Denver Votes to Overhaul At-Large City Council Elections

When Kevin Flynn first considered running for Denver City Council, an incumbent member encouraged him to go for an at-large position, “because you only have to come in second to get a seat,” he recalls.

The two at-large councilmembers are elected differently than any other Denver official. All at-large candidates run together for the seats, and voters are asked to select their two favorites on the ballot; whichever two candidates get the most votes win. That means at-large candidates can be elected even if they don’t receive a majority of the votes. Meanwhile, candidates running for the eleven district council seats must earn over 50 percent of votes to win their races, as is also the case for the mayor, auditor and clerk & recorder.

That system will soon change with the apparent passage of Ballot Issue 2G. The proposal calls for splitting at-large council seats into two separate races: seat A and seat B, and candidates will choose which seat to run for. To win, a candidate must earn a majority of the votes in their race, with a runoff election between the top candidates if no one achieves 50 percent initially.

Denver voters are currently on pace to approve 2G. Over 54 percent of counted votes are in favor of the initiative, according to unofficial election results as of 5 p.m. November 5.

“It’s rewarding to see the voters in Denver agree that everybody should be elected the same way,” says Flynn, who is now in his final term as the councilmember for District 2 and was one of the lead sponsors of 2G. “Every elected official should be elected by a majority. I think that’s a simple message that resonated with the voters.”

The road to victory was not so simple. The initiative almost didn’t make it onto the ballot, narrowly being referred by Denver City Council in a 7-6 vote in August. As of yesterday’s unofficial results, it’s passing by the closest margin of any municipal initiative.

Opponents argue that the change will harm grassroots progressive candidates and increase the influence of money in at-large races, as candidates will need to reach and appeal to a far larger share of voters.

“Unfortunately, tonight corporate and Republican dark money groups appear to have bought themselves Denver at-large races that will be slanted a little more in their direction,” said Wynn Howell, treasurer of the 2G opposition committee, Hands Off Denver Elections, in a statement as the votes were counted. “We knew this would be an uphill battle when being so grossly outspent.”

The pro-2G campaign raised over $220,000, compared to $16,000 for the opposition. More than $100,000 of that money came from Forward Denver, a group that previously backed efforts to unseat two progressive Denver politicians, former Councilmember Candi CdeBaca and former State Representative Elisabeth Epps, according to reporting from Denverite. Another $76,000 came from Safe Streets Safe Communities, a national group linked to last year’s successful effort to flip a Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat to Republican.

The majority of the opposition campaign’s fundraising stems from Working Families Power, an arm of the progressive Working Families Party, which donated nearly $10,000. Howell is the state director of Working Families Power.

Flynn calls the accusation that 2G is targeting progressive candidates “utter nonsense,” as does the initiative’s other lead sponsor, Councilmember Darrell Watson.

“We have the most diverse, progressive Denver City Council ever in the history of Denver City Council. And all of those city council members, except for two, were elected by a majority vote,” says Watson, who is the first openly queer man to serve on the council. “I expect to see the same going forward.”

Since 1991, Denver’s at-large councilmembers have won their elections with an average of 28.6 percent of votes, according to research provided by the pro-2G campaign. That has ranged from as little as 16.6 percent to as much as 38.9 percent.

Critics of 2G argue that the current at-large system gives progressive candidates a path to office based on support from a smaller, unified political base, while 2G will force them to appeal to a broader voting group. That could require at-large candidates to lead larger campaigns, which cost more money, creating a financial barrier.

Opponents also charge that 2G will lead to “excessive politicking” as at-large candidates must decide to run for seat A or seat B, risking that a voter’s top two candidates both run for the same seat. The ballot initiative’s opposition includes the Democratic Party of Denver, New Era Colorado Action Fund and various local labor unions.

During the council debate, Councilmember Shontel Lewis accused the sponsors of going after the two current at-large councilmembers, Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez and Sarah Parady. The two women are among the most progressive on the council and won their 2023 elections with 20.6 percent and 16.6 percent of the vote, respectively.

“This policy feels like it unfairly targets two council people who are actually incredibly effective and are moving the city in a direction that I think a lot of folks who have been in power are having a really tough time adjusting to,” Lewis said during the meeting on August 11. She went on to call the initiative “a betrayal to our voters” and an attempt to “push folks off of this body because they don’t agree with you.”

Watson denies this characterization. He says he advocated for at-large election reform even before he was elected in 2023 and has never “spent one second” thinking about the political ideology of the current at-large members, who were both elected at the same time he was elected to represent District 9.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Watson says, noting that several former councilmembers tried to bring similar proposals forward in the past. “It brings consistency in how we elect our municipal leaders. …Everyone will be on the same playing field. Everyone will be running to make sure that they receive 50 percent plus one of the vote within their races. That consistency can only breed more confidence in our elections.”

In addition to mandating a majority winner, 2G seeks to fix the issue of undervoting, Flynn says. Denver voters disproportionately leave the at-large ballot section blank or choose only one candidate instead of the two they are allowed. He speculates this is due to some voters being confused and others attempting to strategically secure victory for their number-one candidate.

“I think it’s going to result in a lot better elections,” Flynn says of 2G’s passage. “This is really a simple change and I wish it hadn’t been so personal. I regret that.”

Gonzales-Gutierrez and Parady did not respond to requests for comment.