It's election time in Aurora once again, and voters will decide who will be their mayor for the next four years.
The Aurora mayor sits on the council and votes alongside other council members.
But unlike strong-mayor systems like Denver, Aurora's City Council has more power on policy decisions. The city manager, appointed by City Council, hires staff for the city, presents a budget and implements policies.
Divides between Democrats and Republicans have defined Council and Mayoral policy in recent years. For example, a slight Republican majority on Council passed an urban camping ban and voted down a minimum wage increase, both with 6-5 votes.
While the mayoral race is nonpartisan, the political affiliation of the Mayor and elected Councilmembers could change the balance of power in Aurora government. The incumbent, Mayor Mike Coffman, has a long history in politics as a Republican representative in state and Congress. City Councilmember Juan Marcano is touting his identity as a Democrat, while Jeff Sanford has emphasized his lack of explicit affiliation in the race.
These are the three candidates, in the order they appear on the ballot:
Coffman is running for his second term as mayor after winning the seat in 2019.
Before his time as mayor, Coffman served in the U.S. Army Reserve to the Marine Corps and worked at a property management firm. He has also served terms as a Republican representative in the Colorado State House of Representatives, Colorado State Senate, Colorado State Treasurer, Colorado Secretary of State and U.S. House of Representatives between the 1980s and 2010s.
Coffman pointed to his focus on staffing up the Aurora Police Department, passing an urban camping ban and working to expand housing as proudest achievements from his first term. Coffman also led a controversial attempt to expand mayoral authority and create a strong-mayor system, with the support of a conservative political nonprofit. The ballot measure did not have enough time to make it onto the November ballot.
"Aurora is the 51st largest city in the United States and the third largest city in Colorado," Coffman said about the measure. "The City and County of Denver has a strong mayor form of government or mayor-council form of government, and Colorado Springs most recently converted to that and I think it's time for Aurora to do the same."
If elected to a second term, Coffman said he would focus on reducing crime rates, responding to homelessness and expanding affordable housing. Coffman said his approach to public safety involves competitive pay for officers, advocating for tougher sentences for repeat offenders and expanding the ability of mental health professionals to respond to emergency calls. He also wants to expand small business opportunities for immigrants and refugees.
To expand housing, Coffman pointed to his work with Proposition 123 which expanded state dollars for affordable housing.
"I'm looking at, how can we change our regulations, whether it's zoning, whether it's looking at new ways to build housing such as modular construction, in terms of what we can do to lower the cost from the city standpoint, and encourage the construction of more affordable housing in our city," he said. "I think we need more density in terms of housing, more multifamily housing, as opposed to single family homes."
Marcano wants to bring his Council experience to the Mayor's seat.
Marcano moved to the U.S. from Puerto Rico as a child and worked as an architectural designer before his election to Aurora's Ward IV City Council seat in 2019. While Aurora's fall election is nonpartisan, Marcano is running as part of a Democratic slate of candidates. Marcano was a member of the Denver Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) chapter, but canceled his membership following DSA's controversial statement on Israel and Palestine.
During his time as a Councilmember, Marcano pointed to his work on campaign finance reform and Aurora's pandemic response.
"While some of my colleagues were yelling at each other about masks and vaccines, I got together with a couple of local providers who had vaccine equity licenses from the state, but they didn't have big enough spaces to actually administer vaccines to our underserved populations," Marcano said. "We successfully vaccinated something like 3,500 people over a couple of weekends."
If elected Mayor, Marcano said he would focus on public safety, housing and homelessness.
"This whole,'strong on crime' or 'tough on crime' thing, it's a really good slogan, but it's really meaningless," he said. "What we need to actually do is address the root causes, and a lot of this comes down to socioeconomic issues in certain communities and households even, where folks don't have stable housing, they don't have enough money at the end of the month to make ends meet."
Marcano wants Aurora to grow civilian emergency response teams and mental health programs, and strengthen partnerships with school districts to support youth. As Mayor, he said he would again push to raise Aurora's minimum wage -- an effort he led that failed in 2020 -- and support economic development for immigrants and refugees. He also wants the city to grow its investment into land banking and supporting nonprofit developers to grow housing. He said he has seen Aurora's affordability issues firsthand with the costly housing market.
"My wife and I, we earn more than the median income in Aurora, but we still can't afford a single home here, so we're stuck renting, and there are a lot of people who are in that same boat," he said.
Sanford wants to enter politics after a career in the military.
After more than two decades in the military, Sanford worked as a manager in the public and private sectors of the defense industry. He did not list a party affiliation, and said political divisions drove him into the race.
"I don't accept campaign donations, I have not sought nor accepted any endorsements, I am truly a citizen running for public office and relying on the free press to report on my candidacy," he said.
If elected mayor, Sanford said he wants Aurora to develop a master plan that focuses on economic development, infrastructure projects and employee retention in local government. He said he wants Aurora to focus on expanding rec center hours, parks and open space, and growing opportunities for youth.
On public safety, Sanford said the department has to work on recruiting committed officers.
"There are so many great officers that want to make a difference, and they want to have a career, not just a job, in the Aurora police force, but you have to have buy-in from folks that are applying, not just a paycheck," he said. "If you don't have a vision, or a plan, you just can't buy your way out of where Aurora is right now.
Sanford said he wants to lower property taxes to help people struggling with their mortgages and rent. He also wants to grow incentives for developers to build housing.
"Then we can look at transportation corridors, renegotiate with RTD on their long range plans and how they're supporting the city of Aurora," he said.
Click here for our full crash course guide to Aurora's November election.
