For Aurora voters north of East Colfax Avenue, there isn’t much of a race for District Attorney. In fact, there isn’t one at all.
Democrat Dave Young, a longtime prosecutor in the 17th Judicial District, is running unopposed to fill the seat of term-limited DA Don Quick.
Young didn’t have any opposition in the Democratic primary either, and Republicans in the judicial district, which includes Adams and Broomfield counties, never even whispered about a possible challenger.
Young said the fact that nobody else wanted to run for the seat shows that residents of the judicial district are happy with the job prosecutors there have done in recent years.
“I think it speaks volumes on the reputation that our office has as well as my background,” he said.
When he takes over in January, Young said he doesn’t plan on changing much at the DA’s office.
“What makes our office great are the people, and we’re certainly not going to make any drastic changes,” he said.
Young has handled several high-profile prosecutions in recent years.
In 2009 he prosecuted Brian Allen Washington, who gunned down Aurora police Detective Mike Thomas in September 2006. Washington was found guilty of second-degree murder and is serving what amounts to a life sentence in the Colorado Department of Corrections.
In 2008, Quick, a Democrat, ran unopposed for the DA’s seat. He backed a measure in 2010 that would have extended the DA’s term limit to three, but voters shot the measure down.
Young said he hasn’t talked to Quick yet about staying on as a deputy, but he would welcome the opportunity to keep him.
“If it works out that he stays in the office, that would be great,” he said.