Ean Thomas Tafoya
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Ean Tafoya ran for election for Mayor of Denver in Colorado. He lost in the general election on April 4, 2023.
Tafoya completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.
Elections
2023
See also: Mayoral election in Denver, Colorado (2023)
General runoff election
General runoff election for Mayor of Denver
Michael Johnston defeated Kelly Brough in the general runoff election for Mayor of Denver on June 6, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Michael Johnston (Nonpartisan) | 55.2 | 89,889 |
 | Kelly Brough (Nonpartisan) | 44.8 | 73,097 | |
| Total votes: 162,986 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
General election
General election for Mayor of Denver
The following candidates ran in the general election for Mayor of Denver on April 4, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Michael Johnston (Nonpartisan) | 24.5 | 42,273 |
| ✔ | | Kelly Brough (Nonpartisan) | 20.1 | 34,627 |
 | Lisa Calderón (Nonpartisan) | 18.1 | 31,164 | |
 | Andy Rougeot (Nonpartisan) | 11.5 | 19,927 | |
 | Leslie Herod (Nonpartisan) | 10.7 | 18,506 | |
 | Chris Hansen (Nonpartisan) | 4.8 | 8,309 | |
 | Deborah Ortega (Nonpartisan) | 4.5 | 7,739 | |
 | Ean Tafoya (Nonpartisan) | 1.6 | 2,700 | |
| Terrance Roberts (Nonpartisan) | 1.0 | 1,757 | ||
 | Thomas Wolf (Nonpartisan) | 1.0 | 1,747 | |
 | Trinidad Rodriguez (Nonpartisan) | 0.7 | 1,240 | |
| Aurelio Martinez (Nonpartisan) | 0.4 | 755 | ||
 | Al Gardner (Nonpartisan) | 0.4 | 725 | |
 | James Walsh (Nonpartisan) | 0.4 | 722 | |
| Renate Behrens (Nonpartisan) | 0.1 | 184 | ||
| Robert Treta (Nonpartisan) | 0.1 | 169 | ||
 | Abass Yaya Bamba (Nonpartisan) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 24 | |
 | Jesse Parris (Nonpartisan) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 11 | |
 | Paul Fiorino (Nonpartisan) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 5 | |
| Matt Brady (Nonpartisan) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 4 | ||
 | Marcus Giavanni (Nonpartisan) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 1 | |
| Danny F. Lopez (Nonpartisan) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 0 | ||
| Total votes: 172,589 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Sylvia Herring (Nonpartisan)
- Kwame Spearman (Nonpartisan) (Unofficially withdrew)
- Anna Burrell (Nonpartisan)
- Alex Valdez (Nonpartisan)
- Sean Gallegos (Nonpartisan)
- Kenneth Simpson (Nonpartisan)
- Alex Cowans (Nonpartisan)
- David E. Stevens (Nonpartisan)
2015
The city of Denver, Colorado, held elections for mayor and city council on May 5, 2015. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was March 11, 2015. All 13 city council seats were up for election. In District 9, Albus Brooks defeated Michael Borcherding and Ean Thomas Tafoya.[1] Incumbent Judy Montero did not run for re-election.[2]
| Denver City Council, District 9, 2015 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
 Albus Brooks Incumbent |
67.9% | 4,998 | |
| Ean Thomas Tafoya | 17.3% | 1,274 | |
| Michael Borcherding | 14.7% | 1,085 | |
| Total Votes | 7,357 | ||
| Source: City of Denver, "Official general election results," accessed May 19, 2015 | |||
Campaign themes
2023
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Ean Tafoya completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Tafoya's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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For twenty years I've fought for economic, racial and environmental justice as a teacher, community organizer, nonprofit leader and public servant in three branches of local government. I'm running for Mayor because it’s about time our local government actually listened to the working families of this city. As an indigenous and Chicano person, I believe we need to make policy with the urgency our communities deserve and with the next seven generations in mind. When we come together to find solutions, we rise!
- Environmental justice is my life’s work. It’s about more than just “the weather.” It’s whether you breathe clean air and drink clean water. It’s about turning our biggest crisis into an opportunity to remake a society that works for everyone. It’s about power to the people–literally! I have plans to use public banking, state and federal funds to support local workers through a just transition. We’ll replace lead pipes, lower energy bills, expand public transit and develop sustainable housing for working families. We’ll plan neighborhoods to be walkable and bikeable with plenty of parks and urban gardens. With the right investments, communities can even own their own solar gardens!
- If you talk to anybody in Denver, they’ll tell you one of their top concerns about our city is the housing crisis. Rents are skyrocketing and wages are staying stagnant. Neighbors I've grown up with are considering whether they can afford to stay in Denver. Our housing policies have prioritized wealthy developers and pushed out our communities. It’s time for leadership that puts the people first and tackles this crisis head-on.
- Public safety means everyone has clean air, clean water, safe working conditions, a home that’s comfortable and affordable, and a strong safe community. We can create that world by investing in public health, addressing the root causes of harm and finding data-driven solutions that fit the problem. This includes fighting poverty and investing in community-based care and accountability, including harm reduction and addiction services, mental health care, youth mentorship and restorative justice.
I think COVID-19 laid bare the inequities that our communities have always been aware of. It was just another situation when the working families, the immigrants, the communities of color were hit hardest. But it was also inspiring how our communities came together through mutual aid networks and creative solutions to our problems. We have to sustain those networks and that organizing to build to a better world.
The Denver police department shows some crime rates increasing and some decreasing in the last few years. While I get my crime data from the police department it's important not to completely equate crime rates with safety. Crime is socially constructed. Some crime rates are really a reflection of poverty rates. Meanwhile some undesirable behaviors, like wage theft, aren't factored into the crime rate statistics. I support the recommendations of the Denver Taskforce to Reimagine Policing & Public Safety, including decriminalizing poverty (for example, crimes like loitering or the camping ban) and investing in community-led non-police anti-violence programs. I support consistency of care for mental health and addiction, including safe use centers, access to NARCAN and medication for Opioid Abuse Disorder. I believe strongly in the power of restorative justice as an alternative to incarceration for resolving many community disputes. I also support youth mentorship, extracurriculars, conflict resolution education and community care that can teach our youth to move forward in a healthy way. I hope when we address the root causes of poverty, addiction, mental health crises and other issues, we free up our law enforcement to address serious violent crime like the Crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.
My vision for downtown is similar to the rest of the city: a thriving small business district, accessible by public transit, with sustainable buildings and comfortable homes for people of all income levels.
Community engagement is everything. I don't just want our communities to be brought to the table, I want to build that table together. There are so many ways that local government needs to be more accessible to the people. Ean has plans to collaborate with community organizations to ensure city-wide education campaigns are reaching all our neighbors. Ean is already publishing campaign materials in Spanish and Vietnamese, and would expand city outreach in those languages as well as Arabic, Somali and Amharic. The city also needs to ensure all websites and public meetings are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Not specifically although I strongly believe in transparency and accountability and believe public information requests should be met as quickly as possible.
Public safety goes beyond crime. We have to approach it holistically, ensuring everyone has clean air to breathe and clean water to drink, ensuring they have a safe workplace with a fair wage and a roof over their head.
My approach focuses on prevention, rather than band-aid solutions. I believe we rely too much on police to solve our every societal problem, and that's not fair to our communities or to the police force. I would implement recommendations from the Reimagining Policing Task Force including funding community-led non-police violence prevention programs, expand mental health support and much more. I would decriminalize issues of existence, like loitering, and fight poverty to help those who feel they lack good options for their future. As a mentor to youth and former teacher I also believe strongly in extracurricular, community and conflict resolution support for our youth. I support harm reduction, safe use sites and continuity of care for those struggling with addiction. Law enforcement should focus on serious violent crime like the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.
Gentrification is a serious crisis that's impacted my own family and communities. We need to put community land in community hands through land trusts, community development corporations and land banking. This allows our most vulnerable communities to make decisions about what development happens, if any.
My goal is to bring people together and call in all four directions. My entire reason for running for Mayor is to bring our communities together to build a new table, together.
We need to invest more in prevention of public safety issues, getting at the root cause of problems.
Denver has some of the most polluted neighborhoods in the country. I've organized for local ballot initiatives like Waste No More and statewide laws like the Environmental Justice Act. This is my life's work. It’s about power to the people–literally! I have plans to use public banking, state and federal funds to support local workers through a just transition. We’ll replace lead pipes, lower energy bills, expand public transit and develop sustainable housing for working families. We’ll plan neighborhoods to be walkable and bikeable with plenty of parks and urban gardens. With the right investments, communities can even own their own solar gardens. Throughout this transition we'll support workers, investing in local jobs replacing lead pipes and in construction, while helping workers in transitioning industries.
I've consistently fought highway expansions like the I-70 and I-25 expansions. We need to design for people, not cars. I support expanding multimodal infrastructure, implementing our bike and sidewalk plans, and vastly expanding and electrifying our public transit. This includes making transit more accessible by having benches and covers at every stop. I also support infrastructure buildout like renewable community owned energy, stormwater management and much more.
We need to reroute focus from petty crime and policing poverty to serious crises like the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis.
In an ideal world, we would have been able to pay everyone to stay home and have specific young adults safely deliver food across the city. I'm glad vaccines and tests were free, and I would have liked to see free masks as well. I believe if we had been more effective in our early response, we would not have had to suffer such prolonged economic devastation and "lockdowns" that were financially devastating but not strict enough to actually stop the spread, especially for those expected to continue to work in person. Today I believe our local governments have a responsibility to continue providing masks and advocate for the populations disabled by long COVID and mental health services for the trauma we've collectively endured.
I believe the problems affecting Denver don't stop at the edge of the city and neither will I. We need regional cooperation to address our biggest challenges, and I have experience bringing together our cities, states and country together on those issues.
My mom, a union steward and social worker, instilled in me the commitment to serve my community. I also am inspired by Raúl Grijalva whom chaired the Natural Resources Committee for US House of Representatives and Deb Haaland the US Secretary of Interior.
Public Enemy Number One
A commitment to justice and a willingness to check their ego and listen to the community. It's not about the Mayor's career--it's about the people and getting results for our communities.
I walk the talk and I put Denver first. I've been active in this city since I was literally a child, and I know our local government like the back of my hand. And I'm committed to advocating for the most vulnerable communities in every policy. I also have extensive experience in environmental policy. At this point we have no choice but to be putting an environmental justice lens into everything we do.
The Mayor should be a competent executive and a visionary.
I would like to say to our descendants that we did everything we could to address climate change and make Denver an equally safe home for all its residents.
I remember 9/11 happening on my way to American History Class when I was 15.
As a teenager I worked for the Denver Museum of Nature & Science for 5 years as a lead teacher's assistant.
Hard to pick one!
One that could travel in space.
Dua Lipa Don't Start Now
While on the campaign trail, my grandmother passed away and my mother had a series of health crises. I was my grandmother's caretaker as well, so this loss was especially devastating.
A leader is someone who brings people together, listening to all while providing a guiding set of philosophies and principles that prioritize the most vulnerable.
Everything. Denver is my whole heart.
Climate change is our biggest challenge and biggest opportunity to remake our world more equitably.
Our city can be a regional leader, advocating fiercely at the state level for our values and collaborating with other cities to share ideas about how we achieve our goals.
I have extensive experience advocating at the federal level and intend to collaborate with federal bureaus to bring funding to Denver for climate justice and housing. The federal government should also help us hold our local polluters accountable.
What do ducks like on their soup?
Quackers
I think the Mayor's office should be providing a vision for public safety that influences where law enforcement focuses their time and funds. The Mayor's office should be promoting non-police policies and programming that lessen the burden on law enforcement to solve every social problem.
Colorado NORML
Veronica Barela is my Treasurer
Lucy Molina - Adams 14 School Board Member
Renee Millard-Chacon - Commerce City Councilmember
Krisiti Douglas - Commerce City Councilmember
Steve Douglas - Former Commerce City Councilmember and Union Leader
Juan Madrid - President CO Public Health Association* as individual
Patricia Garcia-Nelson - Environmental Justice Advocate
Liz Rosenbaum - Environmental Justice Advocate
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Note: Community Questions were submitted by the public and chosen for inclusion by a volunteer advisory board. The chosen questions were modified by staff to adhere to Ballotpedia’s neutrality standards. To learn more about Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection Expansion Project, click here.
See also
2023 Elections
External links
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