The Trump-aligned Aurora City Council member at the center of the Tren de Aragua apartment-takeover debate is narrowly lagging behind two progressive candidates: Alli Jackson and Rob Andrews.
If Jackson and Andrews win the two open at-large seats, they will have overthrown Republican incumbent Danielle Jurinsky and her colleague, Amsalu Kassaw, an Ethiopian immigrant she endorsed.
Jurinsky became the rare local politician to make national headlines by tying herself with the Trump administration. Her warnings about Venezuelan gang members drew national media attention and eventually led Trump and others to falsely claim that Tren de Aragua had taken over the city.
As of Wednesday morning, Republican incumbent Steve Sundberg was trailing his challenger, Amy Wiles, and progressives were winning all the Aurora City Council races, signaling a potential shake-up in Aurora politics, which has recently been dominated by Republicans. Progressives were also leading in the Douglas County school board race.
“It’s a sea change for Aurora. We are going from having seven conservatives and three progressives to six progressives and four conservatives,” said Councilmember Alison Coombs, a self-described leftist who was not up for re-election this year.
“And again, we’ve won all the seats. It was hard to imagine we would win all the seats given results in past years, which have been from mixed (results) to almost a sweep by conservatives.”
Jurinsky and Jackson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“I feel good,” Andrews told Denverite in a brief phone call.
Conservatives had a major financial advantage in the elections but could not capitalize. Jurinsky reported raising some $258,000 for the election, far outpacing Jackson and Andrews. Jackson raised just about $20,000 and Andrews about $50,000.
An independent conservative group, Building Aurora’s Future, also raised nearly $400,000 to spend on Jurinsky and others. In comparison, the left-leaning group New Era Colorado raised less than $10,000 to support Jackson and other candidates.
“Our council has gotten a lot of attention, often negative, for their conduct, their statements, their positions, and I think that really woke up a particular part of the community,” Coombs said.
Jurinsky’s legacy
Jurinsky made her mark on local — and national — politics by asserting that the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua had taken over several dilapidated apartment buildings in Aurora.
Jurinsky elevated the voice of Cindy Romero, a renter who videotaped six armed men entering an apartment across the hall from her — footage that went viral.
Jurinsky claimed the Aurora Police Department, City Hall and the Democratic establishment were ignoring — and even enabling — gang activity at the apartments and across the city.
Gang members committed crimes and had a presence at several apartment complexes associated with CBZ Management, a legally embattled company Mayor Mike Coffman described as an “out-of-state slumlord.” The company abandoned its properties, failed to pay loans and ultimately lost control of its apartments.
Then-candidate Trump heard Jurinsky’s message during the 2024 campaign. She took the stage with him weeks before the election at a speech in Aurora, when he dubbed his mass deportation strategy “Operation Aurora” — a name that has not stuck, though the practice has.
Tren de Aragua’s hardly the largest gang in the United States. But it has been singled out by the Trump administration as a terrorist threat. The gang’s reputation has been used to justify Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, mass deportations, deadly bombing of boats departing from Venezuela, and the administration’s consideration of a military invasion of Venezuela.
In the years since the Trump campaign, Jurinsky’s colorful reputation has grown locally. She challenged progressive activist MiDian Shofner to a charity fight, the Aurora Sentinel reported.
“MiDian, if you don’t meet me in the ring, I better never hear my name ever come out of your mouth again,” Jurinsky said on social media.
Shofner declined to fight in the ring, though progressives are leading at the ballot box.
Where things stand
Aurora Elections had tallied 26,675 votes for Andrews and 26,018 votes for Jackson, while Jurinsky trailed behind at 23,077.
The city of Aurora is divided between Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties. Jurinsky is only leading in conservative Douglas County and by less than 200 votes.
The other at-large candidates, Watson Gomes and incumbent Kassaw, trailed far behind the frontrunners.
Jurinsky’s loss would mirror other races across the nation in which Democratic candidates handily defeated Republicans, an upset to Trump’s claims of a national mandate.
Denverite editor Andrew Kenney contributed to this article.
