Today is April 7, 2023 and here is what you need to know:

Despite a strong rally in the last three vote tallies, Lisa Calderón failed to overtake Kelly Brough and secure a spot in the runoff election for the next mayor of Denver.

Mike Johnston, meanwhile, maintained his lead in a dominant performance that persisted through the last two days. 

So far, Johnston holds 24.45% of the vote, with Brough at 20% and Calderón at 18%.   

The last tally at 2 p.m. Thursday, which counted roughly 22,000 votes, gave Calderón 5,208 votes, compared to Brough’s 3,525.

But it was insufficient to put Calderón in second place.

With a runoff election between Kelly Brough and Mike Johnston all but guaranteed, political experts said the two candidates, who offer largely similar solutions to Denver’s most pressing issues, would have to find a way to distinguish their campaigns from each other, capitalize on strategies that have worked so far and fine tune their messaging to voters.

They’ll need to do it amidst what many expect to be another deluge of outside spending from groups that may choose to go negative in a city that historically has recoiled from mudslinging in elections.

They’ll also need to figure out how to court Denverites who flocked to the race’s more progressive candidates – notably state Rep. Leslie Herod and Lisa Calderon, who secured nearly 29 percent of the votes combined – and, at the same time, persuade Andy Rougeot’s backers to throw their weight behind them. Rougeot, the only Republican candidate in the race, received nearly 12 percent of the vote, the unofficial tally showed.

And they’ll need to raise money – a lot more than what they hauled in so far.

“Now the race changes a bit,” said Alan Salazar, chief of staff to outgoing Mayor Michael Hancock. “They’re going to go back to raising more money and getting their message out. So, the next couple of months are going to be very challenging to both of them.”

Mike Johnston, who is headed for a runoff in the race for Denver mayor, on Thursday announced endorsements from former Colorado House Speaker Terrance Carroll and former Colorado Senate President Peter Groff. 

Both highlighted Johnston’s work in serving communities he has represented, either as a nonprofit leader or as a legislator.

Carroll pointed to Johnston’s work as CEO for a non-profit focused on affordable housing and closing income gaps, while Groff praised Johnston for his time in the Senate after Groff went to work for the Obama administration. 

Carroll was the first and so far only African American to become speaker in the state House. Johnston previously earned Carroll’s support when he unsuccessfully ran to unseat then Sen. Cory Gardner. Between political runs, Johnston served as president and CEO of Gary Community Ventures, stepping down in November of 2022. 

The Mississippi Democrat who chaired the bipartisan House Jan. 6 select committee told Colorado Democrats that the panel’s investigation into the attack on the U.S. Capitol concluded that former President Donald Trump had brought the country to the brink of losing its democracy.

In a fiery keynote address delivered at the party’s annual fundraising dinner on April 1 in Denver, U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson served up an inside view of the 18-month investigation mixed with sharply partisan rhetoric, all delivered in the relaxed cadence familiar to millions of viewers who watched the panel’s televised hearings last summer and fall.

“Well, everything you saw on Jan. 6 really happened,” Thompson told the 1,100 supporters who packed a ballroom at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel for the Democrats’ annual Obama Gala.

“The reason I say that is, the group now wants you to believe that what you saw with your own eyes didn’t happen,” he added, referring to House Republicans, who took the gavel in January soon after the committee issued its conclusions and disbanded.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has for more than two decades accepted luxury trips nearly every year from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow without reporting them on financial disclosure forms, ProPublica reports.

In a lengthy story published Thursday the nonprofit investigative journalism organization catalogs various trips Thomas has taken aboard Crow’s yacht and private jet as well as to Crow’s private resort in the Adirondacks. A 2019 trip to Indonesia the story detailed could have cost more than $500,000 had Thomas chartered the plane and yacht himself, ProPublica reported.

Supreme Court justices, like other federal judges, are required to file an annual financial disclosure report which asks them to list gifts they have received. It was not clear why Thomas omitted the trips, but under a judiciary policy guide consulted by The Associated Press, food, lodging or entertainment received as “personal hospitality of any individual” does not need to be reported if it is at the personal residence of that individual or their family. That said, the exception to reporting is not supposed to cover “transportation that substitutes for commercial transportation” and properties owned by an entity.

A Supreme Court spokeswoman acknowledged an email from the AP seeking comment from Thomas but did not provide any additional information. ProPublica wrote that Thomas did not respond to a detailed list of questions from the organization.