd all along,” she said.
Downey said he thought his placement at the bottom of the ballot affected his showing, and pointed out that some municipalities rotate order placement on their ballots. Still, Downey was optimistic his numbers would improve in the final tally, based on late votes from districts 8 and 11, where he said he expected to do well.
“Those are good for us,” he said. “There’s still a lot of votes to be counted.”
The top two vote-getters will move forward into a one-month “overtime,” and McCarthy said her campaign was planning to analyze the votes to determine a strategy going forward.
“We’ll look at who voted, and where,” McCarthy said.
Johnson said she was ready for a runoff.
“Sarah’s a very competent woman,” she said, “and I think I am, too.”
