Disability activist and community organizer Aly DeWills-Marcano has officially entered the Democratic primary race to represent Aurora’s House District 41 in the Colorado House of Representatives. 

“This is a critical moment for our district, our city, our state, and our country as a whole,” she shared. “It’s not the time to uphold the status quo or make excuses for the inhumane, for-profit detention of our own community members. Simply electing Democrats is not enough. We need bold, passionate, experienced leaders who are ready to fight against fascism and take action to create a more equitable state for all of us.”

DeWills-Marcano is running after building a career fighting for Colorado’s working families, including three years in Congressman Jason Crow’s office and three years at the Colorado Economic Defense Project and the CARE Center, which runs a hotline for people in housing crisis. DeWills-Marcano and her husband, Colorado Transportation Commissioner and former Aurora City Council member Juan Marcano, have been renters in House District 41 for the past decade. 

“I grew up experiencing poverty, housing instability, and homelessness, and now I work every day to break that cycle and prevent other Colorado families from falling into that spiral. I was part of the team that demanded and enforced Congressional oversight of Aurora’s GEO immigration detention facility - and now I am running to stop GEO's influence on our government. I am a renter with a disability in a city that is increasingly less accessible and affordable; I work every day to break down barriers. I am ready to bring my life experience and professional experience to the table to create real solutions.” 

Aurora’s ICE facility, operated by the for-profit corporation GEO Group, is nearly at capacity today and has long been criticized for a lack of transparency, sub-standard medical care and living conditions, and inhumane treatment of the immigrants detained there. 

“Aurora is the most diverse city in our state, and one of the most diverse in the world. Immigrants make our community better and richer, and it’s unacceptable that we also allow GEO to profit from the business of caging and degrading our neighbors. The whole world is watching ICE and their daily brutality right now, and I will not rest until they are held accountable and until GEO cannot manage a facility in our neighborhood.”

DeWills-Marcano, who is disabled by a degenerative health condition, uses a wheelchair and other mobility devices, and is already doing what she can to create change at a local level. Every other Monday, she addresses Aurora City Council to condemn the council’s inaccessible chambers and demand the renovations to make City Hall accessible to people with disabilities.

At one recent council session, she was actually unable to deliver her comments about the resolution to ban Aurora Police Department cooperation with ICE until she was freed by city staff from the small, squeaky elevator she must use in order to reach the podium. 

“Every meeting, I ask our councilmembers to make their chambers more wheelchair-accessible. I will keep asking until they do. Like so many of my fellow disabled people, I’ve learned to break down all sorts of barriers, and I plan to bring those skills to our Capitol.” 

DeWills-Marcano points out that “11 percent of Coloradans are disabled, but 0 percent of the Colorado state legislature use mobility aids. We need representation for our entire community, not just some of us. We need representatives who know how to break down barriers instead of capitulating to corporate interests.”

DeWills-Marcano is running for a seat currently occupied by Rep. Jamie Jackson, who was a GEO Group manager from 2014 through 2021 and was appointed via vacancy committee last year after Sen. Iman Jodeh vacated the seat. Voters can learn more about Aly’s campaign at aly4colorado.com.