Councilwoman Deborah "Debbie" Ortega

Over 40 Years in Public Service

In ways large and small, Councilwoman At-Large Debbie Ortega has been a Denver public servant for decades. A
trailblazer, Debbie co-sponsored Denver’s first equal protection ordinance, led the fight to force cleanup of Asarco
environmental waste in Globeville and Elyria-Swansea, elected by colleagues as Council President in 1994 and 1995,
during opening of Coors Field - in her district and opening of Denver International Airport, and is still helping
struggling Denverites find housing as Del Norte’s Board Chair. Debbie’s decades of experience in municipal public
policy, along with her history of standing up to special interests, and being fiscally conservative with taxpayers dollars,
has helped make Denver safer and more prosperous for everyone.

That’s why, as one of Denver’s citywide councilors, she was re-elected in 2019 by a historic margin – receiving
23,000 more votes than the incumbent mayor.

Debbie was born in New Mexico, the daughter of a coal miner who was killed on the job. Raised along with her
brother and four sisters by her mother, Debbie and her family moved to Denver when she was 13. She attended
Denver Public Schools and graduated from West High School. She attended Barnes Business College and worked
for DU’s Law School Clinical Education Program. Straightaway, Debbie went into public service – working for Lt. Gov.
George Brown, and for U.S. Sen. Floyd Haskell. After working for several years as an aide to Denver City
Councilman Sal Carpio, Debbie was elected as his successor in 1987, serving until 2003 – when she and nine
colleagues were term-limited.

After leaving her council position, Debbie became the Denver Homeless Commission’s first Executive Director. She’s
also Board Chair for Del Norte Neighborhood Development Corporation, a non-profit that builds affordable housing.
She has served on numerous boards and commissions, such as Denver Women’s Commission, Healthy Foods for
Denver Kids, Opioid Abatement Council, and Denver’s Crime Prevention & Control Commission. Debbie also co-
chaired Denver’s 2020 census.

Debbie was elected to one of Denver’s citywide at-large council seats in 2011, and was re-elected twice thereafter.
She is the only one who has served a district council member and came back to serve again, in a citywide seat.

While in office, Debbie has been an independent voice for neighborhoods left behind by city hall – standing up to
powerful mayors and siding with people on issues such as the 2013 Hentzell Park land swap for a downtown Denver
Public Schools (DPS) property, the expensive Platte to Park Hill drainage project that tripled in cost, and in
1991, Debbie blocked a medical waste incinerator that was permitted to be sited in North Denver. She was one of two
votes against the Hancock administration’s disastrous Denver International Airport (DIA) Great Hall remodeling plan.
Before development of LoDo, Debbie brought the preservation community and property owners together to support
the creation of the Lower Downtown Historic District.

Debbie Ortega, along with her daughter, Janelle, a Major in Denver’s Sheriff’s Department, and her five grandchildren
(one U.S. Air Force and two U.S. Navy veterans) are all products of Denver Public Schools.