March 21, 2023 02:04 PM UTC

New Ad Attempts to Define Top Tier of Mayoral Hopefuls

• 6 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

The race to become Denver’s next Mayor is getting down to its final days. Ballots were mailed out to voters last week; Election Day is April 4, but with 16 candidates on the ballot, there’s no real chance that one candidate will get more than 50% of the vote to avoid a June 6 runoff.

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Candidates for Mayor are making their final paid media pitches to voters, including a new spot from Chris Hansen that caught our attention.

Hansen was the first candidate to go up on television with a significant ad buy, though his narrative was one that we wouldn’t have suggested. Hansen went hard from the beginning on the idea that Denver is a crime-ridden, drug-infested hellhole, which is a strategy that rarely works for candidates (Republicans proved this as recently as 2022). Voters generally don’t respond well to attacks on the place that they call home.

But for what appears to be his closing television spot, Hansen went a different direction:

📺🚨CAMPAIGN UPDATE: We’ve released our last campaign ad for the Denver primary!

We’re hearing from folks who are overwhelmed with the decision for #Denver mayor, so we wanted to make an ad that helps cut through the noise. pic.twitter.com/BoPQf01cQ1

— Chris Hansen for Denver (@Chris4Denver) March 21, 2023

Talking directly about why you are a better choice than a few specific candidates — Hansen calls out Kelly Brough, Mike Johnston, and Debbie Ortega by name — is an interesting idea in a race where there are 16 candidates (Hansen’s ad was likely produced before Kwame Spearman dropped out of the race last week). Hansen criticizes Brough for “flip-flopping” on a homeless camping ban; attacks Johnston for accepting big money from “dark money” groups; and pokes Ortega for spending more than 25 years as an elected official in Denver.

Hansen also includes a pretty thin argument near the end of the ad, when he says, “we need a candidate who is actually endorsed by law enforcement.” As proof of his “law enforcement” bonafides, Hansen touts the support of the Teamsters Union Local 17. While the Teamsters represent a significant chunk of City of Denver employees, you’d have to squint really hard to see them as a “law enforcement” organization. By comparison, Ortega has the support of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #27 (Denver Sheriffs). The Denver Police Protective Association (DPPA) — which represents Denver Cops — is not officially backing any candidate as of yet.

Perhaps more fascinating is who Hansen did not mention in his ad. Leslie Herod and Lisa Calderón have often been included in a discussion of the “top tier” of Mayoral hopefuls, but neither name appears in Hansen’s TV spot. Perhaps Hansen has polling data suggesting that Herod and Calderón are not really among the handful of top contenders — or maybe Hansen’s campaign believes that his best shot at making the runoff election is to focus on rising above Brough, Johnston, and Ortega.

Either way, Hansen’s ad is at least partially an effort to define the top tier of candidates — himself included — for voters who have yet to make up their mind. It’s not a terrible idea, though it is pretty late in the campaign for this sort of approach.