The unofficial final results of last week’s election for the Colorado Springs City Council don’t set a clear tone for the new council.

Incumbents Dave Donelson and Nancy Henjum won reelection but in the other four districts, fundraising totals and endorsements did not always carry the day.

Two of the incoming council members are set to be Kimberly Gold from District 4 and Roland Rainey Jr. from District 6. The new representatives credited their successful bids to sincerity, successful door-knocking and possibly the low turnout in April elections.

“Overall, I think that voters wanted a council that is strong, that will fight for them, that will be willing to say no when required,” Rainey said.

The official results of the April 1election will be certified between April 9 and 11 to allow for ballot curing and overseas returns. The four new council members will be sworn in to office during a ceremony the morning of April 14 at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum.

This year was Rainey’s second campaign for a city office, after he ran for at-large council seats in 2023 but finished far down the ballot. Rainey said his success this year was about voters liking his sincerity and the strength of his background as a veteran and small business owner.

Rainey had the lowest campaign contribution total of any of the council members who won election this year at $6,025. His contributions trailed far behind Parth Melpakam, the school board president for Colorado Springs District 11, who received just over $32,000 in contributions, according to city filings.

During the 2021 City Council election, all six district seats were won by the candidate who received the most campaign donations. The lowest fundraising total for a winning candidate that year was $18,000, brought in by current District 6 Councilman Mike O’Malley.

This year campaign funds did not go quite as far. Henjum and Tom Bailey were the only two candidates who led in fundraising and at the ballot box. In districts 1 and 3, Donelson and Brandy Williams were neck-and-neck with another candidate for their campaign contribution totals.

Gold won District 4 with $16,300 in total contributions, around $6,000 less than Sherrea Elliott-Sterling. She credited her strong network of campaign volunteers who helped spread her message to the community in a lot of different venues.

“It comes from an all-angles approach, whether that’s through door-knocking or social media or going out to community events or having conversations around the proverbial coffee table and dinner table,” Gold said.

Melpakam and Elliott-Sterling’s funding edges were in large part due to endorsements and donations from the Housing & Building Association of Colorado Springs, which provided each of them $10,000. Both also received an additional $5,000 contribution from Vantage Homes.

The most notable endorsement Gold and Rainey shared was a joint statement of support from the Colorado Springs Police Protective Association and the Colorado Springs Professional Firefighters Association. Sherryl Dillon, director of the Police Protective Association, said the groups held separate processes to consider the candidates but happened to agree on the preferred candidates in four districts.

The other two candidates who received joint support were Henjum and Lee Lehmkuhl, who ran against Donelson in District 1.

Gold and Rainey both said it was harder to hear a directive from voters when turnout is low. Less than 24% of Colorado Springs’ registered voters took part in the April election. In District 4 the turnout this year was 13.4%, which means that just 5,785 votes were cast in the southeast district. 

“There is a responsibility as community leaders, I’m not saying specifically the City Council, but all community leaders need to work together and work harder and get better voter turnout,” Gold said.

Gold said she had already started talking to District 4’s current Councilwoman Yolanda Avila to get some institutional knowledge about the city. One of the first district-specific issues that will come up is the final adoption of the Southeast Strong Community Plan, which Avila had worked on for years.

Rainey said his priority when he officially takes office will be meeting with Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez to talk about staffing needs and major crime issues. He reiterated his campaign promise to hold a public town hall during his first 60 days in office to talk about issues like road infrastructure and growth.

“These are all very urgent topics where we have to have stakeholders at the table and communicating or we cannot feel sure about what to do,” Rainey said.