Denver City Councilmember Sarah Parady officially resigned Wednesday, citing an undisclosed illness.

Her resignation prompted the Denver City Council to pass a resolution declaring the seat vacant and setting a special election for Nov. 3 to coincide with Colorado’s general election.

She announced that she would be stepping down June 1 but delayed her departure. Parady joined the City Council in July 2023.

Parady, a labor attorney, pushed some of the most progressive policies in the city, such as the proposal to remove restrictions on Denver’s needle exchange programs. She sought to move the entire budget of the Department of Public Safety team responsible for reaching out to homeless people elsewhere.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston vetoed the syringe measure last year, calling it “the wrong solution at the wrong time” in a letter to the council. The measure would have removed the cap on the number of sites permitted for such exchanges and lift a distance barrier that prohibited their operation within 1,000 feet of schools and daycare centers.

The year before, she authored a proposal — approved by the City Council but vetoed by Johnston — that would have banned homeless encampment sweeps when temperatures fall below 32 degrees. The goal was to “move people only during warming periods,” Parady had said. The mayor said it contravened the city’s camping ban.

The special election will fill the seat for the remainder of Parady’s term, which ends in July 2027.

In 2025, voters approved a charter amendment that designated Denver’s two at-large City Council offices as Councilmember at-large seat A and Councilmember at-large seat B. Parady’s resignation leaves a vacancy for Councilmember at-large seat B.

Under Denver’s special election rules, the candidate receiving the most votes will qualify and take office immediately.

Parady scheduled her resignation to give election officials time to add the race to the November ballot, reducing the expense and complications of a stand-alone election.

Members of the Denver City Council issued a proclamation honoring her work and service.

During her tenure, Parady, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America,  sponsored more than 20 bills and 30 budget amendments, a majority of which passed.

Among the most recent efforts led by or supported by Parady was a citywide moratorium on data center construction. She backed the push against the city’s use of license plate reading cameras.

“The reason we don’t legislate quickly is that you have to sit with everybody and persuade them fully on the merits of what you’re trying to do, and that can take a really long time,” said an emotional Parady about the City Council. “And we’ve all been in both chairs there. You know, we’ve been the ones trying to persuade and we’ve been the ones on the receiving end of the persuasion, and that’s why you see the vast majority of legislation that comes through this body passing unanimously or by a supermajority.”

So far, the Denver Clerk and Recorder’s Office lists eight candidates for City Council at-large seat B: Kristina Maldonado Bad Hand, Julissa Soto, Jeff Walker, Alfredo Reyes, Antonio Martinez, LouVonia Parham, Gabriel Konkle and Monica Martinez.

Residents can find additional information on the Denver Clerk and Recorder’s website.