August 15, 2023 01:16 PM UTC

ABC: Aurora Dems Unite To Take Down Mike Coffman

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: The Aurora Sentinel:

Andrews’ exit leaves Marcano as the Democratic frontrunner and main challenger to Coffman, a Republican military veteran who boasts a lengthy resume in Colorado politics. Coffman was elected mayor in 2019 after losing his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives to Jason Crow…

[Marcano] said Andrews agreed to pull out of the race after the two talked one-on-one last week about the best way to defeat Coffman and ensure a Democratic majority on the council.

As a cautionary tale, Marcano described how Republican Marsha Berzins was elected to her Ward III council seat with about a third of the overall vote in 2017 after facing off against multiple Democrats.

“It’s just simple math at the end of the day,” Marcano said. “We have a lot of unmet needs throughout our community. Rob and I have a lot of shared values, and we both want to address those needs. … Aurora should have a progressive majority on City Council so we can start making the necessary investments in our community around child care, and affordable housing, and wages, and bottom-up economic development that will actually deliver a city where everyone can thrive.”

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9NEWS’ Kyle Clark reported last night on a potentially significant development in the Aurora mayoral race–Rob Andrews, a registered Democrat and nonprofit director, is dropping out of the race and endorsing City Councilman Juan Marcano’s bid to unseat incumbent Republican Mayor Mike Coffman in this November’s most nominally nonpartisan of citywide elections.

Consolidation behind a single opponent is bad news for Coffman, who as readers know was elected to his seat in 2019 by the narrowest of margins in a five-way race. Since then, Coffman has plotted to solidify his grip on the city council by installing with controversially direct support a slate of conservative candidates that included Coffman’s former staffer Dustin Zvonek, followed by Coffman’s surreptitious effort this year to run a “strong mayor” ballot initiative with conservative dark money support. And it hasn’t been easy as the “Coffman majority” on the City Council embroiled itself in partisan grandstands over COVID-19 health measures and earned bad press over outrageous racist gaffes and embarrassing self-owns like declaring “you are not safe in Aurora,” which Coffman himself had to walk back on their behalf.

Coffman’s bold strategy for taking over the Aurora city government faces its greatest test this November. If Coffman wins re-election and gets his “strong mayor” initiative over the finish line, it’s a triumph that will continue to defy the state’s overall Democratic political evolution. But if the paradigm-changing results of this year’s mayoral election in Colorado Springs are any indicator, Mike Coffman could be in for a world of hurt in November.

This consolidation around Marcano is something that needed to happen to make that happen.