Saturday was a day for the metro Black community to elevate The Coach, celebrate recent political wins and chart a path to more victories next year and beyond.
In case you missed it, the governor of Colorado proclaimed Dec. 6, 2025 “John Bailey Day.”
The governor on Saturday was state Senate President James Coleman. Both Gov. Jared Polis and Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera were out of town over the weekend. State protocol hands over the office to the Senate president.
Coleman, a Democrat, lightheartedly told participants at a meeting of the Colorado Black Roundtable in Denver that the historical stars aligned on Saturday. The event marked a bevy of progressive Election Day victories in Denver, Aurora and across the state. It also became a moment for a Black Colorado governor to bestow a special honor on one of the state’s most prominent Black community members.
“Whereas, John has been very influential in the Denver community and has a knack for asking the hard questions. His hard work, no-nonsense attitude, his problem-solving and organizational skills, as well as his sense of humor have gained him high respect from all sectors of the Denver and national communities,” therefore, acting Gov. Coleman proclaimed it John Bailey Day.
Affectionately known as “Coach” by thousands, Bailey has for years headed up the roundtable, a popular and consequential coalition of Black leaders, activists and community members advocating for a wide range of causes. Top concerns for years have been issues surrounding youth equity and violence. Bailey is an ardent believer that education, school sports and youth programming are a critical part of a healthy minority community. He’s spent a lifetime coaching kids on the courts and fields, as well as adults on their way and into public offices and service.
Politely appreciative, Bailey was clearly more interested in dissecting recent elections across the metro area where voters took a hard left turn at the ballot box.
In Aurora, voters not only booted MAGA Republicans off the city council, turning control of the council dais over to progressives. And for the first time in the city’s history, the council is now minority-majority, much like the city itself. Six of the City Council’s 10 members are either Black or Hispanic.
Roundtable members also lauded a decision by Denver voters to uphold retail vape restrictions. The Cherry Creek School Board’s new president, Angela Garland, was at the roundtable meeting. So was outgoing Aurora Public Schools board president Ann Keke, both Black women.
Bailey and others said that hard work, not luck, had brought forth a seismic political shift across the state, resulting in a historic level of progressives and Black leaders in key positions.
Bailey and others flashed back to when Ben Franklin lauded founding fathers for creating a nice little Republic “if you can keep it.”
Denver Democratic state Rep. Jennifer Bacon told the group that new leaders need to stand fast to the campaign planks that got them elected.
“Don’t be afraid to stand up for who we are,” Bacon said.
She and others took shots at some congressional Democrats and others for backing down from challenges created by the new Trump administration and stalwart GOP congressional allies.
She and other leaders said Democrats need to restore workplace diversity programs and a steadfast belief that Colorado will succeed when state and local lawmakers work collaboratively to ensure that all boats rise together.
But the entire group marveled at how a vastly outspent band of Aurora Democrats ousted what appeared to be entrenched far-right Trump supporters.
Veteran former state lawmaker and House Speaker Terrance Carroll, a Denver Democrat, said it was a job well done but hardly a miracle in a place where the vast majority of Aurora residents align themselves with liberal causes, not MAGA mandates.
“We finally found a way to get candidates elected that actually represent the people of Aurora,” Carroll said.
Newly elected Aurora Councilmember Gianina Horton said progressive lawmakers will immediately address reversing “damage” done by the previous city council, but that she sees the key to success as being collaborative and accountable.
Aurora activist Maya Wheeler, an announced candidate for the Arapahoe County Commission, said she’s still having a difficult time getting beyond the past four years of hard-right control of the Aurora city council, especially by some now-former members, such as Danielle Jurinsky.
Jurinsky launched and drove a campaign to villainize the Venezuelan immigrant community. She appeared repeatedly on far-right national TV news shows to promote a false narrative that the city was overrun by Venezuelan gangs. She later tried to back-down from her rhetoric, but instead drew Trump to Aurora for a campaign rally last year.
There, he promoted a mass-deportation campaign he dubbed “Operation Aurora.”
Jurinsky also became the face of an effort to push back against a state-mandated police consent decree. The decree was imposed in 2021 after a statewide investigation determined clear “patterns and practices” of excessive use by police, especially against people of color.
Earlier this year, Jurinsky, who has argued publicly with local activist MiDian Shoffner over a long-standing controversy surrounding the police shooting of Kilyn Lewis, said on social media she wanted to “fight” Shoffner in public.
Jurinsky proposed getting in the ring at a public venue to battle, with proceeds from tickets sold benefitting local non-profit groups.
“Do we really need that kind of stuff?” Wheeler asked the audience. She said newly elected Aurora representatives are replacing people like Trump and Jurinsky who suffer from “King complexes,” antithetical to the communities in the area.
“They took back the power,” Wheeler said. “It’s a new day in Aurora.”
She, too, said the challenge now will be to keep it.
Aurora Rev. Thomas Mayes, president of the Aurora NAACP, said Republicans are already making it clear they want control of the city back.
“We don’t have time to celebrate,” Mayes said. “They’re mad at us. They’re not stupid and they are already preparing the groundwork to turn this around.”
The key to keeping progressives elected will be in keeping voters voting, he said. “We have to support our candidates to prepare like never before to get out the vote.”
But for a few hours on a Saturday, roundtable participants said it just felt good to acknowledge a lot of hard work and sweet successes.
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Why don’t we look for common sense things that help the public instead of looking for ways to get back at the other side. The whiplash is killing us. Quit trying to reverse everything just because the other side did it. Both sides have some merit. Both sides are wrong about some things. Let us look at what is good for the community and put aside your little agendas and your quest to destroy the other side. The radical ideas on both sides are just that. Radical ideas. The “us against them thing” is not working well for most of us. The public is in the middle with a desire to be safe, prosperous, and healthy. We would like an objective and fair look at things. Not a political look.
In another column, one of the new council members explains the approach of the progressive majority: https://sentinelcolorado.com/opinion/andrews-we-can-and-will-shape-auroras-new-era-together/