AURORA | Tom Sullivan has been a fixture on the political scene in recent years, from testifying in Denver at the state Capitol to meeting with presidential candidates despite having never run for political office.
But come Feb. 23, Sullivan — who has campaigned for gun safety and death penalty reform after his son, Alex, was killed in the 2012 Aurora theater shooting — is set to make “a very special announcement” regarding his future political efforts, according to a release he wrote Friday, Feb. 19.
“After serving our country in the Air Force, many of you know me as ‘the father of Alex’ … Until this tragic event, my wife and I and enjoyed a middle class life in Centennial. We raised two children on our salaries, got them through college, and then the Aurora shooting changed our world,” Sullivan wrote. “Since that day, I’ve spent many hours at our Capitol, lobbying and seeing how our lawmakers do their jobs on gun violence, education, and economic growth — all of the issues at the core of the American Dream. This dream has been shattered for many working families in Colorado. I want to help restore it.”
Sullivan’s announcement is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 23, at Silo Park, 9300 E. Orchard Road, Greenwood Village.
As of this writing, Sullivan — who is a registered Democrat — has not announced what, if any, political office he intends to run for. As of Friday morning, Sullivan was not registered as a candidate with the Secretary of State’s office for any Colorado office.
Sullivan said Friday he would not say what office, if any, he is pursuing until Tuesday’s announcement.
Sullivan’s political involvement following the murder of his son has focused on gun violence, but he has shown interest in voicing support for reforming capital punishment in Colorado. Earlier this month, Sullivan was the lone member of the public to testify in support of a bill from state Sen. Kevin Lundberg that would have made it possible for a jury to impose a death sentence with an 11-1 vote, as opposed to a unanimous 12-0 vote.
“I thought that the violence of this crime … would be enough for the verdict to be death. I was wrong,” Tom Sullivan said during his testimony.
Lundberg’s bill failed in a 3-2 Senate committee vote.
Sullivan also spoke out ahead of the October 2015 Republican presidential candidate debate held in Boulder with the Colorado chapter of Everytown for Gun Safety, issuing critiques of the GOP candidates’ stances on gun safety.
“We just have to continue to be out there in front of them, let them see the faces of the people that are effected so they don’t forget our loved ones,” he said.
A retired postal worker, Sullivan. who has lived in Centennial for almost 25 years, is also active in organized labor, serving on the executive committee of the Colorado AFL/CIO.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.