On November 4, 2025, Gayla Charrier won a seat on the Aurora Public Schools Board of Education in Colorado. She earned 16,953 votes in a crowded field of seven candidates.
As a first-time candidate, Charrier entered the race with a desire to advocate for her son, a nonverbal, autistic student in the district, as well as others lacking representation. She persevered through her campaign while undergoing chemotherapy, being outspent by opponents, and running without party support. Her win is a testament to both her own resilience and the power of people-first campaigns.
“My drive would be my kiddos. Second to that, I wanted to be more involved in my community for others who may not know how to speak for themselves or their own children or loved ones.”
Running for Her Son and All APS Students
Charrier didn't initially set out to run for school board. She was headed toward a city council bid until she gave a speech and found herself talking about her son.
"I started in on my son and the things that I saw that were occurring with him within the school district," Charrier said. "Then someone said, 'Oh, you would be perfect for school board.' I said, 'Well, I didn't think about that.' So he is my why."
By the time she considered running, Charrier already had a diverse professional resume: military service, time serving with the Florida Department of Corrections, and security work, both for the CDC in Atlanta and for a rocket program in the Aurora area.
Charrier said these experiences fueled her desire to make a bigger impact.
"Those are the things that kind of pushed me forward into being able to speak and get to know my community, and know what is needed and know what we're lacking,” she said. "Having those positions [led to] knowing what a crisis looks like, knowing how mental health systems work, knowing how medical systems work, education — knowing that if you don't have the right tools in life, it could lead you down one path or another."
Charrier’s experience during the COVID-19 pandemic encouraged her to create change by running for local office. She watched as many of the support systems her son had relied on, such as speech, physical, and occupational therapy, fell away during the shutdown. She realized her family wasn’t the only one being affected by these changes.
“That led me into this work, because now I’m able to say, ‘Hey, now I know I’m not the only one. I don’t just speak for him. I speak for all of these beautiful minds that are coming through our school system.’ And that change only comes from knowing the system,” Charrier said.
Throughout her campaign, Charrier stayed true to that conviction: advocating for those with higher support needs and for the success of all students in Aurora Public Schools.
“I have a voice, so I have to use it as much as I possibly can. That definitely pushed me to do more, because I saw there was a lack of certain things and I needed to know why.”
Campaigning Through Chemo and Political Change
Door knocking was a crucial part of Charrier’s voter outreach strategy.
What voters didn't always expect to hear at the door was that Charrier was in active chemotherapy. She wore a mask while canvassing, which surprised some voters.
"A lot of people questioned why I was wearing a mask," Charrier said. "'Well, why would I vote for you? You want to mask everyone up,' even people in my inbox, and I had to explain to them, 'Hey, it's not any slight against anyone else. I'm actively in chemo.' That story resonated. I had a few people going, 'Oh my God, my grandmother passed from cancer last year. I'm so sorry.'"
Charrier said that going through chemo pushed her to be more vulnerable with voters than she may have been otherwise.
“You don't typically just blurt out, 'I'm going through this.' But knowing that, ‘Hey, here's a candidate who's going through some real-life issues, and I went through this real-life thing as well with my family,' you get to know everyone as family, not just people who could or would vote for you. They are family, and you tend to work harder for family, for those people that you want to protect. Those types of stories really gave me a push.”
Charrier similarly led with the truth when discussing local politics. In a district home to many immigrant families, running as a nonpartisan candidate came as a boon, not a limitation.
“With the president and the administration, fear kind of trickles down, and people were feeling that, especially families who were at certain points afraid to even send their kids to school. That resonated with me, because you want to think of schools as being a safe space,” she said.
“Because we’re nonpartisan for school board, I was able to not have to attach, ‘Oh, I’m for this or that.’ I am simply Gayla, who will represent everyone, and I hear your fear.”
While facing these challenges, Charrier relied on GoodParty.org’s outreach tools and support to focus her limited time and budget.
"I went from not knowing anything about politics to coming to realize politics is just like regular life, if you really think about it,” she said. “It’s like, this is what you’re lacking in life, and this is how you go about doing it, but now you’re doing it on a grander scale. It’s not just for one person. You’re doing it for a district, a community, or a city.”
Serving Aurora Public Schools as a First-Time Official
Charrier was one of only two non-incumbents to win a seat on the school board. Since taking office, she has pushed the board toward the same priorities she campaigned on.
“I may be one of the only members of the board in over a decade who has had a kid with severe needs. Being in that seat allows a lens, a viewpoint, for others to see, 'Oh wow, I didn't know that this was needed. I didn't know that this was going on.'”
Charrier said she is already seeing the board’s work pay off.
“It’s really being able to see community at work, not just in words, not just on paper. You’re actually living in the community, and you’re helping the community, and you’re bridging the community,” she said.
After winning a difficult race and having her cancer go into remission, Charrier has clear words of advice for anyone thinking of running for office:
“Don't limit yourself. We are so limitless when it comes to things that we can do, and we don't know it unless we actually try and do those things. I would have never known that I could do any of these things while going through chemo, while navigating systems for my son, while navigating all of these different areas.”
"If you're coming with a genuine heart and you're coming to actually help your community, then there isn't a no. That word is nonexistent,” she said. “If we have air in our lungs, we are limitless. We can do all things."
Charrier said GoodParty.org's resources helped her navigate the election process as a first-time candidate, from paperwork to strategy, all while supporting her nonpartisan approach.
"I appreciate you. I appreciate all that you do," Charrier told GoodParty.org after the race. "When I run again, you'll see emails from me. This isn't goodbye. It's, ‘I'll see you soon.’"
