"I'm just going to support D," says Councilwoman Amanda Sawyer, who represents District 5, covering neighborhoods south of East Colfax Avenue. "I do think it's responsive to a couple of very clear things that we've heard." Sawyer had proposed her own map, but withdrew it from consideration on February 28.
"The reason I pulled it is because in all of the community meetings, it was sort of mid-level or bottom, and not a ton of community support for it," recalls Sawyer, who notes that she confirmed with some Map D sponsors that they'd be open to minor tweaking in the southern part of District 5 in order to keep certain neighborhoods intact.
Denver conducts a redistricting process every decade, after the latest U.S. Census results are released, so that council districts reflect changes in population size. According to U.S. Census data, the population of Denver grew from 600,158 in 2010 to 715,522 in 2020. Council maps are supposed to keep district populations within 10 percent of approximately 65,000 constituents; according to city charter rules, the districts must also be as compact as possible and contain contiguous territory. Denver has eleven districts each represented by one councilmember, as well as two at-large reps.
Map D currently has the support of seven councilmembers: Sawyer and co-sponsors Jolon Clark, Chris Herndon, Paul Kashmann, Chris Hinds, Kendra Black and Stacie Gilmore. "I'm really excited about the level of support that we've got for Map D," says Hinds. "It's a strong map."
Map D now has the tentative support of seven members of Denver City Council.
City and County of Denver
Hinds represents District 10; Map D would add a downtown area removed from District 9, represented by CdeBaca, to District 10. But it would lose neighborhoods to the south, such as Cherry Creek and Country Club, sending those to District 5, which Sawyer represents. And under Map D, the East Colfax neighborhood would move entirely into District 8, where the term-limited Herndon is currently the councilman. East Colfax neighborhood advocates have been pushing to get East Colfax — a diverse neighborhood with major displacement risks — moved into District 8 so that it can join Northeast Park Hill and part of Montbello and advocate jointly on shared issues such as gentrification and displacement.
According to Hinds, one of the potential flaws of Map D is that it breaks up Capitol Hill. "Cap Hill, rightfully so, feels like it should be a community that is preserved," Hinds says. "I recognize that it is imperfect. We are in the real world. We are not in Narnia."
But Map D also has a major critic in CdeBaca, who believes councilmembers are focusing too much on ensuring that districts are built around current incumbents. Her map focuses on preserving as many majority-minority districts as possible. "Any time we’re preventing a majority-minority district, we are gerrymandering," CdeBaca says.
On March 4, Denver City Council members will consider a report containing public feedback on the proposed maps generated through community meetings and online engagement. On March 14, councilmembers will vote a map out of committee, sending the chosen proposal to a public hearing and final vote on March 29.
The new districts will take effect in time for the 2023 municipal election. Mayor Michael Hancock is term-limited and cannot run again; only one person, perennial mayoral candidate Marcus Giavanni, has filed to run for mayor. But there will be many more; Hancock was one of eleven candidates when he first ran for the open mayor's seat in 2011.
There's also considerable interest in Denver City Council seats. The two at-large spots will be vacated by term-limited councilmembers Robin Kniech and Debbie Ortega; Herndon is also term-limited. And Black, who represents District 4 in far southeast Denver, has said that she won't be running for re-election, despite being eligible for one more term.
