Aurora will honor its departing council member and welcome new councilmembers at two receptions the first week of December as the council prepares to shift gears.

While election results are not yet official, pending final certification due to the Secretary of State no later than Nov. 29, results as of Thursday show clear leads for Aurora’s open seats. 

Assuming the current vote counts hold, Mike Coffman will remain mayor, new candidate Stephanie Hancock will take over for Juan Marcano in Ward IV, previous at-large member Angela Lawson will replace Alison Coombs in Ward V, incumbent Francoise Bergan will keep her seat in Ward VI, and previous Ward V member Coombs will replace Lawson for at-large council along with incumbent Curtis Gardner. 

On Dec. 1, Aurora will honor departing councilmember Marcano with a reception from 3 to 3:45 p.m. to thank him for his service to the city and wish him well. 

On Dec. 4, Aurora will congratulate its new and re-elected councilmembers in a reception from 5:30 to 6:15 p.m., before the Monday council meeting. 

Both receptions will happen in the Aurora Municipal Center Lobby, 15151 E. Alameda Parkway.

The terms of newly elected and re-elected officials officially begin at the commencement of the first regular council meeting in December, following the reception. The meeting comes right after the Dec. 4 reception. 

Though the city’s political races are nonpartisan, conservative members currently hold a 6-4 majority on the council. If election results hold, two ward council seats previously held by progressives will go to conservatives and one at-large council seat would go to a progressive candidate. Conservatives currently occupy all four of the at-large seats, two of which were up for grabs on Election Day.

This means conservatives will gain a seat, bolstering their majority to 7-3.

The race for mayor is practically over, save the official declaration. Coffman easily defeated his progressive competitor, Marcano. As of the most recent results, Coffman was up 52.57% over Marcano, who trailed with 40.58% and Jeffrey Sanford at 6.85%.

Meanwhile, Hancock leads over her progressive competitor Jonathan Gray, 53.74% to 46.26%, for the Ward IV council seat.

In Ward V, Lawson holds the edge over Chris Rhodes, 61.05% to 38.95%.

In Ward VI, incumbent Bergan also holds a wide lead over her Brian Matise, 60.41% to 39.59%.

In the at-large council race, in which two candidates will be chosen, Coombs leads with 28.71% and Gardner trails closely behind, with 27.02%.

In third and fourth place respectively are progressive candidate Thomas Mayes, with 22.58%, and conservative candidate Jono Scott, with 21.69%.