3rd Place Finisher Mejia Endorses Romer In Mayoral Runoff
DENVER (CBS4) - The third place finisher in the general election in the Denver mayor's race has endorsed Chris Romer in the runoff election.
Romer finished first in voting, in front of Michael Hancock and James Mejia.
Romer faces Michael Hancock in the runoff election, which will be held on June 7.
In announcing his endorsement, Mejia promised to campaign as hard for Romer in the runoff as he did for himself. When talking with reporters, Mejia acknowledged he has a long history with the Romer family. Chris Romer's father, former Gov. Roy Romer, gave Mejia his first job.
Mejia said he based his endorsement the candidate who was more receptive to his ideas and he asked both which of his policies they saw as the most important to integrate into their campaigns.
"Chris named four off the bat, four policies. He said, 'I respect the South Platte, I respect what you've done with sustainability, and arts and culture and in education, we've got to get that right and we could use some help there.' I was very pleased to hear how closely he had paid attention to really what we had tried to achieve during this campaign."
Romer said he was honored to have the endorsement of Mejia, his wife, Heather Mejia and their staff.
"What was so impressive about the shared conversation over the past five or six days was the amount of shared vision, the amount of shared belief in a true partnership," Romer said. "The amount of how you can expect more from Denver and how we can move Denver together. I know that with this partner, Denver is going to be the winner."
Hancock's campaign released the following statement after news of the announcement came out:
"I know this was not an easy decision for James to make. He ran a great campaign and I wish him luck in his future endeavors. From the beginning of our campaign, we knew this was going to be a race earned through hard work. I am no stranger to struggle and am determined to win this race. We will continue to build momentum and will work hard to earn the support of Denver voters over the next four weeks, including those who voted for James. We are all Denver and we welcome Mejia supporters to Team Hancock."
