2 Centennial Citizen
November 11, 2021
COUNCIL FROM PAGE 1
Robyn Carnes, a candidate for Centennial City Council, right, stands with City CouncilCOURTESY PHOTO member Kathy Turley at a Carnes campaign event on election night.
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Robyn Carnes amassed a large lead over Fernando Branch on election night and held it, winning with 55.3% to Branch’s 44.7% in unofficial returns as of Nov. 8. District 1 is the far west part of the city, encompassing most of the portion between South Broadway and Colorado Boulevard. Carnes and Branch ran to replace Councilmember Kathy Turley, who is term limited. Carnes is a vice president of expansion for Rescue America, a national organization that provides a 24/7 hotline and emergency response system to help survivors of sex trafficking. During the campaign, Carnes sent out a mailer that said voters should elect her to keep a “conservative majority” on the Centennial City Council. Carnes said that although Centennial City Council races are officially nonpartisan, voters often don’t treat the election that way. “When I was walking neighborhoods, the No. 1 question I was asked is, ‘Are you a Republican or a Democrat, or are you conservative or liberal?’” Carnes told the Centennial Citizen. Regarding the mailer her campaign sent, Carnes told the Citizen that the word “conservative” meant “a conservative approach.” “When we say conservative, it’s a conservative view to taxes. It’s a conservative view to public safety, versus extremists,” Carnes said. In a Sept. 29 campaign newsletter, Carnes referred to her opponent, Branch, as “far left” based on a questionnaire. The two candidates were both given a series of questions to answer from a program called ActiVote, Carnes told the Citizen. She said she wasn’t planning to take the questionnaire but that she did because Branch did. ActiVote provides “easy access to your elections and what candidates really stand for, while filtering out all the noise,” according to its website. Based on the answers, the program placed them on a spectrum, Carnes said. In her newsletter, Carnes wrote: “I fall near center on the political spectrum.” Carnes received campaign contributions from Suzanne Taheri, the Arapahoe County Republican Party chair; Heidi Ganahl, a Republican on the University of Colorado Board of Regents who is running for Colorado governor; Kathleen Conti, a Republican former state representative and former Arapahoe County commissioner; and Susan Beckman, a Republican former state representative from Littleton and former Arapahoe County commissioner and Littleton city councilmember. Asked about the absence of prominent Democrats among her campaign contributors, Carnes said it might be based on whom she asked for support. She added: “I think that if you’re going to have to plot me, I’m center, I’m a little bit center-right.” Carnes also received a campaign contribution from Schumé Navarro, who ran this year as a candidate for Cherry Creek school board. Navarro also received a contribution from
Carnes. Navarro was chosen as secretary of the Arapahoe County Republican Party this year.
‘I would say I’m left leaning’ Branch worked as a teacher for 10 years and as an assistant principal for about eight years. He serves in a philanthropic position as the senior director of partnerships and programs at the Colorado “I Have A Dream” Foundation, an organization that helps students around the Front Range get “to and through” college, Branch said. Branch disagreed with the results of the political questionnaire, telling the Citizen: ““I see myself as a little bit of where (Carnes) sees herself … I would say I’m left-leaning but very much in the center.” Branch’s campaign website said he supports “radical change for social justice reform.” The website adds: “Social justice movements are alive and should not be feared. Centennial is a beacon of hope for what is possible when city governance works with law enforcement to find the right way. We all can choose the issues that most stir our passions for justice to ensure that Centennial is leading the State and the nation in this issue.” Regarding law enforcement, if there are gaps for improvement, the city should talk about it, Branch said. “I believe in Arapahoe County, the justice, equity, diversity things around hiring and implementing those trainings, they’re doing a great job” already, Branch said. “I want to support them to do an even better job.” Branch also serves on Centennial’s Public Safety Advisory board, according to a bio page online. Branch and other residents of Centennial give feedback to the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, which provides police services in the city, and hear perspective from deputies on how law enforcement handles certain situations, Branch said. He feels that “we can do a better job of ensuring that those young men and young women, or other, feel that they’re showing up as their best selves,” Branch said, saying he wants to support officers’ mental health. “Officers, just like any other profession, need to have … their mental health and their social-emotional needs met,” Branch said. “The steps I gave you today as far as police reform, that’s my ‘radical’ change,” Branch said. Former Centennial City Councilmember Vorry Moon endorsed Branch, according to his campaign website, and Branch said he also was endorsed by U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, D-Centennial. His campaign contributions showed many donations from out of state, which Branch said came from friends and family. “I have a pretty big network … friends, family, people who know me and love me dearly,” Branch said. The trend in donations “makes total sense being a first-time candidate,” said Branch, who said his past couple months of donations have been primarily Centennial-based. Carnes, interviewed a few days after the election, spoke in collaborative tones and said she wants to work with others “for the betterment of SEE COUNCIL, P3
