DENVER — Lisa Calderon, who finished third in the race for Denver mayor, is getting financial help from supporters of her former challenger, Jamie Giellis.
Financial records show LLCs associated with the family of Kyle Zeppelin, a developer in Denver and primary supporter of Giellis, gifted Calderon’s campaign the maximum donation of $3,000 five separate times after Calderon announced her support for Giellis.
Andra Zeppelin told Next with the Kyle Clark that the donations were “absolutely not” made in exchange for Calderon’s endorsement. Calderon and Giellis’ other former opponent, Penfield Tate, offered their support to her on May 13.
These donations are dated May 16.
"We have a long history of supporting opposition candidates in general, and this mayoral race in particular," Andra Zeppelin said. "We've always been 'Team Change.' Supporting a candidate who tried her hardest to bring about that change is consistent with what we've been trying to do that whole time."
She said her family had not donated to Calderon’s campaign prior to the runoff, and she said they probably would not have contributed if her expenses were already covered.
"We know they have done a lot with very little and we are happy to help her team," said Zeppelin. "When it comes to Dr. Lisa Calderon, we really value her work in the community and in the election process. And we value the way she raised the conversation. We've had a relationship with Dr. Calderon prior to this election and really appreciate what her and her amazing team did to bring about change to the city of Denver."
"My grassroots campaign did a lot with a little," Calderon said in a text message to 9NEWS political reporter Marshall Zelinger. “Immediately following the campaign we asked the community to help cover the final costs for voter outreach through emails and social media. We were very grateful at the outpouring of support. It was wonderful to see the message of unity bring people together and see the expression of gratitude for our hard fought campaign."
Her text continued: "I am hopeful that the success of this direct democracy initiative will help even the playing field for future progressive candidates so that we can focus more on reaching voters than raising dollars."
In a text message on Friday evening, Tate confirmed that two of Zeppelin's LLCs contributed $3,000 each to him since the May 7 election.
"The contributions are not related to my endorsement of and campaigning for Jamie Giellis," Tate said.
As for the current contenders, donors to incumbent Michael Hancock have gifted his campaign upwards of $590,000 since the May 7 election, with a roster of individual backers including former Colorado Governor and presidential hopeful John Hickenlooper, Denver Public Schools Superintendent Susana Cordova, and the CEO of the Regional Transportation District Dave Genova.
Geillis supporters have raised more than $206,000 in the same amount of time.
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