Mayor Mike Johnston

Mayor Denver, Colorado Leadership City

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston was inaugurated as the 46th Mayor of Denver on July 17, 2023. Since the start of his administration, Denver has achieved historic reductions in street homelessness, enhanced public safety, expanded affordable housing, and invested in revitalizing downtown.

Mayor Johnston started his career as a high school English teacher in the Mississippi Delta. He returned home to Colorado to become a school principal, leading three different schools in the Denver metro area. He later served as a senior education advisor to President Obama.

More about Mayor Mike Johnston

In 2009, Johnston was elected to the Colorado State Senate where he served two terms representing Northeast Denver. During his tenure, he secured bipartisan support to pass Colorado’s version of the DREAM Act, advanced major gun safety legislation, and championed the state’s transition to renewable energy. He later served as the CEO of Gary Community Ventures, a local philanthropic organization, where he built broad, diverse coalitions to pass the state’s first plan for universal preschool and spearheaded efforts to fund affordable housing and homelessness statewide.

Since starting office, Mayor Mike Johnston oversaw the Denver Asylum Seekers Program, which aimed to get qualifying migrants on the pathway to work authorization within 180 days; has continued the successful WorkReady program in partnership with the private sector, and has supported other cities in navigating how to welcome new immigrants.

Mayor Johnston has been an influential leader on migration on the national stage, as an active participant in national networks such as Cities for Action and in the US Conference of Mayors, where he plays a leadership role as Chair of the Mayors’ Immigration Reform Committee. Internationally he sits on the MMC Mayors of the Americas Task Force on Migration, and has participated in high-level events, such as the Paris Convening on Migrant Homelessness, and Bloomberg CityLab 2024 in Mexico City.

Mayor Johnston grew up in Colorado, speaks Spanish and lives in East Denver with his wife Courtney, who is a Chief Deputy District Attorney, and their three kids.