Three more Democratic candidates, six in all, have declared their intention to seek the House District 42 seat left vacant when Rep. Dominique Jackson resigned to take an appointment as Region 8 Administrator for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The vacancy election will take place at 5 p.m. on Jan. 10 at the MLK Library in Aurora.

In addition to Dr. Kyle Leggott, Gail Pough and Eric Durane Nelson, three other candidates are seeking the seat.

They include Debi Hunter Holen, who served as an at-large member of Aurora City Council from 2011 to 2015. A Denver native, she graduated from Lincoln High and attended the Community College of Aurora. She is married to former Arapahoe County Commissioner Bill Holen. She has two sons. 

Holen worked for Aurora Public Schools for 18 years in media service, special education and later in the office of equity and engagement. She also served as the president of the Nuñez Foundation, which supports disadvantaged students through summer camps. 

In 2020, Hunter Holen was attacked and injured on the Highline Canal by a random stranger who was later arrested. (He pled not guilty by reason of insanity). The attack resulted in 32 staples in her head, a broken scapula, three broken ribs and one finger that was shattered and now has little movement.

Holen said if “focused on what happened,” it would lead to anxiety and letting the attacker have power over her. Instead, after she recovered, she and friends walked two miles down the Highline Canal, including past the scene of the attack. She has walked more than 3,000 miles since the July, 2020 attack. 

“I really believe that I am the most qualified candidate,” Holen said, adding she has lived and been involved in the community since moving to Aurora more than 30 years ago.

She said joining the legislature would be a “good fit to make further changes,” such as working on environmental issues, including water conservation, and strengthening the Colorado Water Plan. She’s also interested in working on homelessness, but said there’s a lack of focus on mental health and how it affects long-term sustainability. A plethora of nonprofits and organizations focused on homelessness exist, but with a limited amount of money to address the problem, she said. 

“When I talk about mental health, I talk about the effects of traumatic brain injury,” she said, adding that it isn’t always part of long-term care by those who are incarcerated.

There’s a bench on the Highland Canal, near 2nd and Oswego, purchased by longtime lobbyist Maria Garcia-Berry in honor of Holen’s survival and adaptation. The bench has this inscription: “walking in solitude, sanctity returns.”

Another candidate is Lea (pronounced Lee) Steed, who has been the director of equity for Great Education Colorado for the past five years. A native of Aurora, Steed ran for the Aurora School board in 2017. She graduated from Hinckley High and has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the University of Northern Colorado. Steed has two daughters and two grandchildren. 

“I’ve seen Colorado grow, and during that time Aurora has moved slowly with that growth,” she said, adding that led to her interest in the cost of housing.

“We all need an opportunity to grow in the spaces we live in. I don’t see that happening in HD 42,” Steed told Colorado Politics. 

Housing developments are popping up and people are being housed, but there are also hundreds of people on the street, she noted.

“We can do better as a state and a district.” She’s also interested in mental health issues, noting that 30% of unhoused citizens suffer from mental illness.  She also believes in reaching out to organizations that are doing the grassroots work on these issues but whose voices aren’t being heard.

Steed also cited education funding as a policy area. Teachers are leaving the profession, and “you can’t live here in Colorado” on a salary of $40,000 per year, when jobs at Amazon are paying as well and with a lot less stress. “You are not a master teacher until the fifth year, yet many leave in the second year, and that’s a disruption to students.” Schools with black and brown students need those master teachers the most, she said. 

She walks the talk; she once worked at Amazon part-time while working another job full-time.

“This can’t be the life that single women need,” Steed said.

Mandy Lindsay is Jackson’s legislative aide and a native of Littleton. She graduated from Chatfield High and attended Tulane University. She’s lived in Aurora since 2013. Lindsay is a Hispanic mother of four and works as an admin team manager for a mass vaccine clinic. She’s been the chair of the HD42 Democrats since 2018. She has also been a professional organizer with her own small business during the past decade.

“Our district has a lot of needs. While we don’t have a lot of economic power, we have the power of the ballot box. We need to have our voices heard and how to work to fix it.”

Lindsay said Jackson has been a great representative and hopes to continue some of the initiatives Jackson championed, such as affordable housing. She also has a passion for healthcare, with lived experience without it. “It echoes a lot of what I hear in the community; people share the same struggles,” including how to make it through the pandemic and how to survive on one income. Lindsay is also interested in access to education and school funding as well as mental health care and the environment.

The community is quite diverse, so immigration issues also are on her radar. 

Leggott, Pough, Nelson and Hunter Holen are also candidates for the June 28 Democratic primary for the 2022 election. Lindsay intends to be a candidate for HD 42 in the 2022 election; Steed is exploring a run for the HD 42 seat.

Cory Parella of Aurora is so far the lone Republican seeking the HD42 seat next year.

The Colorado House, with Jackson’s resignation, is now 32-32 women to men.