As election results continued to roll in Wednesday, Aurora City Council incumbent Danielle Jurinsky’s vote total remains behind two progressive candidates who appear to be taking the at-large seats.

Progressive candidates are also keeping leads over conservative counterparts — some incumbents — in other Aurora council races in an election that is poised to significantly shift the makeup of the council from a seven-to-three conservative majority to a six-to-four progressive majority.

When initial votes started rolling in Tuesday night, conservative Mayor Mike Coffman said he was shocked.

Since then, he’s had time to adjust, he said.

“I think the Republicans weren’t fired up enough for this election, and the Democrats were,” he said about the political swing. “What happens at the national level tends to impact what happens at the local level … people hate it when one party has all the leverage and power and they tend to push back the other way.”

As of 3 p.m. Wednesday, Jurinsky and fellow incumbent Amsalu Kassaw still fell behind their progressive candidate counterparts, Rob Andrews and Alli Jackson, in the race for two at-large seats.

Andrews took the lead with 29,659 votes, or 26%, and Jackson followed closely with 29,177, or about 25.6%. Jurinsky had 25,246 votes, or 22%, and Kassaw had 20,389, or 18%. Watson Gomes trailed with 9,394, a little over 8%.

Jurinsky and Kassaw led the financial races for their seats by a significant margin, with Jurinsky’s total campaign contributions adding up to $260,000 the week before the election, according to the city’s campaign finance system.

Kassaw raised the second largest amount, with more than $105,000. No other candidate broke the $100,000 mark.

Jurinsky has not responded to multiple requests for comment from The Denver Gazette.

For Ward I, progressive candidate Gianina Horton held a strong 31-point lead over conservative Stephen Elkins. Horton had 2,822 votes, 59%, and Elkins had 1,337 votes, 28%. Reid Hettich trailed with 605 votes, almost 13%.

In Ward II, progressive candidate Amy Wiles maintained an eight-point lead over conservative incumbent Steve Sundberg. Wiles had 5,416 votes, 54%, and Sundberg had 4,643, 46%.

In Ward III, progressive incumbent Ruben Medina held a strong 26-point lead over conservative incumbent and former councilmember Marsha Berzins. Medina had 4,655 votes, 63%, and Berzins had 2,689 votes, 37%.

In Adams County, there were 10,000 ballots still to be counted as of Wednesday morning, a county spokesperson told The Denver Gazette.

In Arapahoe County Wednesday morning, there were more than 21,000 ballots still to be counted.

However, of the county ballots not yet counted, officials do not know how many are Aurora ballots.

With the left-swinging trend, Coffman said he worried for the city’s business community and law enforcement with the progressive shift.

Despite his concerns, he is ready to work with new councilmembers to focus on getting things done in the city, he said. Many of those things like the revitalization of Colfax Avenue and the development of the homeless navigation campus, are not necessarily left-and-right issues, he said.

The election comes at a time when the Aurora Police Department is under scrutiny from the public, remaining under a consent decree with the Attorney General’s Office and hearing a lot of criticism regarding racially biased policing, specifically in regards to uses of force against Black men over the past year.

APD Chief Todd Chamberlain will bring the new council on board with the department’s direction in reducing crime, Coffman told The Denver Gazette Wednesday, adding that Chamberlain is “a great chief” and the department is moving in a positive direction.

As a result of police uses of force, protesters for Kilyn Lewis — who was shot and killed by an Aurora Police officer last year while unarmed — have attended every council meeting for more than a year, often speaking over time limits and interrupting meetings.

The council has gone back and forth with in-person and video conference meetings. It took away the public “invited to be heard” session, then gave it back. Its heard criticism from protesters and other community members for the lack of decorum on the council and moves to silence the public.

While the council voted in October to meet in-person again starting Nov. 17 after meeting via video conference since June, the new lineup of council members could change how public invited to be heard goes, Coffman said.

Progressive councilmembers Alison Coombs, Medina and Crystal Murillo have all pushed to keep public invited to be heard throughout the protests, frequently saying the council’s responsibility is to listen to the public.

Conservative members have pushed back, saying the protests are disruptive to important city business that needs to get done, and had more sway in what happens with public hearing due to the council’s conservative majority.

Medina, who will maintain his seat in Ward III, said his presence in the community helped him win over his opponent.

He has always focused on community during his time on the council, he said, and that included his team’s dedication to knocking on doors come election time.

He was shocked, however, that the entire council will likely flip, he said.

“I wasn’t sure, I was hoping we could flip a couple, but shocked so far that (the progressives) are all slated to be on,” he said.

With a new council comes a need to look at the rules for decorum, Medina said. Having differences in opinion is okay, he said, but council members have been “nasty” to each other and that’s not a good way to lead.

“We’ve had people on council who’ve been divisive and don’t want to work with everyone,” Medina said. “I’m hopeful we can bring back some decorum and work together.”

The council also needs to take another look at public hearing, he said, echoing what all three current progressive councilmembers have been saying since protests began.

“We can’t run from community when things are bad,” Medina said. “The community wanted a change and this is where it is. We can work together to bring the city to where it should be.”