Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado
With a dozen candidates for Aurora city council vying for the attention of voters, there’s a lot to take in.
Sentinel Colorado is partnering with QuizTheVote this year to offer voters a new fast and easy way to find out which candidate most closely matches their own opinions on top issues.
There are four quizzes for voters, one for each city council race this year. Anyone can take any of the quizzes to see how they match on a handful of issues that have dominated city news and election campaigning for months.
City council candidates answered the quiz questions, except for one candidate. Councilmember Steve Sundberg, running for re-election to Ward II, did not participate in the quiz. His “answers” to the questions were chosen by Sentinel staffers based on his consistent public comments and his own campaign materials.
At the end of the quiz, the system tells quiz-takers which candidates their opinions most closely align with.
The Sentinel’s 2025 Voter Guide also offers a bevy of campaign news and coverage, including answers from candidates about top city issues, as well as comprehensive election and campaign coverage.
Scroll down and click on “Start the Quiz.” Take as many of the quizzes you like.
2025 Aurora Sentinel City Council Quizzes
WARD I: There are three candidates vying for an open city council seat in Ward I.
Encompassing northwest Aurora, the ward includes the city’s oldest and, often, most troubled neighborhoods. While the three candidates for the ward seat being vacated by two-term Councilmember Crystal Murillo disagree on a variety of issues, they all agree that a proposed Downtown Development Authority would make real progress in solving long-term problems.
That proposal — which would create a sort of local government focusing on the East Colfax corridor — will go before a select number of Ward I voters and business owners along with the Nov. 4 city election.
Two unaffiliated voters and a Democrat are seeking the seat.
WARD II: There are two candidates vying for the Ward II City Council seat, currently held by incumbent Steve Sundberg.
Encompassing northeast Aurora, the ward includes vast open tracts, massive new developments and a bevy of older neighborhoods.
Councilmember Sundberg, running for a second term, brings a great deal of controversy to the race linked to widely publicized news about allegations of sexually inappropriate comments made to city staffers, as well as a nationally controversial episode involving racially and culturally offensive Facebook videos Sundberg made as tavern advertisements during the pandemic.
WARD III: There are two candidates vying for the Ward II Aurora City Council seat, one an incumbent and the other a former council member looking to return.
Ward II, encompassing west Aurora, includes many older neighborhoods and most of the Havana corridor.
Democratic incumbent Ruben Medina is running for reelection to a second term against Republican Marsha Berzins, a former city council member who previously was term-limited. Ward III encompasses much if the city’s western region.
A variety of issues are linked to the district, including the city’s approach to crime and immigration, particularly in light of the changes being implemented by the Trump Administration.
AT-LARGE: In what is technically a nonpartisan race, Republican leaders are pushing to keep their majority on city council while Democrats hope to disrupt it. Much of the partisan politics is spilling out in the at-large race. There are two at-large seats in the race this year. One candidate is an incumbent, another was recently appointed to the at-large seat. There are three challengers seeking the two council seats. The top-two vote getters win the race.
This quiz is a sad joke.
Not one question pertaining to the city’s financial health or the chronically anemic retail/dining economy– the root cause of many of the city’s most difficult problems.
Ranking priorities is meaningless when the city can’t even maintain the roads without taking on more debt and is closing city facilities. The Sentinel outright fails the community when it conceals this essential issue.
I totally agree with Jeff. Aurora’s real problems aren’t addressed in this survey. There is nothing in Aurora that would attract people to live here, spend money and pay taxes. Where is the entertainment district? Where is there a stadium for concerts and sports events? Where are the shopping areas?
A quiz like this is only as good as the intentions of its designer. I highly expect the outcomes of this quiz are meant to direct voters away from conservative candidates.
In your Ward III comments, you twice refer to it as Ward II.
The topics can interpreted more than one way. Public safety will always be #1 in my opinion. I already researched and voted anyway.