With Aurora’s November election rapidly approaching, city residents will have several big decisions to make in choosing the next city leaders.

Voters will choose between several candidates for mayor, at-large councilmembers and councilmembers for districts (called “wards”)  four, five and six. 

Election Day is Nov. 7 and candidates elected to office in 2023 will serve four-year terms ending in 2027. Their terms will begin at the commencement of the first regular council meeting in December following the election.

Aurora’s mayor and councilmembers all serve staggered four-year terms and other council seats not up for election in 2023 will be up for election in November 2025. 

Candidates are nominated by petition sections from the City Clerk’s office.

Aurora residents will elect a mayor, with challengers taking on incumbent Mayor Mike Coffman, two at-large councilmembers, currently Curtis Gardner and Angela Lawson, a Ward 4 councilmember, currently Juan Marcano, a Ward 5 councilmember, currently Alison Coombs, and a Ward 6 councilmember, currently Francoise Bergan. 

The candidates who will appear on November’s ballot are as follows. 

Mayoral candidates

Incumbent Mike Coffman 

Coffman was elected mayor of Aurora in 2019 after growing up in Aurora, attending Aurora Public Schools and graduating from the University of Colorado, according to his website.

He has a three-decade career in government, including serving in Colorado’s State House of Representatives, State Senate and U.S. House of Representatives as well as being elected Colorado State Treasurer and Secretary of State. 

Juan Marcano

Marcano is currently Aurora’s Ward IV councilmember and has a professional history in architectural design at several firms in Colorado and Texas, according to his website.

Marcano also serves as chair of the Transportation, Airports and Public Works policy committee, vice-chair of the Housing, Neighborhood Services and Redevelopment policy committee, and is a member of Arapahoe County’s Transportation Forum Executive Committee and Visit Aurora. 

Jeffrey Sanford

Sanford is a resident of Aurora with a background in military service and public administration, according to his Facebook page. 

He studied at American Military University, Metropolitan State University of Denver and University of Colorado – Denver. 

At-large council members (2)

Alison Coombs

Coombs is currently Aurora’s Ward V councilmember and works in case management for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, according to her website.

She serves on several council policy and community committees, including Neighborhood Services and Redevelopment, Visit Aurora, Aurora Pride and Denver Regional Council of Governments. 

Incumbent Curtis Gardner

Gardner currently serves as an at-large councilmember and mayor pro-tem for Aurora. 

He works in public sector solutions management in the solid waste industry and has lived in Aurora most of his life, according to his website. Gardner attended Aurora Public and Cherry Creek Schools, according to his website.

Gardner serves on various boards and community groups including Aurora Citizens Advisory Budget Committee and Aurora Cultural Arts District. 

Thomas Mayes

Mayes is a Colorado native and graduate of Denver East High School, according to his website. He is a Vietnam veteran who has served on the Aurora Police Department’s Victims Witness Advisory Board and Independent Review Board. Mayes is the founder of non-profit E.S.C.A.P.E.: Everyone Sharing Child Abuse Prevention Education. 

Jono Scott

Raised in Aurora, Scott is a pastor, foodbank director and executive officer on Aurora’s budget committee. 

He was appointed to the Citizens’ Advisory Budget Committee in 2018 and has served as an executive officer for the past five years.

Ward IV council member

Jonathan Gray

Gray is a Denver native with a background in non-profit work, education and finance, according to his website. He has a master’s degree in Public Administration and currently works in finance for Arapahoe County’s Department of Human Services. 

Stephanie Hancock

Hancock has lived and raised her family in Aurora’s Eastridge community for more than 25 years, according to her website. She is a small business owner and president of the Aurora Cultural Arts District.

Ward V council member

Angela Lawson

Lawson is currently an at-large councilmember in Aurora and has worked in public service since 2005, when she worked at the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office, according to her website. She chairs the Federal State and Intergovernmental Relations policy committee. 

Chris Rhodes

Rhodes is an Aurora resident and has spent his time living in the city unionizing United Airlines workers at DIA and community organizing in Aurora around economic justice issues, according to his website. 

Ward VI council member

Incumbent Francoise Bergan 

Bergan, who is retired, was elected to her first term on council in 2015 and re-elected in 2019. She chairs the Planning and Economic Development council policy committee and is the vice chair on the Management and Finance policy committee, according to her website.

Brian Matise

Matise has been an Aurora resident for over 20 years and has worked as a public school teacher and partner at Burg Simpson law firm, from which he retired in June, according to his website.