Eighty percent of Denver voters this week endorsed Mayor Michael Hancock for a second term, but observers say down-ballot election results signal an unmistakable appetite for new approaches.
The result: stinging defeats for two incumbent City Council members. Susan Shepherd — the first incumbent to lose a re-election bid since 1987 — was by architect Rafael Espinoza in northwest Denver’s District 1, where anti-development sentiment prevailed.
And Chris Nevitt, who raised nearly $300,000 to run for city auditor with backing from Hancock and popular outgoing Auditor Dennis Gallagher, . In recent weeks, O’Brien had dipped into his own pocket to send mailers.
“When offered a viable alternative, voters were ready to vote against the established politicians,” said Eric Sondermann, a Denver political analyst. “In most cases, they weren’t offered that opportunity.”
It was a low-turnout affair, with just 28.3 percent of active voters casting ballots. Fewer ballots — 99,466 — were cast than in all but two municipal general elections in the past three decades, despite a growing population.
But passion motivated many who did return ballots, even if .
A late write-in campaign for neighborhood activist and Hancock critic Larry Ambrose, mostly by word of mouth, attracted support from 2,199 voters, or 2.4 percent, who took pains to print his name. Mayoral write-ins typically attract only a few hundred votes combined.
In some open council races — six lacked an incumbent — voices advocating for change on development decisions or other issues won or made it to one of four June 2 runoffs.
Southeast District 6’s “voters seemed to be frustrated with the ongoing discussions about specific developments and were looking for more of a vision for what kind of a city they want Denver to be,” Councilman-elect Paul Kashmann said.
He with a message advocating “a reasoned approach” to development. In District 1, Espinoza said he’d support development “that respects the neighborhoods’ concerns.”
Gallagher . “I haven’t seen such a bad campaign since Mark Udall,” Gallagher said, referring to the Democratic U.S. senator who was unseated by Republican Cory Gardner last fall.
But he also tied Nevitt’s defeat in part to some fed-up voters’ search for fresh city leaders.
Nevitt, 53, was on a previously planned vacation in Mexico on Wednesday. His campaign treasurer, Maria Garcia Berry, said the two-term councilman perhaps tied himself too strongly to the city’s established political leadership and the sense that the city is headed in the right direction, when a desire for change drove debate in some council races.
“That was a miscalculation,” she said.
Nevitt, rumored to have his eye on running for mayor one day, vanished from Hancock’s victory party Tuesday night after the first batch of results showed O’Brien with an insurmountable lead.
Meanwhile, O’Brien, 65, watched results at home with his family.
He had ant and played up his auditing experience in state government. He promised to start deep-dive financial audits to complement the Denver office’s performance auditing duties.
O’Brien is the first accountant elected Denver auditor since the 1980s, when Mike Licht served a single term.
“I think the voters generally get it right,” O’Brien said Wednesday. “I think we ran a good campaign. We had a message that we stuck to, and it was clear. We just executed a plan, and it turned out right.”
Staff writer Lynn Bartels contributed to this story.
Jon Murray: 303-954-1405, jmurray@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JonMurray
Runoffs in four council races
Voters in four Denver City Council districts can cast ballots in runoff elections on June 2, between:
• John Kidd and Kevin Flynn .
• Jolon Clark and Aaron Greco in south District 7. (Greco in final unofficial results.)
• Wayne New and Anna Jones .
• Stacie Gilmore and Sean Bradley .
