Denver voters elected four newcomers to City Council in a run-off election on Tuesday, bringing to seven the number of rookies who will take office on the 13-member body next month. It’s the most turnover since 2003, when term limits kicked in and shook up the city council.

In the closest race of the night, former Rocky Mountain News reporter Kevin Flynn eked out a win in southwest Denver’s District 2 over John Kidd, who led by a wide margin in the first round of voting last month. Flynn won by a margin of 209 votes out of 6,921 cast, according to unofficial, final results posted by the Denver Elections Division. He won by a 3-point margin. The seat has been represented by Jeanne Faatz, who is term-limited.

In the south-central District 7 run-off, Jolon Clark, an official with the Greenway Foundation, defeated Aaron Greco by a 7-point margin. Clark counted 536 votes more than Greco out of 7,184 cast. Chris Nevitt gave up the seat to run for city auditor but lost in an upset in the May election to former state auditor Tim O’Brien.

Wayne New, a retired health care executive and former president of the Cherry Creek North Neighborhood Association, beat Anna Jones in District 10, covering central Denver. New won by a margin of just over 3 points, carrying the seat by 362 votes out of 9,970 cast. Term-limited Councilwoman Jeanne Robb has held the seat.

In Denver’s far northeast District 11, Stacie Gilmore, executive director at Environmental Learning for Kids, romped to victory over Sean Bradley, winning by almost 20 points. She garnered 879 more votes than Bradley out of 4,631 cast, in the lowest turnout of the night.The city held run-off elections in contests where a candidate didn’t clear 50 percent of the vote in the May 5 general election.Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and City Clerk and Recorder Debra Johnson easily won second terms last month. At-large Councilwomen Deborah Ortega and Robin Kniech also won reelection. (Theirs are the only seats that avoid a run-off, with the win going to the top two vote-getters.)

In addition to O’Brien’s win as auditor, the other shocker of the night was Rafael Espinoza’s unseating of District 1 incumbent Susan Shepherd, the first time an incumbent council member has lost in Denver in decades. In other districts, Paul Lopez won another term in District 3; Kendra Black won the District 4 race outright, replacing term-limited Peggy Lehmann; Mary Beth Susman won reelection in District 5; Paul Kashmann won the District 6 seat held by term-limited Charlie Brown; Council President Christopher Herndon won again in District 8; and Albus Brooks will return to represent District 9.

While controversy and disagreements over rapid development in Denver was a dominant issue in last month’s election, the topic only held center stage in the District 10 runoff, with New taking a more skeptical stance. (Democrats tried to make an issue of New’s history as a registered Republican — he’s currently unaffiliated — and contributions to major GOP candidates.)

Celebrating at New’s election night watch party, Espinoza claimed that New’s win demonstrates that Denver voters share concerns about the pace and character of development in the city, which was the issue Espinoza made central to his campaign.

“The politics-as-usual crowd, for the most part, are the ones that got beat, both in the May election and tonight,” he told The Colorado Statesman. “It’s a good feeling that the people are taking back from the politicians. The voters are communicating. Unfortunately, that’s all too easy to dismiss because of the low number of people who voted. But I hope (city council members) recognize that the people that voted for them are representative of the people they’re representing.”

At his election night party, Flynn noted that development wasn’t a critical issue in his campaign against Kidd, though cautioned that the mostly residential district, with its suburban feel, could soon be faced with some of the concerns felt elsewhere in the city.

“We’re the next wave,” Flynn said. “A lot of the families you see moving in here are moving here because it’s affordable — maybe one of the last affordable districts in the city. We have to have affordable, work-force housing all over the city and not just force it down here. We need to have a diverse mix throughout the city, and I want to work on that before it becomes an issue down here.”

He credited his win to shoe-leather and a robust turnout operation, as well as the decidedly local message of his candidacy.

“We started and we finished with the same message. People down here in southwest Denver feel ignored by downtown, they don’t feel their voices are being heard. I think that has to do with the fact that we basically are residential, we don’t have any big commercial districts down here. There’s no action down here, to speak of,” Flynn said.

His party took place at a Mexican restaurant on South Federal Boulevard, a couple blocks from the home of a disabled Iraq War veteran who grew up in the neighborhood. Flynn said he met the man while campaigning and liked to tell his story to illustrate broader concerns of the district.

When the man maneuvers his wheelchair to Federal and attempts to cross, he’s prevented by snow and ice, Flynn said, pointing out that there aren’t any sidewalks along the busy street. “I want to try to bring some of those improvements here so he doesn’t have to leave the home he was raised in to get around,” Flynn said.

Former City Councilwoman Joyce Foster — she served 10 years and then was elected to the Legislature — joined Flynn at his watch party and said she envied his chance to join city council. “The City Council of Denver is the most exciting elected position one could have,” she said, adding that Flynn’s background as a notoriously tough-minded reporter would serve him well.

“All during the opening of the airport and everything — when there was a phone call from Kevin, you had to have your facts in order, he asked tough questions,” Foster said. “He knows the questions to ask. He gets it. That’s crucial — it took me two years to figure out what questions to ask. He can move into the office and he can start.”

Ortega, who represented District 9 for 16 years until 2003 and won election to the at-large position four years ago, supported Flynn in the run-off and congratulated him at his watch party. She told The Statesman that the influx of rookies on council could make a big difference in the tenor of city government.

“I think it’s going to change things a lot,” Ortega said. “One of the interesting things is, Michael (Hancock) served with a number of people on council, but most of those people are gone. The relationship between mayor and city council will be different.”

She said the discussion over the pace and character of development in the city will only accelerate with the new council in place. Recalling her earlier stint on council, she said, “The council I served on used to see a lot more details. When the changes were made to the zoning code citywide, it gave more authority to the planning office. Basically, we approve the zoning, they do the development plan. We don’t see that level of detail. It almost feels backwards. There may be some efforts afoot to make some changes to that process.”

A spokeswoman for the mayor told The Statesman that Hancock is looking forward to building a “strong partnership” with the new council. “We see every council member as a multifaceted individual who will bring their own set of ideas and solutions to the table,” said Amber Miller.New members and officials who won reelection will be sworn in for four-year terms on July 20 at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

— ernest@coloradostatesman.com