FOR COLORADO
Meet Mike
Mike Johnston has spent his career taking on tough fights, solving hard problems and expanding opportunity for all.
Mike grew up here in Colorado. After graduating from college, he taught English at a high school in Greenville, Mississippi, through the Teach For America program, an experience he recounted in his book, “In the Deep Heart’s Core.” He later returned home to Colorado and became the founding principal of the Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts in Adams County.
Mike went on to serve as a senior education advisor to President Barack Obama before being elected to the Colorado State Senate in 2009, representing Northeast Denver. As a legislator, Mike built bipartisan coalitions to pass Colorado’s version of the DREAM Act, strengthen gun safety laws, and advance clean energy.
He later served as the CEO of Gary Community Ventures, where he helped lead the successful campaign to create Colorado’s universal preschool program and launched statewide efforts to expand affordable housing and address homelessness.
Since taking office as Denver’s 46th mayor in 2023, Mike has focused on making Denver a safer, more affordable, and more vibrant place to live and raise a family. Under his leadership, Denver has achieved the nation’s largest reductions in street homelessness, driven violent crime to its lowest levels in decades, accelerated affordable housing, and launched the largest downtown revitalization effort in a generation.
Along the way, he has fought to protect Denver’s values – defending common-sense gun safety laws, protecting critical federal funding, and standing up to President Trump when Denver’s interests are at stake. Mike’s administration has also streamlined permitting, invested in parks, neighborhoods and infrastructure, expanded opportunities for young people, and worked to lower costs for Denver families.
Mike believes leadership means taking on the toughest challenges, bringing people together, and delivering results. He is committed to building a Denver where every resident has the opportunity to thrive, every neighborhood is safe, and every family can build a future.
Mike lives in East Denver with his wife, Courtney, a Chief Deputy District Attorney. They have three children.
