Antonio Mendez
Antonio Mendez ran for election to the Denver City Council to represent District 10 in Colorado. He lost in the general election on May 7, 2019.
Mendez completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Antonio Mendez received a bachelor's degree from Colby College in 2006 and a J.D. from University of Denver Sturm College of Law in 2014. Mendez’s career experience includes working as the executive director with Serve Colorado - Governor's Commission on Community Service and as the deputy chief of staff for the lieutenant governor's office. He has been affiliated with America's Service Commission and the Colorado Creative Industries Board.[1]
Elections
2019
See also: City elections in Denver, Colorado (2019)
General runoff election
General runoff election for Denver City Council District 10
Christopher Hinds defeated incumbent Wayne New in the general runoff election for Denver City Council District 10 on June 4, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Christopher Hinds (Nonpartisan) | 53.4 | 9,746 |
 | Wayne New (Nonpartisan) | 46.6 | 8,499 | |
| Total votes: 18,245 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
General election
General election for Denver City Council District 10
Incumbent Wayne New and Christopher Hinds advanced to a runoff. They defeated Antonio Mendez, Tony Smith, and Patrick Key in the general election for Denver City Council District 10 on May 7, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Wayne New (Nonpartisan) | 39.0 | 7,878 |
| ✔ | | Christopher Hinds (Nonpartisan) | 30.3 | 6,130 |
 | Antonio Mendez (Nonpartisan) | 16.6 | 3,347 | |
| Tony Smith (Nonpartisan) | 14.1 | 2,849 | ||
| Patrick Key (Nonpartisan) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 2 | ||
| Total votes: 20,206 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Antonio Mendez completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Mendez's responses.
What would be your top three priorities, if elected?
- We need to address the Affordable Housing crisis we have in Denver. The city has become unaffordable and we need to address the low condo stock that hinders first time buyers from owning their home, create more affordable housing units as there is an obvious need for that, and fix our construction defect laws to encourage developers to move away from single-family homes and consider mixed-use and mixed-income developments. - The Opioid Epidemic - Our city, as well as our state and our country, has seen opioid abuse rise dramatically. We need to address this issue with programs like Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD). If criminalization worked, we would have solved this problem. We need to remove morality from the conversation and treat this addiction as a medical illness. - Transit and Multi-modal transportation - Over 70% of Denver residents commute to work by themselves in a car with only 6% taking public transportation. This is clogging our roads, ruining our air quality, and making it difficult to commute. We need to invest more in our public transit with a focus on our bus system. We need to make buses efficient, effective, and affordable. As the G line demonstrated, light rail transit can be costly and construction can be marred with delays. By employing more drivers, improving frequency of bus times and lowering costs, more residents will use the bus system.
What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?
- Multi-Modal Transit - Housing - Health - Education - Workforce Development - Environmental Regulation - 55 policies
Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?
My parents. My parents immigrated to this country in 1979 and 1980 respectively from the Dominican Republic. They started as factory workers and eventually graduated from Columbia University. My parents taught me that education is incredibly important and, as social workers, that it is our responsibility to help those we can and to give back.
Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?
The West Wing. While some might think of Aaron Sorkin's work as "politically optimistic and naive" I find it inspirational. Josh Lyman and Sam Seaborn were heroes of mine (in fact I applied to the Fulbright Scholarship because Josh mentions it in an episode). "I think ambition is good. I think overreaching is good. I think giving people a vision of government that's more than Social Security checks and debt reduction is good. I think government should be optimistic."
What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?
Honesty, integrity, compassion, and flexibility.
What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?
1. Experience - I've been Deputy Chief of Staff to two lieutenant Governor's and I currently serves as Executive Director of Serve Colorado - The Governor's Commission on Community Service. I oversee a $5 million dollar budget with a $12 million dollar economic impact to the state. 2. Ambition - Unlike the current officeholder, I see the potential for our district and our city and have the energy to realize that ambition. Our district is marred with economic disparities and policies only seem to focus on improving things for the wealthy few of the district.
What legacy would you like to leave?
That all of us do better. Vice-President Humphrey said it best, "The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.” I hope my legacy would be that those groups would struggle less and that we, as a city, would be more compassionate with ourselves and each other.
What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?
The Oklahoma City Bombing. I was sick from school that day and watched the news coverage with my aunt. I was ten years old at that time and I wished nothing like that ever happened where I lived (New York). Six years later 9/11 happened.
What was your very first job? How long did you have it?
I was a bagger at a local supermarket. I worked for tips because I was too young, 12 years old. I had it for the entire summer of 97.
What is your favorite book? Why?
Neil Gaiman's American God's or Patrick Rothfuss's Name of the Wind. Both have complex characters and an interesting stroy.
What is your favorite thing in your home or apartment? Why?
Our balcony. We have a view of the mountains to the Southwest and the Colorado State Capitol to the East.
What was the last song that got stuck in your head?
Khalid "Better".
What is something that has been a struggle in your life?
I grew up lower middle class. Financial security has been a struggle until recently. For the first time in my life I am not living check to check and I have some "breathing room". That experience has given me invaluable perspective on what the average American and Denverite's everyday challenges.
Are there any little-known powers or responsibilities held by this office that you believe more people should be aware of?
I think people need to realize that our leader and their stories serve as symbols for the larger community. Who we choose to lead us should represent the narrative we hope to pursue, whether that be business-focused, community-driven, optimistic, change-focused, etc.
Do you believe that it’s beneficial for holders of this office to have previous experience in government or politics?
I think it's incredibly important. While I understand, and value, varying perspectives, I think it's important for people to understand the limitations of government and how the system functions. This kind of experience leads to effective use of time and a quicker on-boarding process. I also believe bad policy or laws come about when leaders have little experience and do not think about the possible consequences of their policies.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2019 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted on Ballotpedia’s biographical information submission form on May 22, 2019
| |||||||||
