There are officially 13 candidates running for five Aurora City Council seats up for election this November, a number that dwindled from 20 after candidates submitted nomination petition sections to the City Clerk’s office.

Nomination petitions were due at the end of August, and the Aurora City Clerk’s office released the certified list of candidates who made the ballot for open seats in wards I, II, III and at-large.

As of Aug. 1, 20 candidates had signaled their intent to run for Aurora City Council, according to the city’s campaign finance system.

The certified candidate list showed that seven of those candidates did not make the ballot.

Ward I

There are four candidates on the final ballot for one open seat to represent ward I, currently held by Crystal Murillo, who is not running for re-election.

In the race are product development manager and former Denver city planner Stephen Elkins, pastor Reid Hettich, State of Colorado coordinator Gianina Horton and Great Education Colorado director Lea Steed.

Hettich is leading the financial race, with more than $19,000 in contributions to his campaign as of mid-September, according to the campaign finance system.

Elkins and Horton follow Hettich, with $12,672 and $12,139 in contributions respectively. Steed has raised the least for her campaign so far, with $8,153 in contributions.

Ward II

There are two candidates, incumbent Steve Sundberg and healthcare strategist and product developer Amy Wiles.

Sundberg has raised more than $71,000 for his campaign so far, and Wiles has raised almost $10,500.

Ward III

Ward III also has two candidates on the ballot — incumbent Ruben Medina and former city councilmember Marsha Berzins.

Berzins served as the Ward III councilmember from 2009 to 2021.

She is leading the financial race over Medina, with $33,549 and $10,880 respectively.

At-large

Five candidates, including both incumbents, are running for two at-large seats.

Current at-large councilmembers Danielle Jurinsky and Amsalu Kassaw are running to keep their seats on the council.

Three other candidates — DenverWorks CEO Rob Andrews, Community College of Aurora teacher Watson Gomes and social worker Alli Jackson — are running to replace Jurinsky and Kassaw.

Jurinsky holds a significant financial lead above the other four candidates, with $238,561 in campaign contributions. Following her is Kassaw with $80,108, then Andrews with $39,709, Jackson with $10,955 and Gomes with $170.

Candidates for at-large positions had to get 100 signatures of registered electors to have their names placed on the ballot. Candidates for ward positions needed 50 signatures within their ward. 

City Council candidates have to be at least 21 years old on election day and have to have lived in Aurora for at least one year before the election. Ward candidates have to live in the ward they are running for.

The Denver Gazette plans to interview each candidate about their campaign in coming weeks.

A separate ballot will also go out to residents, business owners and property owners along a segment of East Colfax Avenue in Aurora asking voters if they want to create a Downtown Development Authority for the area.

The authority would use existing revenue streams to fund improvements along the Colfax corridor, according to the city’s website.

More information about the DDA ballot question can be found on the city’s website.

Ballots will start going out in the mail to all registered voters on Oct. 10.