Denver City Councilwoman Sarah Parady’s resignation took effect Wednesday, kicking off a fast-paced vacancy election that’s likely to be hotly contested.
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Parady, one of the two at-large council members who represent the entire city, announced during a council meeting in June that because of ongoing health problems, she planned to resign this month. Denver voters will choose her replacement in the November election.
Potential candidates won’t have much time to land on the ballot, however. Those interested in running will have until Aug. 20 to collect 300 signatures to make the Nov. 3 ballot, according to the Denver Clerk and Recorder’s Office. The successful candidates will then have a two-month sprint to Election Day — with even less time until ballots get mailed to voters in early October.
The person who wins the election will then serve out the rest of Parady’s term, which ends in July of next year.
That position, along with all 12 other council seats, will be up in the regular municipal election in April. Eight people have filed to run for Parady’s position in the April election. Several of those candidates, including Kristina Maldonado Bad Hand, Jeff Walker, Alfredo Reyes and Monica Martinez, have said they plan to run in the November election as well.
The final list of candidates for the special election will be finalized after the Aug. 20 deadline.
The November and April elections will be decided in two different ways because of a change that voters approved last year. The winner of the November election will be whoever receives the most votes, even if it’s only a slim plurality of the overall votes cast. But in April, a candidate must receive at least 50% of the votes cast to win. If no one receives that initially, there will be a runoff election.
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The Denver chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America will likely attempt to place one of its members in the seat, since Parady was endorsed by the group when she was elected in 2023. The group told The Denver Post last month that it would undergo a process soon to decide whom to endorse as a candidate.
Parady’s formal resignation took place during a special session of the council on Wednesday morning. The group was emotional as council members read out a proclamation honoring Parady.
“Council member Parady’s love for the City and County of Denver was evident from the very first day she took office by leading with tenacity, compassion, and unwavering dedication, always placing the needs of Denver’s residents first,” Councilwoman Amanda Sandoval said, reading from a proclamation.
Parady won election to her single term in 2023. During her time on the council, she frequently asked detailed, pointed questions of her fellow council members and Mayor Mike Johnston’s administration. She sponsored more than 20 bills and 30 budget amendments, according to the proclamation.
“Every single bit of work that we did up here, whether it was big public projects or whether it was legislation … we did all of that relationally,” she said in thanking her council colleagues. “I really loved doing this with all of you.”
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