AURORA | An Arapahoe County Democratic Party vacancy committee selected Aurora activist Jamie Jackson Wednesday as House District 41 representative.
Jackson won the seat with 10 of 19 vacancy committee votes.
Three Aurora Democrats applied to fill an open seat to replace former Rep. Iman Jodeh, who resigned from the position earlier in January after winning the open State Senate 29 seat in another vacancy contest. Jodeh won the state Senate seat, vacated by Janet Buckner after winning re-election to the position in November.
“I’m a proven leader who’s been doing the work in our community and at the Capitol, and I’m ready to bring that experience to this role on Day One,” Jackson said Wednesday after being nominated.
Jackson, Aly DeWills-Marcano and Anne Keke, all vied for Colorado State House District 41 seat.
Jackson, a Denver native and longtime community advocate, brings extensive experience in criminal justice reform and public health. Currently serving as the Chief Operating Officer at The Naloxone Project, Jackson said she has dedicated her career to saving lives and fostering second chances.
“What greater way to serve your community than to be able to save someone’s life and give them another chance to do things the right way?” she told the Sentinel earlier in January.
She also serves as the vice president of the Colorado Black Women for Political Action and the criminal justice chairperson for Aurora NAACP.
“Housing is a human right, and so affordability is one of the policy priorities that I have,” she said.
Jackson’s policy priorities include housing affordability, healthcare access and equity, criminal justice reform and evidence-based criminal justice reform. She is passionate about protecting aging populations and ensuring access to high-quality healthcare.
“It’s so important for us to make sure that the legislation that we’re passing is grounded and based on evidence because we don’t have money to throw away,” she said about careful legislative choices for a deficit budget.
Keke is a board member for the Aurora Public Schools. She is an immigrant from Cote d’Ivoire, educator and single mother who has boasts her record of community service and leadership.
DeWills-Marcano is a longtime advocate for working families and touted what she said is a deep understanding of the daily challenges faced by Aurora residents. DeWills-Marcano is married to former Aurora City Councilmember Juan Marcano.
Calling her an “Aurora activist” is pretty off base. I looked at her resume – what has she done in Aurora besides be regional manager of GEO private prisons?Is that “activism”? Everything else is in Denver. This is just another case of Denver politicos paying for control in Aurora. Sad.
While enthusiasm surrounds Jamie Jackson’s appointment to House District 41, her claimed “activist” status merits scrutiny. Unlike Aly DeWills-Marcano and Dr. Anne Keke, who have demonstrable community engagement, Jackson has been notably absent from Aurora’s civic landscape over the past decade.
Aly DeWills-Marcano stands out with her substantive community involvement, including serving as precinct chair and secretary. Her professional work with Congressman Jason Crow, particularly her advocacy at the Aurora ICE facility, demonstrates a consistent commitment to compassionate policy-making.
Jackson’s previous employment with GEO during critical ICE facility protests, combined with inconsistent statements about her tenure, raises significant questions about her transparency — a crucial quality for public service.
The reported intervention by local Democratic leaders, who allegedly contacted precinct officers with misleading candidate information, further undermines the selection process’s integrity. This tactics threatens the democratic principles of fair representation.
Ultimately, Aurora voters deserve a representative with proven community engagement, genuine transparency, and a demonstrable track record of service.
Juan Marcano and his far-left crazies are furious that Jackson was selected. I don’t know anything about her, but the fact that the socialists hate her means that she must be OK.
It’s funny how when you’re fighting for the rights of all people and you just happen to be black you labeled as an activist, i’ve never heard White representatives referred to as activist, just another way of saying them folks, those people, just another way of Identifying Black people as other!