In case you missed it, Denverite’s Ben Markus detailed former State Senator and non-profit CEO Mike Johnston’s “eye-popping” fundraising haul of $185,657 in just 44 days. After entering the race in November, Mike has significantly outpaced his competitors, raising an estimated $5,500/day – “more than double the next closest candidate”, proving that his detailed plans to fix Denver’s toughest challenges, along with his deep belief that we have the resources and ability to fix them is resonating with voters.
With only a few months before ballots are mailed out, Mike is continuing to hold daily grassroots “Meet Mike” events in neighborhoods across Denver, building a strong and engaged grassroots team that reaches every corner of the city.
Read highlights from Denverite:
- Mike Johnston was in the mayor’s race for 34 days before filing his first campaign finance report, and yet he raised an eye-popping $185,657.
- That’s about $5,500 a day, double the pace of fundraising of the next closest candidate, Kelly Brough.
- “Johnston has always been a fundraising machine,” Eric Sondermann, a former political consultant, said.
- For his part, Johnston said there wasn’t a lot of planning for mayor, because he was busy with the successful Prop 123 campaign, for dedicating money for affordable housing.
- He announced he was running for mayor a week after the Nov. 2022 election. “And so it was very fast to put together. I think it was more just activating a lot of grassroots supporters all over the city and state,” Johnston said.
- Johnston said the out-of state-money is a reflection of the pessimism about Washington DC politics. “And the idea that like here’s a city with a real problem solver, who’s gonna be able to build broad bipartisan coalitions that take on really hard problems, and make us believe that we actually are still capable of solving these problems. I think that’s what people get excited about,” Johnston said.
- Johnston’s biggest fundraising day was the last day covered by the campaign reports, Dec. 31, when he raised $34,705, more than double his next closest single day of fundraising.