Soon after the first round of results had posted at about 7 p.m. Tuesday, Auontai “Tay” Anderson, a candidate for a northeast Denver school board seat, spoke to the crowd gathered to watch election night returns at a popular food incubator in Denver’s trending RINO neighborhood.

Anderson, a May graduate of Manual High School – he was student body president for three terms and chaired the Colorado High School Democrats – sounded a confident note, although the first batch of numbers showed him trailing the two other candidates running in District 4.

“This is about the message of bringing public schools back to Denver,” he said. “Ultimately, this is really about changing the narrative for black and brown students when they are told that they cannot make it out of the East Side. We’ve shown them – yes you can! Yes you can!”

At 19, Anderson was the youngest school board candidate in state history, a distinction he says he’ll be happy to pass on.

“I’ve etched my name in history,” he told Colorado Politics with a smile. “I hope that somebody else wants to come and beat the record now.”

A couple hours later, after election officials had updated returns – the totals in the District 4 race didn’t change much – Anderson said he’d accomplished much of what he set out to do when he launched his campaign in March while still a student at Manual, although didn’t sound ready to concede the race.

“It’s been a great ride. I’ve inspired 3,000 people to get behind our message, and that’s more than I could have ever asked for. Even if I come up short in this election, I’ve inspired people to continue to fight for public education. But it’s not over. I’ll continue to fight.”

Along the way, Anderson has drawn national coverage for his campaign and won the backing of another Manual alumni, Wellington Webb, Denver’s first African-American mayor and a towering figure in state politics for more than four decades. “Do you know any 19-year-old who wants to do something for nothing?” Webb would say and then look at Anderson with a nod. “I do.”

Other Anderson endorsers – all Democrats – include Senate Minority Leader Lucia Guzman of Denver, state Sen. Mike Merrifield of Colorado Springs and state Reps. Joe Salazar of Thornton and Jonathan Singer of Longmont.

Reflecting on the past eight months, Anderson said it was important to note his campaign had taken place entirely during President Donald Trump’s new administration.

“I’ve been in the resistance,” he said matter-of-factly. “That’s what I continue to fight for, to remain in the resistance against the president and show people it’s still possible to defy the odds and make history.”

Asked what he’s learned in the race, Anderson, who enrolled at Metro State University in the fall to study political science, smiled and said, “Politics is not easy, and it’s not like it seems on TV, where you just run out there and say whatever you want to say and get elected. You have to earn votes, and you’ve got to continue to represent all of our young people and understand that our city is very split.”

His best memory from the campaign trail, Anderson said, came earlier on Election Day, when he was getting out the vote in Park Hill.

“A 103-year-old woman told me this morning I would be her last vote,” Anderson said. He added that numerous 18-year-olds have told him that he’s getting their first vote. “We’ve had people cast their first votes and their last votes for us,” he said with a “can you believe it?” expression.

After talking with the woman in Park Hill – Anderson made clear that he’d told her he hoped she’d be casting more votes in next year’s elections – he felt buoyant walking down the sidewalk.

“It felt good,” he said. “It felt real good.”

At 11:30 p.m. on election night, with nearly all the vote counted, Anderson was running third with 24 percent of the vote. The incumbent, Rachele Espiritu, who supports the reform agenda, was in second place with 33 percent, and Jennifer Bacon, backed by the teachers’ union, held a solid lead with 43 percent.

Four of the Denver school board’s seven seats were on the ballot, and going into the election all the current directors – including Espiritu – were considered supporters of the district’s longstanding tilt toward school choice and charter schools, a direction Anderson and Bacon said they want to reverse.

In addition to Espiritu, incumbent Michael Johnson appeared to have been unseated in east-central Denver, falling by 3 points to Carrie Olson, a union-backed teacher. Former Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien, another reformer, won reelection to an at-large seat, while pro-reform candidate Angela Cobián won an open southwest Denver seat by a comfortable margin.

Earlier, Anderson thanked his supporters and encouraged them to celebrate.

“The election results are trying to say we’re last, but the last shall be the first,” he said. “We will continue the fight throughout the night. And if it is not our time to serve on our school board, my work with students is just beginning. I will not give up on our kids, because I did not get in this to be a quitter, or to be somebody who was just going to make a mark for themselves.

“I’m in this,” Anderson continued, “because I believe students deserve a voice – and whoever wins these four seats, if I’m not one of them, I’m going to be the biggest pain in their ass for the next four years.”