From backing a serious bond package deal to embracing a flavored tobacco ban, Denver voters made a collection of definitive statements about their priorities and assessments of native management Tuesday night time.
They threw assist behind Mayor Mike Johnston’s “Vibrant Denver” plan. They supported a slate of union-backed college board candidates. They joined a lot of the remainder of the state in directing tens of tens of millions of {dollars} extra per 12 months towards free college lunches, and so they overwhelmingly stood behind a Metropolis Council-approved ordinance to ban the sale of flavored tobacco.
Colorado election outcomes
Oh, and so they agreed to rename town’s Division of Excise and Licenses.
The 2025 off-year election featured decrease turnout, with the 1.65 million returned ballots reported by the state as of midday Wednesday amounting to 36% of registered voters, although that was nonetheless inching up. And it was principally an area affair, with the state’s capital metropolis dominating headlines — whereas different native races and measures promised to make their very own influence.
Listed below are 5 takeaways from Tuesday night time’s election ends in metro Denver.
Bond win provides Johnston affirmation at key time
A 12 months in the past, Denver voters narrowly rejected their new mayor’s proposal to considerably develop metropolis funding for reasonably priced housing. However on Tuesday night time, Johnston appeared to have efficiently wiped the style of that defeat from town’s mouth.
Voters overwhelmingly permitted the Johnston-backed, five-pronged “Vibrant Denver” bond package deal. All 5 poll measures have been comfortably forward after polls closed at 7 p.m., and as of Wednesday morning, all have been above 60% assist.
Denver election outcomes
After latest monetary struggles and municipal layoffs, Johnston took the win as a stamp of approval for his agenda and his administration. It comes at a pivotal time: Not solely does it observe on the heels of final 12 months’s stumble, it arrives at simply previous the halfway level of his time period — the primary of what the mayor hopes shall be a multi-term tenure.
“Our perception has at all times been folks need us to maneuver with the urgency town deserves, and that is what we have finished,” he stated in an interview from the marketing campaign’s watch social gathering in Capitol Hill.
The $950 million bond package deal can pay for roughly 60 capital initiatives in Denver over the following six years.
Sure to slaughterhouses, no to vape outlets?
The bond package deal wasn’t the one assertion from Denver voters Tuesday. Referendum 310, which requested whether or not to retain the council’s flavored tobacco ban, moonwalked to victory: As of 10 p.m., it had an eye-popping almost 45-point cushion over the repeal-the-ban marketing campaign, a margin that shrank solely barely, to 41 proportion factors, by late Wednesday afternoon.
The professional-ban faction was helped alongside by $5 million from billionaire Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg was the single-largest donor for a Denver municipal race in historical past, a metropolis spokesperson advised Denverite.
However so snug was the margin of victory that it is unclear if Bloomberg’s largesse was even vital.
The referendum’s opponents had warned that the ban would hurt domestically owned small companies. That is much like an argument in opposition to a poll measure from final 12 months, which sought to ban slaughterhouses within the metropolis. Voters sided with enterprise final 12 months. Not a lot this time round.
There are, in fact, key variations: The slaughterhouse ban would’ve basically utilized to the one such facility working within the metropolis, the defenders of which put staff entrance and heart of their marketing campaign.
Outlets that promote tobacco merchandise, even of the vaporous form, appeared much less capable of marshal native assist. Which will come right down to the overall unpopularity of the product. Nationwide Gallup polling from final 12 months confirmed that 91% of respondents thought vaping merchandise have been very or considerably dangerous.
DPS’s union-backed candidates regain floor
In 4 Denver Public Faculties board races, the lecturers union-backed candidates comfortably led challengers, a few of whom have been backed by college reform-minded teams. Just one race was shut Tuesday night time, however the union-backed candidate, DJ Torres, noticed his lead develop to 9 proportion factors by late Wednesday afternoon.
The seemingly wins can be a reinvigoration for the Denver Classroom Lecturers Affiliation, which misplaced floor two years in opposition to candidates backed by a constitution school-aligned group.
“Our candidates ran genuine campaigns, remained dedicated to their values, and it’s encouraging to see that their genuine selves are resonating with voters,” Rob Gould, the union’s president, stated after early outcomes have been launched Tuesday.
It is also a loss for these reformers, who had hoped to construct upon their 2024 beneficial properties and totally flip the board. Johnston had additionally weighed in on their facet and endorsed their slates of candidates. As an alternative, they discover themselves farther again.
The victory for the union-backed faction comes at a pivotal time for the college district. Falling enrollment and monetary struggles stay challenges for the brand new board to sort out.
Denver’s at-large council elections set for change
In one other sturdy assertion, Denver voters appeared set to alter how they elect their two at-large Metropolis Council members. Referred Query 2G, which is able to required the winners of these seats to be elected in separates elections, is steaming towards victory, with greater than 54% of voters behind it.
Voters’ assist for 2G, which was backed partially by a dark-money group, might change the dynamics of the at-large elections within the 2027 cycle. At present, the at-large seats are crammed in a single race, with the highest two vote-getters incomes the seats as voters every forged as much as two votes.
Supporters of the proposal argued that the at-large members needs to be elected identical to the remainder of the council’s members, who characterize geographic districts. However opponents argued it could require candidates to decide on one at-large seat or one other, permitting for gamesmanship.
Others puzzled if the proposal was an effort to unseat the 2 council members who now occupy these seats — and who’re among the many most progressive members of town’s governing board.
Aurora progressives discover new life
To the east, Aurora voters embraced progressive Metropolis Council candidates whereas seemingly directing two conservative incumbents towards the exit.
That might embody Danielle Jurinsky, a outstanding conservative who spoke at a Donald Trump rally final 12 months and was a outstanding voice within the Venezuelan gang controversy final 12 months. As of late Wednesday afternoon, Jurinsky was nonetheless in third place within the metropolis’s at-large race, from which two candidates will be a part of the council. The 2 candidates main in that contest, Rob Andrews and Alli Jackson, are decidedly to Jurinsky’s left.
Colorado election outcomes by county
One other conservative incumbent, Steve Sundberg, was additionally trailing to progressive opponent Amy Wiles by almost 8 factors.
Ought to the outcomes maintain, the progressive beneficial properties would reverse Aurora council losses for that faction lately and provides left-leaning members a slight majority on the council.
Town has discovered itself repeatedly within the nationwide highlight of late: Allegations of a gang takeover in elements of town grew to become a nationwide political speaking level — and native debacle — final 12 months, and town was subsequently the positioning of among the earliest immigration raids of President Trump’s return to workplace this 12 months.
Elsewhere on the municipal entrance, Littleton’s quest to blunt denser multifamily housing developments appeared destined for victory. Town joins a rising checklist of municipalities the place pro-density housing reforms embraced by native leaders have been then rejected by residents.
Workers author Elliott Wenzler contributed to this story.
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