Democrat Nancy Jackson is parrying a challenge from a well-funded GOP opponent in District 4, while Republican Nancy Sharpe is trying to hold onto her position in District 2.
Sharpe’s District 2 covers Centennial, Greenwood Village and the bulk of southwest Aurora, loosely running from Cherry Creek Reservoir to the north, Colorado Boulevard to the west, Tower Road to the east and County Line Road to the south. District 4, which Jackson oversees, roughly encompasses everything between Quebec Street to the west, East Mississippi Avenue to the north, Buckley Road to the west and East Smokey Hill Road to the south, while curving around Cherry Creek State Park.
The commission’s five districts are divided by population. Each of the five commissioners earn an annual salary of about $100,000, according to state and county data. Commissioners are charged with setting the county budget, hiring the management team and establishing land use policy, among some other duties.
The three other commissioners on the board, Jeff Baker of District 3, Kathleen Conti of District 1 and Bill Holen of District 5, are not up for re-election this year. They were each elected two years ago and will serve at least through January 2021, pending re-election results.
NANCY JACKSON
Democrat Nancy Jackson holds a PhD in communications and worked as a professor in the discipline at the Community College of Aurora for some 20 years. She is seeking her third and final term.
WINFRED DEAL
Republican Winfred Deal is a “career coach” and veteran of the U.S. Air Force. He flew more than 50 combat missions in Vietnam, according to his campaign website. Deal is a freshman political candidate but not a political newcomer — he helped manage local campaigns for U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman and former U.S. Sen. Bill Armstrong.
Jackson, a former communications consultant and professor at the Community College of Aurora, is running for a third and final term on the county commission against Republican Winfred Deal. A political newcomer, Deal is a “career coach” and veteran of the U.S. Air Force. He flew more than 50 combat missions in Vietnam, according to his campaign website.
Deal, who helped manage local campaigns for U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman and former U.S. Sen. Bill Armstrong, described himself as a “fiscal conservative and a social moderate.”
Deal said he was chosen as a candidate at an assembly of Arapahoe County Republicans earlier this year.
“I will never run again, but I just waned to give it a shot,” he said.
Reflecting on her recent term, Jackson said she was proud of the commission’s development of a “justice navigator” position, which helps repeat criminal offenders transition out of detention and into housing or the workforce.
Jackson said she hopes to keep the board more politically balanced for at least four more years. It currently comprises three Republicans and two Democrats.
“I think, especially in this day and age of polarization, having a board that’s balanced — and even though we’re in the minority — at least that voice is heard,” she said. “Aurora especially has particular needs that Democrats typically stand up for.
“The fact that Aurora is so diverse and we do have the preponderance of folks who use human services and the justice system — I think many folks would lose a voice at the table and I think that would be a shame.”
Jackson, who sits on the county’s executive budget committee and long-term budget committee, added she’d like to use her institutional knowledge of the county budget to effectively complete her tenure on the commission.
“It does take a while to learn the complexity of all the different offices and all the departments,” she said. “With a tight budget we have to prioritize and that’s one of the things I think is really important, is for a commissioner to have that county-wide perspective, and balance all of our various departmental needs with the amount of money we have. It requires a lot of thinking and a lot of data.”
Deal has received endorsements from the other Republicans on the commission: Baker, Conti and Sharpe.
Deal has proven to be the high roller in the District 4 contest, tallying about $13,000 thus far, which is about $2,000 more than the sum spent among all candidates in the 2014 race for District 4, according to campaign finance filings. At least $8,000 of Deal’s total comes from loans he financed himself, according to campaign finance records. The Republican has spent about $10,000 and has about $2,800 saved. Jackson has netted about $5,000 and spent a fifth of her funds so far in the race. She still has slightly more than $5,000 on-hand due to carryover funds from previous campaigns.