Denver Mayor Wins Reelection in Close Race

Federico Pena, the city’s first Latino mayor, narrowly won reelection Tuesday over corporate attorney Don Bain in a runoff.

With all of the 496 precincts reporting, Pena had 79,674 votes, or 51%. Bain was close behind with 76,648 votes, or 49%.

Denver Election Commission officials said the voter turnout was about 53%, with 156,821 voters out of 291,559 eligible casting ballots.

Had Trailed by 20 Points

Pena had finished 5 percentage points behind Bain in the May 19 election, where Bain had 42% of the vote to Pena’s 37% in a field of eight candidates. Immediately after the primary, polls showed that Pena trailed by as much as 20 percentage points. But on Monday, a media poll showed him leading by 6 points.

Pena’s slogan after his first election victory was: “Imagine a Great City.” He still is working with that, since his major projects, a new airport and a convention center, remain in the planning stage.

Pena said that the city should not have to start all over now. But Bain pointed to the failure to start construction on either major project and said that a change was needed.

The race turned acrimonious in the final days, with both sides criticizing campaign advertising.