He’s not always popular with the press or the political class, but The Gazette says Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman does what he thinks is right, blazes his own trails, and should be reelected to another term in the November election.

Citing Coffman’s leadership and unflinching, independent thinking, The Gazette’s endorsement notes his results:

Coffman in fact has helped pull his city back from the brink amid an epic crime wave; an epidemic of overdoses, and an inundation of hardcore homeless who are drawn to the metro area by its reputation as lax on drugs and generous with handouts.

And he did it while giving residents “real value for their tax dollars.”

From the newspaper’s endorsement:

The mayor’s dogged efforts to roll back those urban woes were stymied his first two years by a City Council majority of self-described socialists — yes, they’re a thing again — who sought to coddle criminals, house the addicts with no questions asked, and embrace drug use. That changed two years ago, with the election of a new, back-to-basics council majority of pragmatists who wanted City Hall to quit tilting at windmills and instead tackle the real issues facing Aurora. That included fighting crime; realistically addressing homelessness by avoiding the “housing first” approach; pumping up economic development; tackling backlogged street improvements, and streamlining local business regulations that could smother job creation.

Coffman’s opponent is Socialist Democrat Juan Marcano, a leading opponent of the mayor’s groundbreaking work to address homelessness that includes a jobs and drug treatment program.

PeakNation will also fondly recall this:

Then there was the time Marcano took a $3,500 European Vacation to Paris at taxpayers’ expense, and dropped in on a conference about livable cities before his climate killing flight back home.

And who can forget Marcano’s solution for dealing with Covid, which was to pay people to just stay home.

Talk about economic devastation, the U.S. would have quickly fallen to the mercy of our debt overlords.

From Superpower to China’s bitch in just one generation.

But we expect Marcano would feel right at home in the communist regime.