Stephen Elkins, a product development manager and former Denver city planner, announced his candidacy Monday for Aurora City Council’s Ward I seat that will be up for election in November. 

Elkins is one of three candidates to have announced a campaign for the council, which will have five positions up for election this year. 

Aurora Pastor Reid Hettich and State of Colorado Coordinator Gianina Horton have also filed campaigns for the Ward I seat. 

Horton’s campaign is still getting up and running, she told The Denver Gazette Thursday, and she will provide further details in coming weeks.

Elkins’ top priorities are public safety and economic development, he told The Denver Gazette. 

“I feel like in every election cycle, we hear candidates talk about public safety and it’s great that they support it, but we need to do more than support,” he said. 

When it comes to the presence of Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua, he said, there’s a “divide in the community between people who believe that TdA was an active presence in Ward I and people who don’t.”

“There’s this spectrum of information that’s come from the city about whether or not it’s a hoax,” he said. “I think getting a coordinated message will be really helpful … Only by calling out public safety issues can we really get to the root of them.”

He also props the city up as an integral part of the metro Denver area. 

“I truly don’t believe that the Denver metro could make it without Aurora and our strong openness to everybody,” Elkins said. “We are really out there helping our greater community with blue collar jobs, with people who are hardworking and just want a fair shake like everybody else.”

There are five total council seats up for election in November: Wards I, II and III, and two at-large seats.

The Aurora City Council is made up of a mayor and 10 councilmembers, with six of them representing individual wards and four elected at-large to represent the entire city.

Councilmembers are part-time elected officials and the mayor’s position is full-time. Aurora’s elections are non-partisan and the councilmembers serve staggered four-year terms.

Currently, Crystal Murillo holds the Ward I council seat. Murillo is serving her second term as an Aurora city councilmember. There are two candidates, Elkins and local Pastor Reid Hettich, who have officially registered in the Aurora Campaign Finance System.

The Ward II council seat is currently held by Mayor Pro Tem Steve Sundberg, who is serving his first term on the Council.

The Ward III council seat is held by Ruben Medina, who is also serving his first term on the Council.

Aurora City Council has four at-large positions, two of which are up for election in November. The roles are currently held by Danielle Jurinsky, who is in her first term on the Council, and Amsalu Kassaw, who replaced former member Dustin Zvonek late last year when Zvonek resigned. Kassaw is serving the remainder of Zvonek’s term.

None of the current councilmembers whose seats are up for election have officially registered to run for re-election, according to the City of Aurora’s campaign finance system.

While the city’s political races are nonpartisan, conservative members currently hold a 7-3 majority on the council.