Denver DPS Election 2017 Results: O'Brien, Cobian, Bacon, Olson

DENVER, CO -- UPDATED Denver Public School Board incumbent Barbara O'Brien appears to be the top vote getter in the Nov. 7 election for the position of director at large. Angela Cobian, Carrie Olson and Jennifer Bacon are the other winners in Districts 2, 3 and 4 respectively. The City of Denver updated unofficial election results at 2 a.m.

Money poured in from outside the district from supporters of charter schools and "school reform" in the case of O'Brien and Cobian and teachers unions in the case of Olson and Bacon.

In the 2 a.m. update, O'Brien won 35,781 votes, or 42.34 percent of the vote, beating Julie Banuelos and Robert Speth with 22.04 and 35.62 percent respectively.

In District 2, Angela Cobian won 5,799 votes, or 54.01 percent of the vote, beating Xochitl "Sochi" Gaytan, who received 4,937 votes, or 45.99 percent. Cobian's candidacy was the target of flyers and mailers that linked her with Donald Trump and US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, which she called “a baseless and cruel assault on my public character” according Chalkbeat coverage. Cobian is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and a former community organizer. The mailers were paid for by Every Student Succeeds, a teachers' union-based independent expenditure committee paid for by the Colorado Education Association and the Aurora and Denver teachers unions.

Gaytan, also of Mexican ancestry, said she did not coordinate with Every Student Succeeds (it's illegal for her to do so) and said she was trying to run a clean campaign.

Carrie Olson squeaked ahead of incumbent Mike Johnson in District 3 with 11,121 votes, or 51.94 percent to Johnson's 10,289 votes, or 48.06 percent. Olson's campaign also got help from teachers unions.

In District 4, Jennifer Bacon appeared to have won a three-race against incumbent Rachele Espiritu and Tay Anderson. Bacon won 42.55 percent of the votes with 6,860 compared to Anderson's 24.56 percent and Espiritu's 32.9 percent, according to the Nov. 8 updates.

Bacon thanked her followers on Facebook:

Tonight's results show how committed our community is to finding solutions and charting new paths forward. I have incredibly deep respect for both my opponents and their supporters. I look forward to continuing to work with them and the whole community...

Spending by outside groups bumped up to the millions in the Denver, Aurora and Douglas Co. School Board races, writes Chalkbeat.

Denver School Board

At Large:

Barbara O'Brien

District 2

Angela Cobian

District 3

Carrie Olson.

District 4

Jennifer Bacon

Candidate profiles courtesy Ballotpedia

Image via Barbara O'Brien