Democrats and an independent expenditure committee rained down mailers on House District 42 in Aurora on Wednesday in an attempt to steer voters away from embattled candidate Eric Nelson in the June 28 Democratic primary.

“Eric Nelson is a liar,” reads one side of an oversized, glossy postcard sent by the House Majority Project, an arm of the Colorado Democratic Party dedicated to electing Democrats to the state House. The other side of the mailer highlights what it terms “Eric Nelson’s violent criminal conduct” and quotes from the June 13 Colorado Statesman article that first reported questions about the candidate’s background and honesty.

State Rep. Alec Garnett, D-Denver, announced last week that the campaign committee was urging Nelson, an Aurora Public Schools Board member, to withdraw from the primary and endorsing his opponent, Dominique “Nikki” Jackson, in response to information uncovered by The Statesman.

On Wednesday, he said the mailers that landed in district mailboxes were just the first wave of an effort to keep Nelson from winning the primary.

“We didn’t get involved in this race lightly,” Garnett told The Statesman. “We thought it was really important for Democratic voters in House District 42 to know the truth about Mr. Nelson’s background and the fact he doesn’t represent our values.”

The committee sent the postcards to the roughly 3,000 likely Democratic voters in the district who hadn’t yet returned their mail ballots, a Democratic source said, and another mailer was destined for the same mailboxes by the end of the week.

Garnett said Democrats planned to field a team of canvassers to knock on doors throughout the district this weekend.

“What we are going to do is organize some active folks who have experience in the field and who care deeply about making sure that Nikki wins this race,” he said.

As of Wednesday afternoon, 1,977 House District 42 Democrats had cast ballots, according to records maintained by the Arapahoe County clerk’s office.

Nelson and Jackson are vying for the Democratic nomination for the seat held by term-limited state Rep. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora. Mike Donald is the sole Republican running to represent the heavily Democratic district.

In an exclusive report published last Monday, The Statesman detailed Nelson’s lengthy arrest record – include nearly a dozen charges that aren’t available on his current Colorado Bureau of Investigation report – and numerous unsubstantiated claims on the 38-year-old’s resume, including advanced degrees and military rank that didn’t comport with the facts. The web of alleged misrepresentations only grew through the week as The Statesman investigation continued.

While Nelson has admitted to some of the criminal incidents on his record, maintaining he’s changed his ways and learned from his mistakes, he has vehemently denied most of the other allegations, calling them “smear tactics” intended to sway voters and stymie his political aspirations.

“Political attacks will not distract nor will I be dismayed from championing the issues that my community has locally elected me to do and will do if elected to the state level,” he said in a statement sent to supporters and posted on social media. “As a man of faith, quitting is simply not allowed.”

On Tuesday night, the president and all but one other member of the Aurora school board called on Nelson to step down from the board at its meeting, but he declined.

“I have no intention of resigning from this board,” he said. “The people of Aurora elected me to do this job, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

He was elected to a four-year term on the school board in 2013.

Garnett said on Wednesday that Nelson’s reaction to the allegations only firmed his resolve to keep Nelson from winning higher office.

“It shows he is completely out of touch with what his community expects and who they want as their elected representative,” Garnett said, adding that he was “stunned” that the school board’s resolve didn’t jolt Nelson.

“It’s almost the definition of being out of touch,” Garnett said. “What he does is, he just chooses this make-believe, fantasy world over what the real world is trying to communicate to him. That’s another reason we had to take this unprecedented action, because he refused to see the writing on the walls.”

District residents are also receiving mailings this week from an organization called Concerned Citizens for Aurora Families, an independent expenditure committee that popped up on Tuesday with Facebook ads targeted at Aurora residents.

In its registration documents filed last Tuesday with the secretary of state, the committee lists its purpose as educating Colorado voters about legislative candidates and “opposing candidates with criminal backgrounds.”

So far, according to notices of independent expenditure, the committee has only opposed Nelson.

The group reported spending $5,652 on mailings on Friday and then another $5,749 on mailings on Monday. It also reported spending $1,500 on digital advertising this week.

A mailing attributed to the committee received by district voters on Wednesday highlighted passages from articles and an editorial about Nelson that appeared in The Statesman and The Aurora Sentinel. “Meet Eric Nelson,” a headline on the flier reads. “Dozens of arrests, including for domestic violence. Bigamy charges. Lying about degrees.”

While the committee hasn’t had to file any reports listing its contributors – the first report with those details is due Monday – it shares a filing agent, Julie Wells, with numerous Democratic-leaning independent expenditure and other political committees.

Representatives for the committee didn’t reply to messages seeking comment.

“I am by far the most experienced candidate in the race, as well as the candidate with the longest and deepest roots in the community,” Nelson said in a Wednesday email to supporters.

He didn’t respond to a request for comment for this article.

– ernest@coloradostatesman.com