Lisa Calderón, former Denver mayoral candidate and current chief of staff for Denver City Councilwoman Candi CdeBaca, is appealing a case against Denver Mayor Michael Hancock’s administration.

A federal judge in September dismissed a lawsuit Calderón filed last year, which alleged the city had failed to renew a contract with the Community Re-Entry Project (CRP), an organization Calderon ran, in retaliation over her criticism of Hancock.

Chief U.S. District Judge Philip Brimmer ruled there wasn’t proper standing for the lawsuit, and that any damages would have affected CRP and her employer, not Calderón.

But Calderón and her attorney Patricia Bangert aren’t giving up.

“Now more than ever, it is very important to challenge government actors who abuse their authority, and to fight for the rights of city workers, minority contractors, and women who face discrimination and retaliation,” Calderón said in a statement Thursday.

The Denver City Attorney’s Office responded to Colorado Politics’ questions about the appeal in an email.

“The city firmly believes that the District Court’s dismissal of Ms. Calderón’s complaint was well supported, and it will continue to defend itself in this case,” spokesman Ryan Luby wrote. “At this time, we cannot comment further, as Ms. Calderón has not yet formulated the basis of her appeal.”

Calderón also is weighing whether to bring forward a new retaliation lawsuit after being “barred from receiving information about the city’s current reentry contracts” and “threatened with an ethics complaint by the city’s Attorney’s Office” if she didn’t back down, the press release stated.

The case will now make its way to the Tenth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.