The Democratic vacancy committee charged with replacing Rep. Dominique Jackson, D-Aurora, faced COVID and contentious questions about some of the candidates before selecting Mandy Lindsay, Jackson’s former legislative aide and the chair of House District 42, as her replacement.

Jackson was named regional 8 administrator for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development last month.

The vacancy committee meeting for the Aurora district was initially scheduled to take place Monday night at the Martin Luther King, Jr. library in Aurora. But it was rescheduled to a virtual meeting based on COVID-19 concerns.

As it turns out, those concerns were well-placed: two of the candidates, including Lindsay, are both battling the virus.

Lindsay told Colorado Politics she started quarantining on Jan. 4 and is awaiting the results of a PCR test to determine if she can be sworn in on Thursday, Jan. 13, a date selected by the vacancy committee.

Lindsay won the seat on the second ballot, besting Gail Pough, a retired fire inspector with the City of Aurora. Lindsay drew 20 votes to Pough’s 14.

Lindsay and Pough emerged from the first round of balloting, besting Dr. Kyle Leggott, Debi Hunter Holen and Eric Nelson. Vacancy committee members were asked to pick three candidates out of the five. (A sixth candidate, Lea Steed, withdrew). 

Lindsay’s nomination was backed by David Ellis, who spoke against Nelson and Hunter Holen in the Zoom chat during the election meeting. Most of his comments were directed at Nelson and his history of alleged academic and military fraud. Nelson addressed the issue in his nominating speech, stating that those matters took place 16 years ago and that he deserves a second chance.

Ellis’ remarks later drew a rebuke from Keith Parker, the district’s 2nd vice chair, who was running the election since Lindsay and Hunter Holen, the HD42 vice chair, were both candidates. 

Sens. Rhonda Fields, who backed Pough, and Janet Buckner, who both represent Aurora in the state Senate, participated in the vacancy election. 

This won’t be the last time all five candidates face off. All five have filed to run for the HD 42 seat in the November election. The June 22 primary will determine which candidates moves on.