Five People to Watch in 2026: Alli Jackson, the New Face of Aurora

In January 2025, Danielle Jurinsky graced the cover of Westword’s 2025 People to Watch issue. The conservative Aurora City Council member was still fanning the flames regarding Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, rumored to be taking over apartment complexes across the city. In that issue, Jurinsky said she considered herself to be the loudest voice on Aurora’s immigration issue.

Oh, what a difference one year can make.

Just eleven months later, Aurora voters ousted Jurinsky in favor of some fresh faces, one of them belonging to political newbie Alli Jackson. Jackson, a thirty-year-old foster mom who works at Arapahoe Libraries, snagged one of the at-large spots — while Jurinsky and another conservative incumbent lost their seats, and progressives grabbed the council majority.

In her campaign, Jackson said she would focus on welcoming immigrants, offering a successful onboarding program and changing the narrative around Aurora spread by national and local politicians and pundits over the last few years.

Jackson’s background in social work, and her experience as a foster mom, are pivotal to her character and how she will lead on council. “A lot of the ethics of social work guide me, like dignity and worth of a person just for being a person,” Jackson says, adding that those ethics will be a guiding principle in how she treats immigrants coming to Aurora, Colorado’s most diverse city.

In 2026, the new councilmember says she’ll be working on enhancing the city’s onboarding program, making it a national model for welcoming newcomers. “I’ve met with the mayor and we’re both on board for some sort of non-partisan, national buy-in for Aurora to set the bar for how are we welcoming our new neighbors,” Jackson says. “How do we get them onboarded, plugged into resources and get them up to date on rules, things like license-plate registration? Are we plugging them into the chambers, helping them figure out how to get their business license?”

Jackson is frustrated by how Aurora was “drug through the mud” by Jurinsky on national outlets like Dr. Phil Primetime. While there are parts of Aurora that are under-serviced and the city has other problems requiring attention — like many of the apartments having out-of-state landlords that don’t take care of the properties — that doesn’t make it a scary place, she says. She wants to work on rebranding Aurora and changing its perception in the public eye.

The November election was Jackson’s first run at public office, but she’s been plugged into the politics of Aurora for a while, attending council meetings and meeting community members, some of whom inspired her to run. “A big piece that really solidified me running was the Kilyn Lewis family,” Jackson says. In fact, one of her goals for 2026 will be to issue an apology to the family of Kilyn Lewis, an unarmed Black man whom Aurora police fatally shot in 2024. She then hopes to create a memorial for those whose lives have been lost at the hands of Aurora police, making amends and creating a bridge between civilians and their city. “I’m hoping that will symbolize that start of rebuilding that connection,” she notes. “Then i’m hoping to have forums between police and community.”

In 2026, she also wants to bring more youth and student voices into politics. “I’m looking at starting some internships with our high schools in the area to have start that love of politics and civics early on and lets get some of those students into our office at city hall and show them how policies get made and what municipality does,” she explains.

We’ll be watching Jackson to see what changes she brings to Aurora and how the state and national perception of the city shifts as she serves her constituents. “I think Aurora is such a unique, diverse melting pot,” she concludes. “We’ve got the infrastructure, we’ve got the resources, we’ve got the people, so lets make it happen.”

Watch for more 2026 People to Watch over the next few days.