If voters based their support on candidates’ last names (which they don’t – probably), Aaron Goldhamer would cruise to victory in next year’s state House District 8 race.

“People say, with a name like Goldhamer, you either need to join ‘The Strong Arm’ or be his arch-nemesis,” Goldhamer, an attorney, said of the well-advertised Denver lawyer Frank Azar.

“I think it’s gonna take a lot of hard work beyond the mere name, but I think I’m gonna keep the name. I can tell you that much.”

Meanwhile, Leslie Herod has built quite a name for herself over the years. The Denver Park Hill resident has served in a number of public policy-focused capacities, including as a senior policy adviser to former Gov. Bill Ritter.

Herod also hopes to join three other lawmakers who share a special distinction — the only African American women at the General Assembly.

“Our African American women are strong (in HD 8) and so it would be an honor to represent them, but also to represent all women of color across the state, and make sure young people understand that this is an option for them and that they can represent their communities as well,” Herod said.

Herod and Goldhammer are Democrats who will compete in an HD 8 primary next year. The winner will almost certainly win the seat in the general election race because HD 8 is the most heavily Democratic district in the state.

The district includes much of central Denver, including Park Hill, neighborhoods near Cheesman Park and parts of Curtis and Congress Parks.

The district has about 64,000 residents, with African Americans and Hispanics making up about 40 percent of the population.

The district’s current representative, Democrat Beth McCann, is term-limited through 2016 and is among three Democrats running for Denver district attorney.

Goldhamer seeks justice for all

Goldhamer is a Denver native with a law degree from Georgetown University. He is also a Yale graduate who majored in ethics, politics and economics.

He has practiced law in Denver since 2009 and represents clients who are victims of fraud or injury by those who are in a position of trust. He has contributed pro bono legal work on various social justice issues, including campaign finance and First Amendment rights.

Goldhamer’s campaign website features a gold-colored hammer logo and an icon of the scales of justice, which sits above a phrase that reads: Justice for all.

“At its core, I think justice is fairness and having a society where everyone is treated fairly. To me, it means we have a society that’s respecting everyone’s basic rights, and one that is also economically fair.

In an aim to achieve greater economic justice, Goldhamer hopes to overturn a state law that prohibits cities from creating their own minimum wage. Golhamer said Denver’s minimum wage should be closer to $15 an hour.

“I don’t think it’s fair that someone can work 40 hours a week and live in poverty,” he said.

Goldhamer also seeks to bolster the state’s earned-income tax credit, which he calls “a fantastic anti-poverty tool.” And he hopes to remove barriers in state law to allow cities to enact rent control.

Economic justice also means doing something about Denver’s affordable housing crisis, a problem that has had an effect on HD 8’s diverse make-up, Goldhamer said.

“You’ve got people getting pushed out of their longtime neighborhoods, and it’s tearing apart the social fabric in a lot of ways,” he said.

But Goldhamer doesn’t think that solving the affordable housing issue is as simple as building more homes and apartments in a city where seemingly everyone from every other state wants to move.

“If we’re gonna have affordable housing accomplished, we have to make sure we’re supporting the transportation infrastructure to go with it, “he said. “Because it’s the parking and the traffic that drive people crazy. If we have meaningful public transportation options that are really robust, then we can actually support this denser development.”

Herod touts public policy chops

Herod was born to a single mother who was an officer in the Army Nurse Corps. After graduating from the University of Colorado — where she was elected president of the student union’s legislative council — she immediately entered the public policy arena.

That work started as a staffer for the Colorado Legislative Council, where she instructed lawmakers about the ins and outs of creating law.

“I staffed the General Assembly, advising them on Robert’s Rules of Order, how committees work, how to calendar bills,” she said. “Those are things I don’t have to re-learn and I can really hit the ground running for district 8.”

Herod went on to become a senior policy adviser for Ritter in areas that included mental health, social services and criminal justice. She later became a program director for the Gill Foundation, a gay-rights advocacy group. She currently serves on the board for Urban Peak, a homeless-youth services agency.

Herod said when she surveys voters in her district, they tell her education is among the most important issues facing their community.

“Right now our education system is failing Northeast Denver,” Herod said. “My priority is to increase funding in general and in Northeast Denver. The Achievement gap is magnified in Northeast Denver.”

Like Goldhamer, Herod sees affordable housing as pivotal issue facing district residents. She said she would like to work on increasing the state’s affordable housing fund if she is elected.

“What we’re seeing is people not only not being able to afford Park Hill and Cheesman Park, but they are also being priced out of north Park Hill, Whittier, Curtis Park. That’s something we need to address.”

Herod also believes lawmakers need to take a long look at criminal justice policy. She would like to see law that focuses on crime prevention and better reintegrating offenders into society.

“With Northeast Denver, we do have a higher crime rate than other parts of the state, but we also have fewer opportunities for people to succeed. And we need to look at that.”

McCann said she won’t be endorsing either candidate as her potential successor.

“I think both are excellent,” she said. “I think either one of them would be very good representatives. I am very conflicted.”

— Twitter: @VicVela1