DENVER — Tattered Cover CEO Kwame Spearman is stepping down from that role and is eyeing a November run for Denver school board, he told 9NEWS on Wednesday.
Spearman was one of 17 candidates on the ballot for Denver mayor in this election cycle. He dropped out of the race on March 16 and endorsed Kelly Brough, who early election results show could be headed for a runoff with Mike Johnston.
Spearman joined the mayoral race in January, staking out relatively conservative positions on issues from homelessness to crime to immigration policy. His center-right politics caused some friction with Tattered Cover customers during his campaign.
Spearman and fellow Denver native David Back led the group of Colorado-based investors who purchased the Colorado bookstore chain in a private sale in December 2020.
Spearman told 9NEWS' Kyle Clark that he will remain an investor in the Tattered Cover, but that "it's best that I separate politics from my role there."
"The Tattered Cover team wishes Kwame well in all his future endeavors and remains grateful for his time as the company's CEO and his efforts to expand and improve the Tattered Cover," company spokesperson Devon Klug said in an email.
Spearman said he'll support the Brough campaign through the June runoff and will be "listening to our neighborhoods about how we can improve Denver Public Schools" before deciding whether to enter that race.
Spearman's potential run for DPS School Board At-Large would set up a clear ideological clash with incumbent Auon'tai Anderson, who led efforts to remove Denver Police from DPS in 2020 and has been a target of the conservatives Spearman courted in his mayoral run.
Klug said the Tattered Cover board is actively seeking a new CEO, and in the meantime, management of the company will remain the same as it was while Spearman took a leave of absence to run for mayor.
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