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Stephen Elkins
From Ballotpedia
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Stephen Elkins is running for election to the Aurora City Council to represent Ward I in Colorado. He is on the ballot in the general election on November 4, 2025.[source]
Elkins completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Stephen Elkins was born in Bloomington, Indiana. He earned a bachelor's degree from the Indiana University-Bloomington in 2004 and a graduate degree from the University of New Mexico in 2013. His career experience includes working in state and local government, and as a project manager, development review planner, and executive director.[1]
Elections
2025
See also: City elections in Aurora, Colorado (2025)
General election
The general election will occur on November 4, 2025.
General election for Aurora City Council Ward I
Stephen Elkins, Reid Hettich, Gianina Horton, and Leandra Steed are running in the general election for Aurora City Council Ward I on November 4, 2025.
Candidate | ||
Stephen Elkins (Nonpartisan)  | ||
 | Reid Hettich (Nonpartisan) | |
| Gianina Horton (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Leandra Steed (Nonpartisan) | ||
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| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Endorsements
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Campaign themes
2025
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Stephen Elkins completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Elkins' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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My name is Stephen Elkins. I am your neighbor. I want to be your advocate on City Council! I live in the Jewell Heights neighborhood and I have previously lived in the Morris Heights neighborhood. I work in real estate development building the technological infrastructure for our future. Before working in real estate development, I was a public servant for over 10 years in local and state governments. A year ago, I attended a Ward I town hall meeting, and I knew we could do better. I knew we should meet our neighbors and business owners where they were instead of dismissing their concerns. I advocated for our neighbors in the Del Mar Parkway neighborhood because it was deeply important to me to help neighbors dealing with the impacts of the Edge at Lowry apartment complex public safety crisis. This crisis not only affected near neighbors but people living in the Edge. I successfully advocated for residents to be rehoused in safe, dignified housing because it was the right thing to do. From the town hall meeting and the Edge at Lowry crisis, I found why I wanted to be your next Ward I Councilmember. You deserve someone who will listen, communicate and advocate for you on City Council. We deserve to feel safe in our homes and neighborhoods. I will center public safety in my service. I want to revitalize Colfax and Lowry with residents at the table shaping our future. I want to fight for accountable and transparent city government.
- I want you to feel safe in your homes and neighborhoods. I am grateful for the endorsement of Aurora’s police unions. I want to partner with our police department to restore bike and foot patrols in our neighborhoods. I want to expand the PAR program so policing is accessible to our residents. We must continue to prioritize recruitment and retention in our police department so that when you make a call for service you know the police will come to assist you. I believe that once we feel safe in our homes and neighborhoods, we can embrace Colfax as the community gathering place we deserve it to be. I want to bring residents to the table on how we improve public safety because your voice matters!
- We need revitalization and reinvestment on Colfax and at Lowry to anchor our community. Our small businesses and arts and non-profit communities have worked hard to lift up Colfax. With the closure of Wal-Mart and Walgreen’s at Colfax and Havana, now, more than ever, we must support private investment on Colfax and at Lowry. We need to build more housing and encourage businesses to open and flourish on the Colfax corridor. We get there with the approval of the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) on the ballot this fall for property owners and tenants for Colfax properties from Yosemite to Peoria. I advocated for the DDA for a year. Doing nothing on Colfax is not an option and I am excited for the DDA to lead reinvestment on Colfax.
- City government must be accountable and transparent to you, our residents. Now, more than ever, we need someone who will challenge the status quo of government as usual. City hall has to be open 8 hours a day, 5 days a week no appointment necessary. We need someone who will represent us to the city not the city to us. We have to know when meetings are and what is going on in our neighborhoods. When we email or call our councilmember, we must get not only a response back but a call to action and resolution. Put simply, I want to get it done for Ward I. I will return your calls and emails. I will fight for you to ensure city government exceeds your expectations. I want to know what is and is not working. I want to know how we can do better.
I am personally passionate about connecting people with their local government. When I worked on the Edge at Lowry public safety crisis, I filed records requests so residents could get the police calls for services our current councilmember refused to provide for them. Then, I showed up at public meetings with those calls for services our current to ensure our elected officials and police chief could see those calls for service with their own eyes. I loved putting my knowledge and experience in public service to work for my neighbors. Now, I want to do so as your Ward I Councilmember so our community can benefit from my personal passion of connecting people with their local government.
The City of Aurora is a home rule city which allows our city wide latitude to determine issues such as public safety and planning and zoning. These issues are best decided at the local not the state level. I support our city continuing to fight state government overreach’s one size fits all approach--such as the eliminations of the number of unrelated adults in a household and minimum vehicle parking requirements to local government. Aurora is a council-manager form of government where the city manager serves at the pleasure of city council. As such, I will be an important part in choosing and directing the city manager. As a home rule city, I will continue to fight for and maintain our home rule status from state government to determine what is best for Aurora at the local level.
I look up to my great grandfather on my mother’s side. He was an undocumented immigrant from Germany who was deported twice before he got to stay. His dogged determination to make a better life for himself and his family is my North Star. I look up to my maternal grandmother, his daughter, because she, and her congregation, joined hands around their church when the Ku Klux Klan came to burn it down. Her fearlessness is an example to follow when my courage is tested. I look up to my paternal grandmother whose kindness has guided her life. Her example reminds me the importance of kindness to one another even when kindness is not easy.
I believe the characteristics and principles most important for an elected official are honesty, accountability, transparent, accessibility, and advocacy. I will be a councilmember who will provide representation anchored in honesty. I will listen to all voices and engage with residents on a personal level. I will be accountable and willing to hear and the good and the bad about our community. And once residents have been heard, then I will act on residents’ behalf. City government must be transparent in its policies, processes, and how they affect residents’ lives and livelihoods. I will meet you where you are in our community and be accessible via phone and email. I commit to leading with these characteristics and principles to get it done for Ward I.
I believe the core responsibilities of someone elected to this office are ensuring effective public safety, advocating for a vital and thriving economy, and centering residents in accountable and transparent city government. I will ensure we have effective and well-staffed public safety. I will advocate for jobs and services close to home. As policies and projects happen in our city, I will communicate them to residents so they can participate in them. I will focus on running a lean and efficient city government that provides effective services infrastructure within its fiscal means. I will advocated for Aurora to grow as a city to ensure that there is a place in Aurora for everyone who wants to call our city home. I will continue to celebrate Aurora as a beacon welcoming people from near and far.
I would like to leave a legacy where our community is better than when I found it. I want people to look back at my life and accomplishments to do more and better not only for themselves but the world around them: My legacy will be how I have improved the lives of the people around me.
I remember the 9/11 terrorist attacks like it was yesterday when I was a sophomore in college. Our country came together in a time of tragedy where we knew we were stronger than those who tried to make us fear our values as a democracy.
I was a busser in a chain restaurant. I worked there for a summer, I gained a strong respect for hard working people. The best part of Ward I is its hardworking people who not only keep Aurora working but the whole Denver metro working.
My favorite book is A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. This book examines the complexities of people and their relationships with each other. And there are dragons!
I would want to be early Luke Skywalker from the first Star Wars trilogy. Luke was noble, selfless, and lived his values. He saw the good in people even when everyone else could not. He didn’t give up on anyone.
When I graduated from college, I struggled with what I wanted to do with my life. I found what I wanted to do working in medical case management serving people living with HIV/AIDS. In this role, I advocated for better healthcare for my clients. I found my passion in advocating for others navigating systems to achieve better outcomes.
This office plays an important role in our daily lives. From ensuring pot holes get filled to deciding what gets built in our neighborhoods to being wise stewards of the water that comes out of our taps, I will have an important role to play in our lives. We deserve someone in this role who will show up, listen, and advocate to ensure that we have an effective voice fighting for us.
With over 10 years as a public servant in local and state government, I believe it is beneficial to have previous experience in government. I have a strong understanding not only of how government works but how it should work. But my experience as a public servant is tempered by you, the residents of Ward I. As your councilmember, I want to not only hear your lived experiences, I want to take those experiences to make our city government better for you. I see my service as a partnership with you. I want to hear from and serve you on City Council so Ward I and Aurora continue to be the place we want to call home.
I believe serving as an elected official requires high degrees of emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and maturity. I want to bring people together, hear divergent perspectives, and work towards a better Aurora for all of us. I am unaffiliated by choice because I want to advocate for the best outcomes for Ward I no matter from which part of the political spectrum they originate. We need a councilmember who will bring people together. I enjoy seeing the big picture and how to get people and systems to come together for the common good. As your Ward I councilmember, I want to work for everyone in our community regardless of your background or beliefs.
I am running for this position because I want to work on the uniquely local issues of Northwest Aurora. Ward I is where Aurora began as the Town of Fletcher. We took control of our destiny by securing water independence from Denver. The rest of Aurora would not exist without Ward I. We are the most urban part of Aurora and we have unique issues. I want to partner with you to work on those unique issues. Let’s build a Colfax and a Lowry that works for everyone. Let’s continue to work with the Anschutz campus to integrate it into our community. Let’s imagine the future of our shopping centers as the community hubs we deserve. Let’s embrace community policing that keeps us safe to embrace the Ward I we deserve. Let's utilize the new tools in local and state law to ensure that problem properties are addressed quickly. As Ward I evolves, I want you to have a seat at the table for that evolution to ensure that anyone who wants to call Ward I home can. I want to partner with my council colleagues on solutions that keep Ward I moving forward.
Fraternal Order of Police, Aurora Police Association, South Metro Association of Realtors
At the Ward I town hall meeting a year ago, I met a near neighbor of the Edge at Lowry apartment complex. Her once peaceful life had been turned upside down and her elected leaders refused to listen to her. I listened to her experiences intently at that meeting in a way others had refused. I resolved to help her and others who had been ignored by their government. She was the first person to encourage me to run. Her story continues to show me the importance of listening to residents and acting on their concerns to ensure our government is doing right by its citizens.
In my last role in government service, I was proud of taking a project that was failing and turning it around to be a celebrated success for the community. I reset the project around thoughtful public engagement meeting residents where they were. This project was recalibrated around residents’ desire to maintain their rural lifestyle by directing growth where it made sense to protect as much farmland as possible. The project was unanimously approved with strong resident support because I ensured they had a seat at the table to decide their future.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2025 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 25, 2025
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