It Took Trump Five Minutes to Bring Up Aurora in Latest Debate

It didn't take long for Aurora to come up during last night's presidential debate. Attendees at Brother Jeff's Cultural Cafe knew it was coming.

About thirty voters showed up to the community center at 2836 Welton Street to tune into the debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday, September 10, less than two months before the November 5 election.

During the debate, viewers were playing debate bingo, covering up squares on their cards if Donald Trump brought up things like Hannibal Lecter, election fraud or Aurora, which has been in national headlines recently because of disputed claims about Venezuelan gang takeovers at Aurora apartments. A few people even said they got "bingo."

The watch party was led by Auon'tai Anderson, CEO of the Center for Advancing Black Excellence in Education, and MiDian Shofner, CEO of the Epitome of Black Excellence & Partnership. Shofner's husband, Jared, laughed at the mention of Aurora, and wasn't surprised by it. But from what he's seen in Aurora, "it's not there," referring to the claims of violence and danger from immigrant gangs.

During his last public speech and the debate, Trump mentioned or referenced Aurora after swirls of rumors claiming Venezuelan gangs have taken over apartment complexes there as a result of Denver's lax and generous migrant policies.

"We have millions of people pouring into our country from prisons and jails," Trump said during the presidential debate. "And you see what's happening. You see what's happening with towns throughout the United States. You look at Springfield, Ohio. You look at Aurora in Colorado. They are taking over the towns. They're taking over the buildings. They're going in violently."

Trump mentioned Springfield, Ohio, because of unfounded claims that migrants there are eating people's pets. Moderator David Muir noted in the debate that the city manager of Springfield denied these reports, but Trump repeated the claim on the national stage to make the point that Springfield and Aurora are now embarrassed because of Biden's failed immigration policy.

"What they have done to our country by allowing millions and millions to come into our country," he said. "A lot of towns don't want to talk about it — not going to be Aurora or Springfield — a lot of towns don't want to talk about it. In Springfield, they're eating the dogs."

The room at Brother Jeff's erupted into sarcastic cheers, laughter and applause at the first mention of Aurora.

Anderson said before the debate that he expected Trump to mention Aurora, adding that it would be "proof that messaging by Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky and Mayor Mike Coffman was effective." He called out Jurinsky for having repeated the claim of Venezuelan gang takeovers on national TV, social media and at council meetings.

"I'm disappointed Colorado is mentioned, not for providing kids free school lunch and breakfast, not for protecting abortion rights in our state," he said. "We were mentioned twice on the basis of a lie by conservative councilmembers in Aurora."

While Aurora might not have been embarrassed as badly as Springfield, Anderson was still unhappy with the reputation Aurora now has, blaming Jurinsky in particular for "a suburban city being put on the map, put on the debate stage for a presidential election, based off of a lie."

"Shame on Danielle Jurinsky for putting our state on the map in such a way," Anderson says. "She should resign, and she should not have a space to continue to amplify her baseless claims. A community is going to be targeted more so now."

In a shared statement on Wednesday, September 11, Coffman and Jurinsky said they wanted to "clear the record" of claims that some apartment complexes in Aurora have been "taken over" by Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA).

"We would like to clear the record about the widely reported presence of Tren de Aragua (TdA) in Aurora and across the metro area. We want to provide an update about the facts of the situation and the Aurora Police Department’s collaborative, ongoing efforts to investigate and aggressively pursue criminal activity linked to TdA members and associates," part of the statement reads. "As for the perception and reality of public safety in Aurora, please understand that issues experienced at a select few properties do not apply to the city as a whole or large portions of it. TdA has not 'taken over' the city. The overstated claims fueled by social media and through select news organizations are simply not true. Again, TdA’s presence in Aurora is limited to specific properties, all of which the city has been addressing in various ways for months.

Coffman and Jurinsky went on to say that eight of ten suspected criminals with links to TdA have been arrested, and that Arapahoe County, Denver, and state and federal law enforcement officials had formed a task force "to address concerns about TdA and other criminal activity affecting our communities."

Local Democrats React to Debate

Despite the frustration over Aurora's current reputation, Denver-area Democrats are pretty high on their presidential candidate after the first debate between Trump and Harris.

MiDian Shofner asked the audience at the watch party if anyone was supporting Trump, which was met with crickets. When asked how many were supporting Harris, the room cheered and applauded, showing who was the clear favorite at Brother Jeff's last night. She also started the night by saying that Harris is coming into the debate exemplifying "the story of a Black woman," because she's had to organize her campaign with less time than Trump.

"We have consistently been asked to do more with less, and we still show up," MiDian Shofner said. "What excites me the most is that we are now able to see what the history of a Black woman means for the backbone of this country."

By the end of the debate, Shofner was happy with what she saw from her candidate, saying that "Kamala hands-down represented leadership" and that she put on "an incredible and amazing display of leadership. She assured that she was clear, that she was concise, and it was evident who the clear choice was for president."


Shofner's husband also agreed: "Kamala was presidential."

"Trump was all over the place," he said. "I know the Trump reporters are going to think he won, but he never stuck to one topic."

Denver resident Melia Polynice came to the Brother Jeff watch party knowing that she was going to support Harris either way, but she walked away happy with the performance by the vice president.

"Harris did a good job talking about her plans and policies," Polynice said. "She stood up for herself in correcting any falsehoods that Trump put out there."

Anderson admitted he was not a Harris supporter in 2020 when she was running against President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination to be president, and he didn't support her as the pick for Biden's running mate that year, either.

"But Kamala Harris has grown on me. I'm proud to vote for her," Anderson said. "I believe Kamala has my back."

Editor's note: Westword attempted to find Republican debate watch parties to attend in the Denver area, but was unsuccessful. The Log Cabin Republicans declined our request to let a reporter attend its gathering in a private home.