With the ball on their own 2-yard line, guard Keith Bishop told his teammates, “They don’t know it, but we have them right where we want them.”

In 5 minutes and 2 seconds, John Elway led the Broncos 98 yards in 15 plays to tie the game with 37 seconds left in regulation. Denver won the game in overtime making a 38-yard field goal.

A Manual High School senior named Michael Hancock was the Broncos mascot, Huddles, that year.

Thirty-three years later, Mayor Hancock engineered his own legendary drive.

RELATED: Jamie Giellis needed “unity ticket” allies’ voters to topple Mayor Michael Hancock. But he won most of their precincts

It was May 7, and the score wasn’t favorable for Hancock. Sixty percent of Denver voters cast their ballot for someone other than the incumbent. Three opponents forced him into an overtime runoff as he failed to garner the 50 percent needed to win in the primary. Citing growth, equity issues, inappropriate text messages to a subordinate and anti-incumbency sentiment, many forecasted the end of his political career.

Things looked even more daunting when his opponents formed a “team of rivals” to actively campaign against him in the runoff.

The day after that election, Michael was his typically steady self. He expressed that they could have done things differently and that he was ready for overtime.

He adjusted the game plan and charged ahead to re-engineer his own winning drive.

Indeed, the challenges of this campaign were nothing compared to the challenges he has faced in life.

Hancock rarely talks about his personal journey, but after the election Tuesday, he shared with me details of some of what has shaped his life, and given him the tools to lead and win at home in Denver.

Michael’s family hit rock bottom when his parents’ divorced. He was 6. He and his twin sister and mother found themselves homeless, living in a motel and later public housing. They endured times of extreme poverty and desperation. They went without electricity at times.

Later, Michael would discover his sister, Karen, in her car, murdered in a domestic violence incident. She died in front of him while he waited for the police arrived.

Then he lost his brother to AIDS in 1996.

When life gave him lemons, he made lemonade. Through these crises, Michael didn’t wallow, he didn’t recluse, he didn’t become bitter. Instead, he learned to embody empathy and resiliency; he leaned in. He helped open a domestic violence facility, the Rose Andum Center, which helps survivors access services including temporary housing, counseling and legal assistance to prosecute abusers.

Hancock is a deeply religious person with unwavering faith in God. I journeyed with him to Israel in 2013 and witnessed him being baptized in the Jordan river, and trace the steps of Jesus’s crucifixion and life.

A rough and tumble campaign wasn’t about to shake his foundation and core.

As overtime began, Hancock grew and positioned his team wisely. His lingering opponent, Jamie Giellis vacillated, exposing weakness and inexperience.

The candidates painted two very different pictures of Denver. Most Denver voters agreed with Hancock that Denver, while facing serious challenges like affordable housing, was headed in the right direction. With a booming economy and low unemployment, running a growing city was a much better option than trying to save a dying one. Denver wasn’t even on the list of America’s best cities when Hancock was first elected, but we are now No. 2 and have been No. 1 a couple of times during his tenure.

But perhaps Hancock’s greatest strength came from the reservoir of goodwill he created during his professional career where he celebrated diversity and inclusivity.

This reservoir of goodwill created an excited and motivated volunteer organization. He enjoyed a degree of connectivity that no other candidate could have matched. During the runoff, they knocked on over 50,000 doors, sent 200,000 text messages, and made 20,000 phone calls.

They left no stone unturned. At 6:57 p.m., his campaign manager, Jake Martin, and deputy chief of staff, Evan Dreyer, were still dropping off ballots and voters at vote centers.

Operationally, they took advantage of the enormous team they created by his civic engagement over the years. It¶¶Òőap hard to compete with that when you haven’t consistently voted or been actively engaged on that scale before.

The final score, like his two previous elections, wasn’t even close. Like Elway and the Broncos, Hancock had them right where he wanted them.

Doug Friednash is a Denver native, a partner with the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber and Schreck and was Denver’s city attorney under Mayor Michael Hancock.

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To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

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The year was 1995, when then-mayor Wellington Webb made a comeback victory against challenger Mary DeGroot.

In 2019, Mayor Michael Hancock is hoping that history will keep repeating itself. Tuesday is the conclusion of the runoff election between him and challenger Jamie Giellis.

A comparison of the two elections shows what’s changed — and what hasn’t — in the city of Denver.

“A lot of people are comparing it to ‘95, saying that was the last really ugly negative mayor’s race. There’s some obvious analogies,” said Eric Sondermann, a political consultant who worked with DeGroot in the 1995 election. But there are some crucial differences, he warned.

RELATED: Denver mayoral race: Jamie Giellis and Michael Hancock on the issues

DeGroot, a former councilwoman, beat Webb by about 100 votes in the first round, setting off a runoff sprint that shared several narrative beats with the 2019 runoff between Hancock and Giellis.

Like Giellis, DeGroot’s support was strongest in the affluent neighborhoods of south and east Denver. And, like Hancock, Webb’s supporters tried to portray the challenger as out-of-touch with black and Latino neighborhoods. (Much of the criticism focused on DeGroot’s stance against race-based affirmative action, a policy that Giellis does not share.)

Webb won the runoff by 8 percentage points, apparently benefiting from improved turnout in black and Latino neighborhoods. “We had to beat the bushes to make sure that people would then turn back out for the second election,” Webb said. He thinks that his supporters stayed home from the first vote because they expected an easy victory.

There’s a difference this year.

Webb believes that Hancock faces a fundamentally more difficult situation propelled by an anti-incumbent mood. Members of the former mayor’s close staff and supporters have worked for Giellis and other challengers this cycle, but Webb himself is a staunch Hancock supporter.

“I think this race is much nastier — much more animosity towards Hancock that is not based on issues,” he said.

Giellis has aligned a “unity ticket,” with the endorsements of two former rivals, Lisa CalderĂłn, who is black and Latina, and Penfield Tate, who is black. Together, they represented about 58 percent of the first-round vote.

“I think they have helped round Jamie out substantially,” said C.L. Harmer, a Hancock supporter who worked on the Webb ’95 campaign. Helped along by the endorsements, Giellis has won support from black and Latino voters who feel excluded or harmed by Hancock’s handling of gentrification and development.

Giellis also has criticized Hancock’s handling of race: At a Denver Post debate, she brought up Hancock’s alleged use of a meme in a 2012 text conversation with Detective Leslie Branch-Wise. The meme featured a picture of a dancing baby and a racial slur.

Giellis said it was Hancock said he didn’t use the word and didn’t remember sending the meme.

On the other side, a recent pro-Hancock ad features repeated clips of Giellis saying, “I come from a place of white privilege,” complete with sinister music and visual overlays, turning what was supposed to be a field-leveling acknowledgment into evidence of supposed ignorance. (It also rehashed her fumble on the full name of the “NAACP” and her “Chinatown” tweet from 2009.)

If CalderĂłn and Tate’s voters break heavily for Giellis, Hancock will need an influx of new voters to survive. As of Saturday, this year’s runoff election turnout is trending about 4 percent higher than the general election in May, but it’s not clear who will benefit.

DeGroot, who could not be reached for comment for this article, and Giellis have shared a few pages of the playbook, too. Both challengers alleged corruption and cronyism, and they harangued the administration for problematic mega-projects. Both incumbents responded by pointing out that their challengers hadn’t run large organizations.

Within weeks, the ’95 race turned so negative that Webb himself said at the time that he might choose “none of the above” if it were an option.

This year has introduced another major new factor. Hancock admitted last year to sending sexually themed text messages to Branch-Wise in 2012. And he dug himself deeper in the final debate, when he said that the audience hadn’t seen “the back-and-forth conversation that occurred.” He apologized the next day, saying that he misspoke.

While DeGroot downplayed gender, Giellis has alleged that city hall has a culture of sexual harassment, and she promised that her collaborative leadership style could do better.

Meanwhile, Hancock has spent more time on offense than Webb, according to Sondermann.

“Yes, there were attacks against DeGroot, there was racial politics played, but Webb basically defended his record,” he said. “With Hancock, I just don’t see much defense. I just see them going all in on the scorched earth.”

The vitriol of 2019 also is fueled by new factors, he noted: social media, independent expenditure and much more money. Independent groups funded by developers have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars against Giellis in recent weeks, although she’s also had some independent support.

In 1995, the two candidates spent $1.5 million (that would be $2.5 million in today’s dollars); this year, they were nearing $3.5 million in total fundraising as of May 30, and Hancock had a 4-to-1 advantage.

It’s been enough to leave voters disenchanted. Said Sondermann: “In ’95, there was no sense around the city that somehow neither one of them was up to it — that somehow the city’s in trouble no matter which one wins.”

Giellis raised about $211,000, enough to increase her fundraising total by about 40%.

Meanwhile, former candidate Lisa CalderĂłn received contributions after the May 7 general election — and after her endorsement of Giellis — from a prime Giellis supporter.

Her campaign collected about $15,000 after the election from LLCs associated with the Zeppelin family, who also were prominent funders of the Giellis campaign. The contributions came several days after CalderĂłn endorsed Giellis.

Former candidate Penfield Tate, who also endorsed Giellis, did not report receiving any Zeppelin money.

Hancock’s campaign jumped on the report, alleging it shows “pay-to-play politics.” Spokesperson April Valdez Villa wrote in an email: “Kyle Zeppelin put up a lot of money on behalf of Jamie Giellis to ‘earn’ Lisa Calderon’s support. That’s an expensive endorsement.”

Reached by phone, Calderón said she couldn’t comment on any particular donor, but said that her Giellis endorsement was “absolutely not” linked to any expectation or promise of financial contributions.

Hancock benefited in a similar way in his first run for mayor in 2011, when Carol Boigon dropped out of the mayor’s race and endorsed him. The next year, about $36,000 in late contributions, including some from Hancock supporters, most of which went to debts.

Valdez Villa discounted the comparison.

“A bunch of people donated to Carol Boigon almost a year after she dropped out of the race and endorsed Mayor Hancock. Just two days after announcing public support for Jamie, one person — the same person responsible for 25 percent of Jamie’s campaign money — funneled $15,000 to Lisa’s campaign. There are real questions about what positions these individuals would receive in a theoretical Giellis administration in return for their support, whereas Carol Boigon received no such appointment,” she wrote in an email.

CalderĂłn had significant differences with Giellis on the campaign trail but said at an endorsement event on May 14 that “our commonalities were much greater, including her commitment to building a diverse cabinet — and ensuring that the people who are most impacted by the policies of this city have a seat at the table.”

The Zeppelin contributions reportedly arrived on May 16; that day and May 17, Calderón’s campaign paid about $16,000 to staff members and a marketing agency.

“There is absolutely no exchange, no agreement, just the desire to help a person who put herself out there and who frankly should not be stuck with campaign debt, and whose staffers should be paid because they put their blood, sweat and tears,” said Andra Zeppelin, adding that the Zeppelins met with Calderón before the campaign and considered supporting her. The family also financially supported early challenger Kayvan Khalatbari.

Hancock also has strong support from LLCs. Normally, individuals can only give $3,000 to a candidate, but they can circumvent that limit by giving through corporate organizations they control.

The incumbent has collected about $715,000 in the last year from LLCs and other organizations, and about 190 gave the maximum $3,000 donation. In some cases, multiple organizations were linked to the same address, a Denver Post analysis found.ÌęFor example, $21,500 came to Hancock from LLCs that all gave the address of McWhinney, a local development company.

Meanwhile, Hancock has recently benefited from outside spending by developer supporters.

The independent group Rise Up Denver has reported spending more than $200,000 on an anti-Giellis campaign in the last week. Its reported supporters include Oakwood Homes CEO Patrick Hamill; Westside Property Investment; Revesco U.S.A, a major company behind the River Mile project; L.C. Fulenwider, a developer whose portfolio includes the Panasonic campus; and others.

On the other side, the group “Red White Blue Denver,” reported spending $40,000 on campaign mail, apparently including the latest in a series of cartoon mailers attacking Hancock.

Hancock’s late fundraising surge also included a “who’s who” of Denver’s elite, including $1,000 from Robin Hickenlooper; $1,500 from Jill Anschutz; $1,000 from Ken Salazar; and thousands from city government executives.

In all, about $262,000 of Hancock’s fundraising in May came from businesses and other organizations, according to a Denver Post analysis.

For Giellis, it was about $58,000, including the Amalgamated Transit Union and the Apartment Association of Metro Denver, along with developer supporters of her own.

Hancock’s average contribution in May was about $792. Giellis’ was about $394.

In a written statement, Calderón said she was grateful for her supporters, and said that campaign finance reform would help “future grassroot candidates” overcome their fundraising disadvantage.

Mayor Michael Hancock and challenger Jamie Giellis have broad similarities in their visions for Denver, including their focuses on affordable housing and transit, but their platforms promise different approaches to the city’s biggest issues.

Based on reviews of their platforms and public comments, here is where the candidates offer some of their sharpest contrasts as Election Day approaches Tuesday.

Affordable housing

Hancock: Since 2016, the city under Hancock has created and expanded a fund that is expected to send $30 million a year to affordable housing projects, with funding sources including marijuana, property taxes and developer fees. This year, Hancock announced a a Department of Housing and Homelessness, moving the city’s housing efforts out of the Office of Economic Development. The city also has offered new assistance with housing costs and tax bills.

Giellis: The challenger says the city and partners need to spend $1 billion over a decade in “attainable” housing, potentially through incentives such as those the city has created at 38th and Blake. She hasn’t called for new fees or other particular sources. Like Hancock, she wants to create a new housing department. She also has called for the city to waive permit fees and expedite certain affordable projects; buy back affordable units from private owners; and offer down payment help for middle-income workers.

Homelessness and the camping ban

Hancock: His administration was dinged by the city auditor this year for a “fragmented and understaffed” homelessness services program. The administration responded that the new housing department would create a strategic plan. “The auditor was correct: We were federated, we had it (spread) across all the city,” Hancock said during a Denver Post-sponsored debate last week.

City officials also recently announced a reform effort to create more accessible 24-hour shelters, and Denver in 2016 agreed to invest several million dollars in a housing program for heavy service users. Meanwhile, Hancock has kept supporting the urban camping ban, saying that the city needs to be able to clear out homeless encampments.

Giellis: She has criticized sweeps of homeless camps as “inhumane,” and said at a forum that she would “commit to repealing” the camping ban. But she has said more recently that she could only do that with council support alongside other solutions to homelessness.

The challenger has called for more mental health and outreach workers, more trash receptacles, more storage lockers and temporary bathrooms. (The city deployed two bathroom trailers recently as part of a test program for future restrooms.)

Giellis also wants to see 100 tiny homes built; Hancock’s administration recently opened a city-owned site for up to 20 after much debate. Like Hancock, she has promised more accessible and helpful shelters.

“We have a long way to go on providing shelter to everybody who needs it,” she said.

Planning and development

Giellis: She says Denver is suffering from “runaway” development and “scattershot density.” She wants to rewrite the zoning code, saying the 2010 version has encouraged developers to build all the way to the sidewalk. She has floated the idea of strictly limiting rezonings. She also wants the city to decentralize its planning department, creating offices across the city, and to implement new design requirements across the city.

Hancock: At the Denver Post-sponsored debate, Hancock acknowledged architectural criticisms and said neighborhoods want buildings that are more aligned with their history. But his administration also has overseen new density ideas, including using $500,000 in city money to help homeowners build accessory dwelling units. The Denveright plans also suggest that the city move to allow more duplexes and quad-plexes in certain parts of single-family neighborhoods.

Hancock in 2018 created an office to address gentrification. Giellis’ platform doesn’t directly address gentrification or displacement but does call for affordable housing and greater civic engagement in all neighborhoods. At a 9News-sponsored debate, she noted that a city can cause gentrification through its policies — to which Hancock disagreed.

City policies on harassment

Hancock: The mayor’s scandal over suggestive text messages to a security detail officer have made this an election issue. In the fallout, Hancock’s office last August adopted a new policy on harassment, discrimination and retaliation by the mayor and appointees. It specifies that city employees can report behavior to certain city officials or to the Office of Human Resources, and complaints against the mayor would trigger the hiring of an outside investigator. But when asked in a debate about how to report harassment anonymously, Hancock cited the city’s fraud hotline for reporting malfeasance.

Giellis: She criticized the fraud hotline answer and said the city should have a separate system for anonymous reporting, with “true independent followup.” She also has outlined several policies she would pursue, including making details of sexual harassment claims transparent to the public and improving the code of conduct for the Department of Safety and mayoral appointees. She also would ask the City Council to require officials and employees whose conduct results in legal payouts to reimburse the city.

Transportation

Hancock: The mayor has overseen the creation of new transportation and transit plans, and he has moved to reorganize the public works department and rename it the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, subject to voter approval. Ultimately the city could spend serious money to supplement the Regional Transportation District¶¶Òőap transit services in Denver, as part of Hancock’s $2 billion mobility action plan over 12 years. Much of that remains unfunded, but Hancock is carving more money out of the annual budget and directed that nearly half the voter-approved $937 million Elevate Denver bond program go to transportation and street-focused projects. Hancock favors bus rapid-transit lines as a less expensive option along some major corridors, starting with Colfax Avenue, but the city’s unfunded transit plans include streetcars as an option.

Giellis: She also favors the city taking a greater role in transit services, including by creating a department of transportation. She has talked about a potential revival of Denver’s old streetcar network, but that is a costly proposition, and Giellis has not detailed a plan to pay for it. During a Denver Post-sponsored debate in April, she cited parking revenue, special taxing districts along new lines, vehicle registration fees or fees on Uber and Lyft rides as potential funding options.

Street safety

Hancock: In 2017, Hancock launched the city’s “Vision Zero” plan to eliminate traffic-related deaths and serious injuries by 2030, including for pedestrians and cyclists. But and the city has fallen short of some goals — for example, building about 6 miles of sidewalk in 2018 instead of a hoped-for 14 miles.

Hancock recounted several intersection redesigns and other improvements during the debate sponsored by The Denver Post but said “the city can’t stop accidents when people are using devices behind the wheel.”

Giellis: She supports Vision Zero but criticizes Hancock for not meeting annual goals for sidewalk construction and new bike lanes, resulting in a disjointed cycling network. She argued at a recent debate that the city could tackle more crosswalks, improved lighting and other “easy wins” to improve pedestrian safety in the near term while officials figure out more costly long-term plans.

Garbage, parks and the environment

Hancock: Only 22 percent of Denver’s waste is recycled or composted. To change that, Hancock will pursue a “pay-as-you-throw” fee for trash pickup, which is currently covered by the city’s tax revenue.

He also has announced goals of reducing the city’s carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050 and powering Denver’s electrical grid entirely with renewable energy by 2030. In the most recent Denver Post-sponsored debate, Hancock called those goals aspirational and said they were important to have even if they take longer than hoped to achieve.

He supported the recent voter-passed parks sales tax, and his administration is working on plans to use it to expand and improve park space.

Giellis: She also has voiced support for the trash fee idea, but only with a vote of the people. She wants to eliminate the compost pickup fee.

She has said she would “restore the intent” of the voter-approved Green Roof Initiative, which the City Council replaced with a “cool roofs” requirement that is less costly to builders. Giellis also favors requiring that public street projects incorporate natural water filtration features, including bioswales, and restarting a municipal tree-planting program to add to the city’s tree canopy. She also wants a fracking moratorium for Denver.

Criminal justice

Giellis: Her platform calls out potential reforms to the city’s criminal justice system, including a review of the cash bail system and the elimination of jail as a threat for lower-level offenses. She also wants to reinstitute the city’s Homeless Court; the city still operates a similar program called Outreach Court. And she has called for a more “grassroots” approach to policing.

Hancock: At the recent Denver Post-sponsored debate, Hancock said domestic violence is a top focus for the police department because of its role in the city’s rising homicide count. He also has praised his new safety chief, Troy Riggs, for an effort to examine social indicators that may be linked to crime.

While everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, it is a sad day when people will advance a political agenda and try to drag a hard-working collective of organizations down with it. Some of us had heard about Jamie’s work with Colorado’s certified art districts across the city and state before we met her. She had a mystique and a kind of hero status in the art community — working with fledgling groups and art districts to organize themselves, increase their budgets, and put together marketing strategies.

She was known for giving artists knowledge and access to the tools that others in the business community already had. Those who weren’t lucky enough to work with her developed a kind of “art district envy.” Her good reputation preceded her and did not disappoint when we finally met her.

The plan for River North was groundbreaking and like nothing we’d heard before. It was a collective effort by the River North Art District, under Jamie’s guidance, to join with neighboring businesses and residents to form a Business Improvement District and a General Improvement District, as well as create a registered neighborhood organization.

Essentially, Jamie listened to her constituents and guided several disparate groups to pull in the same direction. One of her greatest superpowers: listening.

Throughout the past five years, we have seen her work incredibly hard. She has virtually done the work of two people — juggling three Boards, leading RiNo’s involvement in large-scale civic projects (including Brighton Boulevard, the RTD Blake Street Commuter Rail Station, pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, redevelopment of buildings in the new RiNo Park, among others) and managing a growing staff and office.

Jamie has a knack for breaking a large issue down into components, bringing the right people to the table, and engaging those people and the community to create solutions and move the ball forward. When the door closes on a project, Jamie finds the key to reopen it and keep it going.

Jamie’s work in RiNo was exemplary, and it is important that the people of Denver know we were lucky to have her for the past five years.

Chandler Romeo owns the Blue Silo Studios artist space in River North with her husband. She has served on the Denver Commission on Cultural Affairs, the Denver International Airport Public Art Committee and the Mayor’s Task Force on Creative Spaces. Jonathan Kaplan owns Plinth Gallery in RiNo where he has lived and worked for 13 years.

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

We are writing this piece because we have seen firsthand how Giellis’ irresponsible decision making has led to financial shortfalls in RiNo and believe that Denver voters need to be aware of her record as they consider whether or not to put her in charge of our city and its $1.46 billion budget.

For instance, Giellis recently said that the decision to move the River North Art District’s office space to Zeppelin Station and increase monthly rent by $7,400 was the board’s decision and not her own, despite her bringing the idea and strongly advocating for it to the board.

Unfortunately, butÌęunsurprisingly, the small art store that she assured the board would offset theÌęrent increase with the move to Zeppelin Station has not been able toÌęmeet theÌęfinancial projections Giellis presented. Additionally, as has often been theÌęcase, she changed her projections several times, demonstrating a lack ofÌębusiness acumen.

Simply put, Giellis refuses to take responsibility for her idea to raise the rent by 925%, a common theme when her ideas do not work out, which is often. We need a mayor who will acknowledge a mistake and take responsibility for it rather than pointing blame at others — or, better yet, a mayor who makes strong and correct decisions and has the skill and experience to run our city efficiently.

The rent example, along with the expensive expansion of Crush Walls, a street mural festival, and the escalating cost of the lighting project for the 38th Street underpass, are all examples of unsustainable spending that will cripple RiNo and would cripple our entire city if such practices were to be executed on a larger scale. Denver voters need to know that when Jamie Giellis left to run for mayor at the end of 2018, she also left taxpayers in RiNo’s special districts — the Business Improvement District and the General Improvement District — on the hook for about $150,000 that was paid to the separate RiNo Arts District.

The truth is, Jamie Giellis led the arts district to a financial shortfall and we have no doubt she would do the same to Denver were she to be elected mayor ÌęA mayor needs to work within a budget and pursue sound spending practices to keep our city in a healthy balance, but in our experience, Giellis has viewed a budget as a suggestion instead of a necessity.

While Giellis has been running her campaign based on her supposed success in RiNo, many of the business owners in RiNo that fund these organizations with tax dollars do not see her as part of any success. She now campaigns on a platform blaming our current mayor for anything negative that happens in our city, but does not seem to believe she needs to live up to the same standard of leadership she sets for others.

Denver will face challenges, successes and failures over the next four years. In our experience, when facing the challenges, Jamie Giellis will take credit for the successes and place the blame for failure on others. We do not believe this is the type of leadership Denver needs.

Tai Beldock owns Erico Motorsports and is a former member of the River North Business Improvement District board. Jason Winkler developed Industry and Industry RiNo Station and he served on the General Improvement District board. Both are supporters of Mayor Michael Hancock.

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Can’t see?

The Denver Post is hosting a debate Tuesday between the two finalists for Denver mayor: incumbent Michael Hancock and challenger Jamie Giellis.

The debate will take place at 7 p.m. — exactly a week before polls close in the city — and be livestreamed at denverpost.com.

City hall reporter Andrew Kenney will moderate. Have a question for the candidates? Email him at akenney@denverpost.com.

The race for mayor was forced to a runoff when none of the six candidates received more than 50 percent of the vote. Hancock, who is seeking a third and final term leading Denver, received 39 percent, and Giellis, who formerly led the River North Art District, came in second at 25 percent.

No candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote for mayor, clerk and five council seats, so the top two vote-getters in each race are competing again in the June 4 election.

One issue also appears on ballots, which began going out Monday.

Here’s what voters must decide:

Mayor

Incumbent Michael Hancock, who received almost 39 percent of the vote in the six-way May election, is facing a challenge from Jamie Giellis, who received almost 25 percent. Two former mayoral candidates, Lisa CalderĂłn and Penfield Tate, have backed Giellis despite missteps from her campaign on race issues.

Recent stories:

• • Mayor Hancock leans on “Denver’s progress” even as he faces big challenges in runoff against Jamie Giellis
  • Denver elections: Jamie Giellis has a chance to make history, but history shows that won’t be easy
  • All coverage of the Denver mayor election

Profiles:

• The reckoning of Denver’s boomtown mayor: Can Michael Hancock survive success?
• Jamie Giellis: Denver transplant and former RiNo leader tries to strike a balance on development
• Candidate Q&A

Clerk and recorder

Term-limited Councilman Paul LĂłpez, who received 37 percent of the vote in the first round, is facing Peg Perl, a public policy attorney who received 33 percent.

• Denver voters approved big campaign finance reforms — now they’ll elect a clerk and recorder to carry them out
• Candidate Q&A

Proposition 302

This measure would require Denver officials to ask voters before using city money or resources to coordinate an Olympics bid. The measure was prompted by an effort to host the 2030 Games, but the U.S. bid went to Salt Lake City instead.

• Control over future Denver Olympics bids to be decided in runoff election

City Council District 1

Amanda Sandoval, former aide to Councilman Rafael Espinoza, who didn’t run for re-election, led a field of seven candidates with 31 percent of the vote. She faces Denver Fire Department Lieutenant Mike Somma, who received 17 percent.

• Denver City Council race: Look to Northwest Denver to see the future of city politics
• Candidate Q&A

City Council District 3

Jamie Torres, an immigrants right activist, and Veronica Barela, a retired community development leader, made the runoff — Torres with 40 percent of the vote and Barela with 36 percent.

• Candidate Q&A

City Council District 5

Challenger Amanda Sawyer led incumbent Mary Beth Susman in the May election, with almost 41 percent of the vote vs. 36 percent for the councilwoman.

• Denver City Council race: East Denver voters must decide how much development is too much
• Candidate Q&A

City Council District 9

Councilman Albus Brooks led with almost 45 percent of the vote in the first round and now faces challenger Candi CdeBaca, who received 43 percent.

• Denver City Council race: District 9 candidates debate density solutions amid hyper-development
• Candidate Q&A

City Council District 10

Councilman Wayne New, who received 39 percent of the vote, is now going head-to-head with Chris Hinds, who received 30 percent.

• Candidate Q&A

led with an accusation that “like Trump, (Giellis) called undocumented immigrants criminals.” The ad began playing Saturday and ballots went in the mail Monday.

In a response, Giellis put out a statement saying that she would not “deceive and divide,” and that the incumbent was “exploiting racial divisions in his desperate attempt to hold onto power when 60% of voters want him out of office.” And she implied that Hancock “sexually harasses women,” a reference to his text-messaging scandal from 2012.

The TV ad referenced a local Republican forum in which Giellis said: “Yes, we won’t tolerate crime or criminal activities, we will comply with authorities, we will comply with (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) in that regard, but immigrants and people coming into our community do provide rich opportunity and diversity that we see other cities really working with.”

Giellis referred several times during the forum to “illegal actions,” but did not say that undocumented immigrants as a group are criminals. Asked about the ad’s claim, a Hancock spokesperson said it was all about delivery.

“Whether they’re saying that they’re all criminals or talking about how criminal activity relates to immigration, that’s six of one, half-dozen of another,” said April Valdez Villa. “… To immigrant communities, those phrases sound very, very much like Donald Trump’s phrases.”

The Hancock campaign specifically to Giellis’ promise to at least partially “comply with ICE” as a potential threat to immigrants.

But the Giellis campaign that the candidate would only continue the city’s current approach to ICE. Under a 2017 law, Denver complies with federal law by allowing immigration agents who have warrants to access inmates in the city’s jails. Hancock himself said at the forum that Denver is “in full compliance with 1373,”.

Valdez Villa said that Giellis’ failing was in saying that she would comply with ICE as an agency, rather than simply complying with the law.

In her response, Giellis said her campaign would take the high road.

“Rather than investing in attack ads, the focus of my campaign is undoing the damage of the past eight years to rein in the high cost of housing that has displaced communities of color at historic levels,” she wrote. ” … Denver is ready for change.Ìę I am leading a broad and diverse coalition to unify the people of this city so that we can meet our challenges and improve our quality of life.”

The Hancock campaign hasn’t yet reported how much money it spent on the ad. The last notable negative advertising in the mayor’s race happened in 2011, when Chris Romer rolled out a campaign critical of then-candidate Michael Hancock.