Mayor’s race: Hancock and Giellis return to campaigning.

Mayor, challenger return to campaigning with runoff election coming June 4

Denver’s dueling campaigns for mayor barely missed one another Tuesday as they held downtown endorsement events with polaropposite messages.

On one side of Bannock Street, Mayor Michael Hancock rolled out his biggest guns on the Civic Center lawn. Former Mayors Wellington Webb and John Hickenlooper reaffirmed their endorsements of the incumbent, underscoring a message of continuity: Collectively, the three men have led Denver since 1991.

Less than an hour later, challenger Jamie Giellis presided over a rally across the street that drew dozens outside the City and County Building for the unveiling of an alliance, announced Monday, that proposes an end to that line of power.

Giellis’ former leading rivals, activist and educator Lisa Calderón and former state Sen. Penfield Tate, endorsed her and detailed a merger of sorts of their platforms.

Asked by a reporter for her message to Hancock, Giellis replied: “We’re coming for you.”

In just a week, city voters will begin receiving mail ballots for the June 4 runoff.

Hancock won 39 percent of the vote in the May 7 election, followed by Giellis at 25 percent, with the rest split among four other candidates.

The two finalists are each now seeking a path to more than 50 percent of the vote.

“Doing work in the trenches”

For Hancock, the Tuesday morning speeches at a low-key news conference were the ultimate manifestation of the incumbent’s message: Denver has its problems, but they have come with a lot of successes, too — and Hancock has responded to the downsides.

“It’s a new election,” Hancock said, after regrouping from the first round last week. He characterized himself as “the more experienced candidate who knows the city, who has helped build the city in partnership with (its people).”

Webb spoke of knowing Hancock in his youth, and Hickenlooper of working alongside Hancock for eight years in city government. Hancock won his farnortheast City Council seat as Hickenlooper won the mayor’s office in 2003. When Hickenlooper became Colorado governor in 2011, Guillermo “Bill” Vidal filled in as interim mayor for six months, before Hancock took office; Vidal also endorsed his bid for a third term in a written statement Tuesday.

“We basically came up together. We learned a lot together and we