Aurora City Councilman Dave Gruber has added his name to the list of council members who will not be defending their seats in the November election.

Gruber, a Republican elected as an at-large council member 2017, announced he would not be running for a second term early Tuesday morning on the Peter Boyles Show.

“My wife and I have decided that I’m not going to run for reelection in Aurora,” Gruber said. “We decided that I should probably pull away from politics for a while and focus on my family.”

Gruber said he and his wife, a colon cancer survivor, are in their mid-60s and want to spend the next few years enjoying themselves and spending more time together.

Only one Aurora City Council member signed up to defend their open seat in November

Gruber said he feels alright about stepping aside because there are some “strong conservative candidates” running in November. He plans to endorse Dustin Zvonek and Danielle Jurinksy for the two open at-large seats.

“I think it’s important that we have conservatives on the council that can counter what we’re seeing from the far, far left that we have on City Council now,” Gruber said. “I’d like to go back to the days when I was first elected and we had a more centrist council.”

Gruber was elected to the Aurora City Council in 2017, as part of a wave of new candidates that would go on to transform the historically conservative-dominated council to a relatively even split — with five council members leaning to the right and five leaning left.

Democratic council members Allison Hiltz, Nicole Johnston and Crystal Murillo were elected alongside Gruber, followed by the election of council members Juan Marcano and Alison Coombs in 2019, who describe themselves as Democratic Socialists.

Aurora seeking candidates to fill City Council vacancy for Ward Two

However, the party balance of the council is again up for grabs as, with Gruber’s announcement, Murillo is the only incumbent running for reelection out of the five members whose terms expire this year.

Councilwoman Marsha Berzins, a Republican, is term-limited and Hiltz and Johnston said they are stepping down to spend more time with their families.

Johnston will also be resigning on June 14 to begin a new job, leaving the City Council to appoint a temporary replacement.

This is a major turnover as Hiltz, Johnston and Gruber served only one of their possible three four-year terms.

Five council members are not up for reelection this year: Angela Lawson, a former Republican who is now unaffiliated; Curtis Gardner, who loosely identifies as libertarian; Francoise Bergan, a Republican; and Democratic Socialists Marcano and Coombs.