Mike Johnston (Colorado politician)

Michael Christopher Johnston (born November 17, 1974) is an American educator and politician serving as the 46th and current mayor of Denver, Colorado.

A member of the Democratic Party, he won the 2023 Denver mayoral election, defeating Kelly Brough in the June 6 runoff election.

His father was a U.S. Army veteran and businessman who served on the town council for more than a decade and then as mayor from 1983 to 1987.

After graduating from Vail Mountain School in 1993, Johnston attended Yale College, earning his bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1997.

During high school and college, he was involved in community service activities, including volunteering at a Denver homeless shelter and mentoring youth in a New Haven housing project.

After graduating from college, he taught English at Greenville High School in rural Mississippi for two years as part of the Teach For America program.

Based on this experience, he wrote the book In the Deep Heart's Core.

After his program ended, Johnston enrolled in the Harvard Graduate School of Education, earning a master's degree in education policy.

While at Harvard, he worked with Al Gore's education advisor, Jon Schnur.

With Schnur and others, he helped to found New Leaders for New Schools, an organization dedicated to training and recruiting leaders for urban schools.

Upon earning his master's degree, he enrolled in Yale Law School, and became an education policy advisor to political candidates, including U.S. Senate candidate Tom Strickland in 2002.

After returning to Colorado in 2003, he was hired as principal at Joan Farley Academy.

In 2004, he served as principal of the Marvin Foote Detention Center, which houses students in detention centers held in state custody, and organized the first high school graduation in the center's history.

In 2005, Johnston taught education law at the University of Denver Law School and became the founding principal of Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts (MESA), a public school in Thornton, Colorado.

As the school's principal, he helped to develop the school's curriculum and program as the school district shifted to developing smaller schools.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Johnston helped lead an education summit in New Orleans and worked with U.S. Congressman George Miller on legislation to recruit and retain teachers.

He joined Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign as an informal advisor early in 2007; by May 2008, he was regarded as one of the campaign's key advisors on education issues.

Obama delivered a major address on education from MESA in May 2008.

The school's achievements were highlighted in an October 2008 campaign advertisement.

Johnston has served on the boards of local and national education and service organizations, including the I Have A Dream Foundation, the Urban League, City Year, New Leaders, America Achieves, and America Succeeds.

Johnston cited education as the central motivation for his run, including the failure of a bill during the 2008 session granting in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants.

During his campaign for the legislative appointment, he met personally with almost all members of the vacancy committee.

At the May 11 vacancy committee meeting, Johnston received 64 out of 126 votes in the first round of balloting to win the appointment, defeating former state representative Rosemary Marshall, Democratic National Committee member Anthony Graves, and activist Renee Blanchard.

Johnston first entered politics when he served in the Colorado Senate, representing the 33rd district from 2009 to 2017.

In April 2009, Johnston declared his candidacy for Colorado's 33rd Senate district, a historically African-American legislative seat based in northeastern Denver, after incumbent Peter Groff announced his resignation upon accepting an appointment in the Obama administration's Department of Education.

He was sworn into office on May 29, 2009.

In 2010, he was featured in Forbes magazine's "7 Most Powerful Educators" and Time magazine's "40 Under 40".

Johnston served as the chief executive officer of Gary Community Ventures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under his leadership, the nonprofit organization delivered almost two million test kits and helped coordinate thousands of vaccinations across Colorado.

He was later elected in 2010 to complete the rest of Groff's term and was then re-elected in 2012, each time winning more than 82% of the vote.

Due to term limits, this would be his last term in the state Senate.

While serving in the Senate, Johnston was assigned to the education and finance committees.

He supported SB 10-191, legislation that modified teacher and principal accountability by measuring performance in part by student academic growth.

The bill was signed into law by Governor Bill Ritter in May 2010.

Johnston worked on passing the READ Act, which was signed into law in May 2012.

The law provides districts resources to help K-3 students struggling to read by establishing a process for districts to identify K-3 students who read below grade level and work with their parents to provide extra reading support before students reach the fourth grade.

The bill also created the Early Literacy Grant Program to provide funding to districts for literacy assessments, professional development, instructional support, and appropriate interventions, and would distribute approximately $16 million to districts for use in one of three literacy support programs: full day kindergarten, tutoring services, or summer school.

He was a candidate for governor of Colorado in 2018, losing in the primary to Jared Polis, who went on to win the general election.

He was also a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2020, before withdrawing from the race in September 2019.

One of four children, Johnston was born in Oklahoma City and raised in Vail, Colorado, the son of Sarah "Sally" (née Cox) and Paul Ross Johnston.