AURORA | The heated Democratic primary contest for House District 41 in Aurora has concluded, but controversy over dark-money-driven attack ads and claims of racism, colorism and “sour grapes” continues to smolder.
The controversy surrounds Aurora Public Schools Board Director Anne Keke’s challenge to House District 41 Rep. Jamie Jackson for the Democratic nomination for the seat. The challenge came amid a bevy of Democratic Party primaries among state House, Senate and county commission seats, all fueled by so-called dark money groups buying hundreds of thousands of dollars in attack ads.
“I continue to be disheartened by the dark money smear campaign that diminished my work for students and our community, and relied on racism and colorism to win,” Keke said in a video posted to social media after the June 30 primary election results were made official. While she also congratulated James on her win, she repeated claims she made before the election about racism in attack ads. “Our community deserves better, and this approach to campaigning is exactly why voters are disgusted with politics in America.”
Both Jackson and Keke are Black, and members across the local Black community have raised questions about the claims and the ads themselves.
“Brother Jeff” Fard, a prominent Black community organizer and podcaster, told the Sentinel that, in this particular primary contest, the charge of racism is “a more difficult case to make.”
“I don’t want to discount the notion that race can play a role in elections; it can,” Fard said. “However, in this case, where you have two candidates who are Black women, you have to ask, ‘racism in service of whom?’”
The Aurora House seat opened about two years ago when then Democratic state Rep. Iman Jodeh was appointed to a local state Senate seat vacated by former state Sen. Janet Buckner, just after the November 2024 Election.
Both Keke, then serving her first term on the APS school board, and Aly DeWills-Marcano lost a vacancy committee contest for the House seat to political newcomer Jackson.
Running for election to the seat this year as an incumbent, Jackson was challenged unsuccessfully by Keke in a Democratic county assembly earlier this year. She then petitioned onto the primary ballot.
She lost the June 30 primary election, with Jackson getting about 54% of the vote, according to county election data.
As the election heated up, Keke targeted Jackson for having once worked for the same company that runs the local ICE immigration detention facility in Aurora. Jackson, however, worked for a different subsidiary as a state employee charged with helping former state prison members re-integrate into work lives.
Jackson targeted Keke for having just won re-election to her APS school board seat and then launching a campaign for the House District 41 seat.
In May and June, independent expenditure committees began producing attack ads against both candidates. Controversial One Main Street provided cash for attack ads against Jackson. Groups related to the Colorado AFL-CIO and Colorado Labor Action groups provided cash for attack ads against Keke.
A photo of the mailer shot inside and provided to the Sentinel. 
The original campaign photo, provided by Anne Keke, which has come under controversy linked to allegations of her image being manipulated in an attack ad. PHOTO VIA ANNE KEKE CAMPAIGN 
n attack ad against House District 41 Democratic challenger Anne Keke, provided to the Sentinel by creators of the ad denying Keke’s claim that the ad was purposely darkened. PHOTO BY SENTINEL COLORADO. 
an attack ad against House District 41 Democratic challenger Anne Keke, which she says paints false “racist tropes” against her by an independent expenditure committee in the waning days before the June 30 primary election. Keke said the photo of her was darkened by the ads creators. The creators of the ad deny the claim and provided a copy of the mailer, which appeared differently. PHOTO VIA KEKE CAMPAIGN. The address has been blurred by the Sentinel.
Democratic primary races in Colorado saw record amounts of spending from political action committees and independent expenditures this primary cycle; however, the spending by Colorado Labor Action was a direct response to that of One Main Street Colorado, a pro-business group that does not disclose its donors, which also backed Keke in the HD41 primary. Previous filings revealed that some of the major donors for One Main Street are connected to the oil and gas industry, charter school groups, and real estate developers.
Roughly $350,000 was spent by outside PACs and IECs in HD41 alone, according to reporting by the Colorado Sun. Likewise, in HD 42, more than $400,000 was spent by similar groups.
It was those attack ads from the Colorado pro-labor groups that drew ire from Keke, saying the ads depicting her were purposely darkened and showed her likeness with piles of cash.
Keke maintained her accusation that Colorado Labor Action, the political spending arm of the Colorado AFL-CIO, engaged in racist and colorist stereotypes in its mailers against her. Officials from both groups have repeatedly denied the allegations.
Colorism is commonly defined as prejudice or discrimination typically favoring people with lighter skin over darker skin; however, colorism is a complex social issue, and there are ongoing discussions within social justice and communities of color on the topic, experts say.
Keke has specifically said she does not hold Jackson’s campaign accountable for the ads she says were produced by “dark money groups.”
Keke said in a previous June 19 statement that the AFL-CIO was engaging in racist and colorist tropes, attaching a photo of the president of the Colorado AFL-CIO, Dennis Dougherty, who is white.
The Sentinel has repeatedly asked One Main Street Colorado for comment, with no response.
Controversy surrounding how people of color are depicted in media has flourished for decades, but it reached a fever pitch in June 1994 when Time Magazine published a purposely manipulated mug shot of OJ Simpson on its cover.
The magazine staff defended the move, saying it was only meant to draw drama and intrigue into the story. Critics said the photo intentionally tried to make Simpson look sinister. The magazine eventually apologized, admitting that the manipulation was wrong.
In the case of attack ads using a Facebook photo of Keke, production artists linked to the ad consistently denied any manipulation and shared internal documents with the Sentinel, specifically precluding it. A darker hue between the Facebook photo and an image made public by Keke was part of the print production process, production artists said.
Regardless of the production details and intent of the attack ad, some political experts say the impact of any attack, direct-mail advertisement is limited at best.
Seth Masket, a professor of political science at the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs, said in an interview that such mailers can have diminishing returns.
“With how much campaign spending races are seeing, even primary races, voters have become somewhat desensitized to mailers,” Masket said.
Unions and others in Aurora’s Black community respond
The Colorado AFL-CIO, as well as other members of Aurora’s Black community — including Jackson — have pushed back against Keke’s characterization of the mailers as racist and colorist.
Jackson called the events surrounding the election “disheartening and disappointing.”
“Allegations of racism are serious and should not be brushed aside,” Jackson told the Sentinel. “At the same time, they should not be accepted as true without first examining the relevant facts and circumstances.”
Keke alleged that photos used in campaign mailers were racist and compared them to imagery from the Jim Crow era, Jackson said, repeating Keke’s claims made on social media and in a June press release.
“As a Black woman, I find that comparison deeply offensive,” Jackson said. “It is a serious misunderstanding of the history of that period.”
Jackson said that what defined Jim Crow era iconography was its intended purpose to “dehumanize Black people by portraying them as animalistic, inferior, and unworthy of equal rights, thereby reinforcing systemic racial oppression.”
The ads inferred that Keke took a high-paying job with a charter school support agency and had sold out for money. An image of her face is imposed on bundles of cash.
Jackson added that “reducing one of the darkest periods in American history to a political talking point diminishes the significance of that era, distorts its brutal realities, and disrespects the experiences of those who endured its oppression.”
Jackson further pushed back against Keke’s claim that the AFL-CIO “relied on racism and colorism to win.”
“Differences in skin tone have been exploited by systems of power to perpetuate division within Black communities, weaken collective action, and undermine our strength and progress,” Jackson said.
Jackson said “unfounded allegations undermine our strength and progress” and that “we cannot build stronger communities by reviving the very divisions that have long held us back.”
She called on elected officials to “lead by example” by “build[ing] public confidence, unite communities, and focus on delivering solutions for the people.”
Jackson was not alone in her criticism of Keke’s allegations.
Hashim Coates, a local Democratic activist who ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Arapahoe County Commission in 2024, pushed back on Keke’s claim. Coates said he was a proponent of Jackson during the vacancy committee election in 2025, where Jackson, Keke, and DeWills-Marcano vied for the then-vacant seat.
He called Keke’s accusation of racism “sour grapes” over party members and ultimately voters backing Jackson.
“While Anne and I do not line up on a lot of things politically, she still can be victimized by racism,” Coates said. “In the context of this race, it’s sour grapes.”
Coates said that Keke’s accusation of colorism is misplaced, and that Jamie Jackson, who is Black, has been the victim of colorism by some in the political scene.
“Jamie’s Blackness has been put into question based upon her complexion and the grade of her hair,” Coates said, recalling an incident at a community meeting where one attendee insinuated that Jackson was not of African-American descent.
Jackson said, “I don’t view myself or others through the lens of skin tone. I am a Black woman. Emphasizing shades of skin only deepens divides.”
“I’m saying Anne is trying to gaslight and make herself the victim in this situation when, behind and sometimes in front of the scene politically,” Coates said. “Jamie has been hit with colorism as far as her Blackness being called into question.”
Fard, who produces and stars in a popular podcast program streamed on Facebook, said that, in his view, the mailer in question was more emblematic of general negative campaign ads.
“Race often plays a general role in all facets of U.S. society. However, racism in this campaign ad is a harder determination because both candidates are Black,” Fard said. “Therefore, if the ad is racist, then the question becomes, how does racism benefit Representative Jackson? That said, Dr. Keke’s charge of racism becomes difficult to substantiate. The tone of the ad is certainly negative and consistent with most independent expenditure campaigns wanting to influence voters.”
Colorado Black Roundtable Executive Director John Bailey called the controversy “unfortunate” in that it is a distraction from weighty issues led by Black elected officials in Denver and Aurora. He said an election and a political atmosphere saturated with “disinformation and misinformation” made the contest ripe for such a controversy.
Omar Montgomery, President of the Rocky Mountain State Conference of the NAACP, said he was not familiar enough with the allegations to speak on them. He thought both Keke and Jackson were “amazing candidates.”
Montgomery said, however, that he worries that sometimes in races where African-Americans run against each other, it can be unnecessarily divisive.
“This is not like Chicago, Los Angeles, or Detroit, where you have these huge African-American populations that run against each other,” Montgomery said. “I also think about the relationship between the African and African-American community. I want to make sure that we hold those relationships strong between the African and African-American community, as well as looking at how we support the limited number of Africans and African-Americans that are in office.”
Montgomery added that he wanted to explore “communication protocols” to make sure “we’re not harming the person and only talking about the issues.”
Bryant Preston, President of the Colorado AFL-CIO, who is Black, released a statement sharply rebuking Keke’s characterization of the labor group.
“[The Colorado AFL-CIO] fights against billionaires and corporate interests trying to divide the working class and split us up based on race, sexual orientation, immigration status, and any number of things,” Preston said. “We joined a lawsuit defending state employees when Gov. Jared Polis tried to force them to illegally violate the rights of immigrants because we understand that a law that doesn’t protect all of us protects none of us.”
Preston said that, as a Black man, he takes accusations of racism and colorism seriously.
“We’ve been attacked on social media by Dr. Anne Keke, a candidate who sought our endorsement and didn’t receive it because she was not the right choice for working people in Colorado,” Preston said. “Her actions prove this. She specifically named and included a picture of our Executive Director Dennis Dougherty, along with false accusations of racism and anti-immigrant actions in an attack on our whole organization, myself included.”
Preston went on to say, “Her claims are made in bad faith and are patently false. A mailer highlighted her six-figure pay from an anti-union charter school group that supported far-right candidates for the state school board. Those are the facts. We required and ensured, with review, that photos were not altered for any possible negative effect. I am an African-American, and I take these accusations with the utmost seriousness.”
Preston said that neither Keke nor her campaign reached out to the AFL-CIO about their concerns and instead went directly to social media. This, Preston and the AFL-CIO claim, along with what they see as a coordinated smear campaign by candidates backed by anti-union interests, is an instance of “political opportunism, division, and an attack on labor.”
Leaders of the Colorado AFL-CIO, including Preston and Dougherty, told the Sentinel that they opposed Keke over her decision to take a job at the Colorado League of Charter Schools, which they see as opposed to the interests of teachers’ unions.
Keke has repeatedly rebuffed the claim, saying that her job at the league focuses on parent empowerment, not labor politics.
A pattern of political attack from One Main Street backed candidates?
Keke is not the only candidate who had the backing of One Main Street who accused the Colorado AFL-CIO of racism.
Denver Democrat Sean Camacho, who recently lost his House District 6 primary re-election bid to Iris Halpern, said in a statement in June, “Mailers and commercials being sent against me use desaturated photographs to change my skin color and hide the fact that I am Latino and AAPI from voters,” and that he was “offended to see” tactics he described as racist and sexist against Keke.
Dougherty told the Sentinel: “Any accusations of racism and colorism in those mailers are patently false. We have learned that there was a coordinated effort between two One Main Street-backed candidates in other districts, namely Sean Camacho and Heidi Henkel… we have information that has been told to us that this was part of One Main Street’s closing campaign during the primary’s final weeks.”
Heidi Henkel, a Broomfield city councilmember, lost her primary race to incumbent Broomfield Democrat State Rep. Kenny Van Nguyen this primary cycle.
Keke told the Sentinel that she had not discussed her accusation with Camacho or Henkel, who ran for a state house district seat in Broomfield and has accused the Colorado AFL-CIO and Colorado Labor Action of engaging in sexist behavior.
“I was sent information about myself,” Keke told the Sentinel. “Maybe my action of standing up for myself triggered them [Camacho and Henkel] to say something, but that would be about it.”
Keke said it was insulting that, in her view, the labor groups would insinuate that she “couldn’t think for herself.”
“I find it very insulting that people think that other people would write statements for me and all I would do is read it, but I guess it would be wrong to call it anti-immigrant and racist, right?” Keke said sarcastically, saying that immigrants have historically been looked down on by other people because of their accents.
Keke, from Côte d’Ivoire, has a distinct accent.
Keke said that voters can look at the mailers they sent out and decide the issue for themselves.
“Look at the document they sent [referring to a mailer where she is surrounded by money],” Keke said. “Look at the original document voters have sent me, and you can compare. From every single detail, they claim that they did not manipulate or that they gave specific instructions. Somewhere along the way, whatever instruction they gave didn’t fall through.”
The Colorado AFL-CIO and Superior Blue, which produced the anti-Keke mailers in question, provided internal documents stating that there were explicit instructions not to change Keke’s skin tone.
In reflecting on the campaign, Fard remarked that HD41’s primary race was among the most grueling for the candidates.
“There was no love lost between these two. Ads smearing the other’s record were flying back and forth from independent expenditures,” Fard said.
He warned, however, that candidates should not let these contentious primary battles become too damaging.
“After the primary is the general, and what happens when you have such a bruising primary is you may wind up giving ammunition to someone whom you disagree with more,” Fard said.
The state House District 41 seat will be decided during the Nov. 3 Election. Jackson is the only major party candidate on the ballot.
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