{"id":38113,"date":"2026-05-07T12:59:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T16:59:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=38113"},"modified":"2026-05-07T13:01:50","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T17:01:50","slug":"gallo-deane-announce-mayoral-runs-on-first-day-of-registration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/gallo-deane-announce-mayoral-runs-on-first-day-of-registration\/","title":{"rendered":"Gallo, Deane announce Mayoral runs on first day of registration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Long-time Councillor John Gallo has formally thrown his hat into the ring for Aurora\u2019s top job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Gallo formally registered his candidacy for Mayor on Friday morning, just a couple of hours after the process opened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It became a two-person race less than an hour later when Shawn Deane, a frequent delegate to Council on financial and budgetary matters, registered as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incumbent Tom Mrakas had not formally announced his intentions by press time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also joining the municipal race on the first day of registration was Lauren Hanna, who is vying for the role of Ward 1 Councillor, and Nikki Alber, who is seeking the Councillor position in Ward 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to bring my message to everyone and have them join the momentum,\u201d said Gallo, adding voters looking for a \u201cdifferent style of leadership in Aurora.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got 14 years [of Council experience], I think I know the role, and I think we need a change,\u201d he added. \u201cI think we\u2019re at an important moment in Aurora\u2019s history. We need a change in style, a change in the way this place is run.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After six years on Council, Gallo previously ran for Mayor of Aurora in 2014, challenging incumbent Geoffrey Dawe for the role. He was subsequently re-elected to Council in 2018 and again, this time representing Ward 5, in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deane told The Auroran he\u2019s looking forward to offering the people of Aurora \u201ca fresh new choice for leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToday, I\u2019m excited to register,\u201d he said. \u201cI look forward once again to bringing the people of Aurora fresh new leadership \u2013 and a choice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First to arrive at Town Hall to register for a Council position on Friday morning was Alber, having already received the endorsement of outgoing Ward 3 Councillor Wendy Gaertner, who is retiring after more than two consecutive decades on Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Nikki Alber is running to be Councillor for Ward 3. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Alber said Gaertner\u2019s endorsement is \u201ceverything\u201d and she\u2019s \u201cexcited for the opportunity to give back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’ve always been looking for ways to give back, so when this opportunity arose, I knew that I had to take it and\u2026support the community that we’re living in,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community safety and development are among her top concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need development, but we want to make sure it\u2019s responsible, respectful of residents that are living there, but also responsible from an environmental and a financial perspective,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m excited to get started [with the campaign]. I\u2019m excited to meet people from the community. I\u2019m a candidate because I want to solve problems that I hear all the time people have in the community. I want to put myself in a position where I can make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hanna, who signalled her intention to run earlier this year, arrived at Town Hall moments after Alber to formalize her Ward 1 run. She said she has been \u201cexcited\u201d for the registration day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Lauren Hanna is running to be Councillor in Ward 1. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to get out early for people to know that I\u2019m a serious, keen, hard-working contender,\u201d she said on why she wanted to sign up on the first day of the campaign. \u201cI\u2019ve really appreciated the advice, encouragement, support, and offers to help. It\u2019s been encouraging to know I\u2019ll have a strong team behind me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI get the sense that residents are keen to be more engaged in the Town and issues that are impacting them, to be involved in local decisions and feel their voice matters. At the same time, I think we can do more to increase accountability and have more trust in our Ward Councillor and the government at large,\u201d she said. \u201cIt’s about being someone who cares deeply about the Town and is passionate about doing more to engage residents. I think that having improved communication and involvement of citizens is a way to build that trust and culture of democracy that starts at the community level and can grow from there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The vote in Ward 1 became a two-person race on Monday with Heritage Advisory Committee member Rocco Morsillo also throwing his hat into the ring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Rocco Morsillo is also running to be Councillor in Ward 1.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to finally register to run for Councillor of Ward 1,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel very connected to this community and know I can represent the constituents with a strong, clear voice on Council. I\u2019ve had a construction, development and property investment company in Aurora for over two decades. I\u2019ve also served on the Heritage Committee for several years and live in the Heritage District. I believe this background is ideal to understanding controlled development and municipal budgets in Aurora. I\u2019ve had overwhelming support from the community and I\u2019m focused on ensuring I put residents first.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Long-time Councillor John Gallo has formally thrown his hat into the ring for Aurora\u2019s top job. Councillor Gallo formally registered his candidacy for Mayor on Friday morning, just a couple of hours after the process opened. It became a two-person race less than an hour later when Shawn Deane, a frequent delegate to Council on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":38114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-headline_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2026-05-07-02.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9UJ","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-14 15:10:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38113"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38118,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38113\/revisions\/38118"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}