2023–24 Pueblo mayoral election

The 2023–24 Pueblo mayoral election was held on November 7, 2023, to elect the mayor of Pueblo, Colorado. Incumbent Democratic mayor Nick Gradisar ran for re-election to a second term in office. Since there was no candidate that received a majority of votes in the initial round of the election, a runoff election was held on January 23, 2024.^[1] The election was officially nonpartisan, meaning that party affiliations are not listed on the ballot.^[2]

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2023–24 Pueblo mayoral election

← 2018 November 7, 2023 (first round) January 23, 2024 (runoff) 2027 →

Candidate Heather Graham Nick Gradisar Chris Nicoll First round 6,073 22.6% 5,604 20.8% 3,553 13.2% Runoff 15,632 62.4% 9,427 37.6% Eliminated   Candidate Randy Thurston Dennis Flores Regina Maestri First round 3,290 12.2% 3,109 11.6% 1,950 7.2% Runoff Eliminated Eliminated Eliminated   Candidate Larry Atencio First round 1,933 7.2% Runoff Eliminated

Mayor before election Nick Gradisar Democratic Elected mayor Heather Graham Republican

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A group collected signatures for a ballot initiative to eliminate the position of mayor and replace it with an unelected city manager. If it had passed, the 2023 mayoral election would have been canceled. Pueblo previously used the council-manager system for nearly a century before switching to a mayor-council system in 2017.^[3] The group failed to collect enough signatures. It was discovered that Pueblo City Attorney Dan Kogovsek gave the initiative organizers incorrect information about how many signatures they would need to make the ballot, after which Kogovsek resigned at Gradisar's request.^[4]

A total of nine candidates filed to run for mayor. Gradisar and Republican city council president Heather Graham prevailed over a wide field of candidates in the first round, including Republican former city council president Chris Nicoll, Republican former city councilor Randy Thurston, Democratic at-large city councilor Dennis Flores, Republican city councilor Regina Maestri, and Democratic city councilor Larry Atencio. The Republican candidates combined for 55.2% of the vote compared to 42.9% for the Democrats, with the balance going to an independent candidate.

Graham won the runoff in a landslide, unseating Gradisar and becoming Pueblo's first female mayor.^[5]