Losing mayoral candidate Chris Romer spent $1 million more than Michael Hancock spent to win the seat, according to final campaign-finance reports.
Romer also loaned his campaign nearly $700,000 in the most expensive mayor’s race in Denver history.
Hancock, who will be sworn in July 18, raised $1.7 million and spent about $1.6 million over the course of his campaign, which began in November, according to reports submitted to the Denver Elections Division on Thursday.
In the final weeks of the campaign, Hancock outraised Romer 2-to-1 — $184,834 to Romer’s $91,973.
Hancock, a Denver city councilman, finished with about $73,000 in the bank.
In the June 7 runoff, Hancock trounced Romer, a former state senator, getting 71,265 votes to Romer’s 51,318.
When comparing votes per dollar spent — Romer spent about $52 per vote compared with Hancock’s $22.50.
Overall, six candidates spent nearly $6 million total in the 2011 race, eclipsing the previous record set in 2003, when candidates spent $5 million. That year, restaurateur John Hickenlooper won the runoff election against city Auditor Don Mares. The two spent a combined $3.1 million.
“You can’t ignore the fact that postage, printing and ad-time costs are all going up,” said Katy Atkinson, a political consultant. “It is not surprising that there would be more spending in 2011 compared to 2003.”
In the final weeks of the campaign, Hancock received the maximum $3,000 in contributions from Denver construction-business owner Linda Alvarado, United Airlines and American DataBank executive Toshi Akiyama.
Romer’s final contributions included maximum donations from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; and various limited-liability companies.
Romer loaned his campaign a total of $682,300 — arguably the most expensive campaign loan in city history. Earlier, candidate Carol Boigon had loaned her campaign $220,000.
Hancock didn’t loan his campaign any money other than transferring $48,296 to his mayoral account from his City Council campaign fund in late 2010.
“Loans are a fact of life in campaigns today,” Atkinson said. “Some candidates have the ability to loan money, and some don’t. But this campaign shows that it doesn’t mean you will win.”
Romer also was assisted by two independent political-action committees that spent at least $321,000 producing controversial mailings and calling voters to sway their decisions.
Only one of the committees, Denver Jobs Alliance, submitted its runoff report by Thursday’s 5 p.m. deadline. It showed two contributions of $2,500 from companies owned by Troy Lowrie, who runs several strip clubs around Denver.
Lowrie also was one of Romer’s biggest direct contributors, giving the campaign at least $45,000 through his various companies.
Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com
