Ten candidates are competing for Denver's at-large City Council seat, and the race has already pulled in more than $300,000 combined through individual contributions and the city's public matching program. The seat represents every resident of Denver, making it one of the more closely watched contests on this cycle's ballot.
Monica Martinez leads the fundraising pack with $118,934 raised, according to Axios. Julissa Soto reported raising $50,000, all of which came from a $50,000 contribution she made to her own campaign, per records cited in the same report. Melissa Mejia raised $45,745, Alfredo Reyes brought in $42,956, and Jake Browne raised $25,432.
Public Matching Funds Flow to Five Candidates
Denver's Fair Elections Fund distributed $180,189 in public matching money to five candidates this month, according to the clerk and recorder's office as reported by Axios. Martinez received $82,440 in matching funds, Mejia received $35,775, Reyes received $33,165, Browne received $20,889, and Whitney Traylor received $7,920. The fund is set to make one additional disbursement next month, per the clerk and recorder's office.
The program allows Fair Elections Fund candidates to accept up to $415 from an individual donor, and the City of Denver matches the first $50 from Denver residents at a 9-to-1 rate, according to Governing. At-large B race candidates can receive up to $298,365 in matching funds overall, Axios reports. Denver voters created the fund in 2018, with more than 70% backing Referred Measure 2E that year, Governing notes — a program meant to give small donors a greater voice and reduce the influence of big money in city elections, according to the Denver Clerk and Recorder's office.
A First-of-Its-Kind Endorsement
The Denver Democrats endorsed Melissa Mejia on September 19, giving her two-thirds of the committee's vote — marking the first time the party has endorsed a candidate in a nonpartisan Denver election, per the same Axios report. Mejia previously served as state director at the Community Economic Defense Project, according to Axios.
Not every group has weighed in. The Denver chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America has not endorsed any candidate in the at-large B race, according to the local chapter. DSA Denver had previously backed Sarah Parady, who formerly held the at-large council seat, Axios reports.
How This Race Stacks Up
Denver's public financing experiment has grown since its rocky start. The first Fair Elections Fund disbursement, covering a reporting period from January 2020 through June 2022, distributed $995,054.94 to candidates and matched more than 500 local contributions, according to Colorado Newsline. That year, 33 of 44 candidates intending to run said they planned to participate in the fund, the outlet reported, and by 2023 that participation had grown to 32 of 44 candidates, according to Governing. The fund was authorized with $8 million in total funding, including administrative costs, Governing notes.
The scale of this year's at-large B contest is modest compared to Denver's 2023 municipal races, when nine candidates competing for two at-large council seats raised more than $1.9 million combined through late March, with 68% of that total coming from the Fair Elections Fund, according to The Colorado Sun. That year, at-large candidates could receive up to $250,000 in matching funds, per Governing — a lower cap than the $298,365 figure now available to candidates in this year's at-large B race.
