Mike Johnston

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston was inaugurated as the 46th Mayor of Denver on July 17, 2023. Mayor Johnston started his career as a high school English teacher in the Mississippi Delta, an experience that inspired him to write his acclaimed book, In the Deep Heart's Core. He came home to Colorado to become a school principal, leading three different schools in the Denver metro area, and transforming his last high school into the first public school in Colorado history where 100% of seniors graduated and were admitted to four-year colleges. He also served as a senior education advisor to President Obama. He was then elected to the Colorado State Senate where he served two terms representing Northeast Denver and worked to get bipartisan support to pass Colorado’s version of the DREAM Act, pass major gun safety legislation, and push the state’s conversion to renewable energy. He went on to serve as the CEO of Gary Community Ventures, a local philanthropic organization, where he built broad, diverse coalitions to pass Proposition EE, the state’s first plan for universal preschool, and to pass proposition 123, the first successful effort to fund affordable housing and homelessness statewide. He was worked to help found the Dearfield Fund, an organization dedicated to closing the Black wealth gap through access to homeownership. Mayor Johnston is from Colorado, speaks Spanish and lives in East Denver with his wife Courtney, who is a Chief Deputy District Attorney, and their three kids.