Cervantes Campaign Condemns Phillips’ Fear-Based Attempts to Dismiss Decrease in Thornton Crime

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Contact: Citlaly Quiroz

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Cervantes Campaign Condemns Phillips’ Fear-Based Attempts to Dismiss Decrease in Thornton Crime

THORNTON, CO — [05/26/2026] — The campaign for Gabriel Cervantes, candidate for Colorado State House District 31, issued the following statement condemning comments made by State Representative Jacque Phillips at her recent town hall.

In a recording of the event, Phillips responded to a flyer circulating the Capitol regarding crime decreasing across all metrics in Thornton. Rather than acknowledge this success, she instead stated that reported crime decreased because residents had stopped calling police, saying “there’s no point.” She further claimed that Thornton has the highest unreported crime rate.

Cervantes stated: “For more than a decade, Thornton residents have heard the same harmful narrative from Representative Phillips. Our community is dangerous, our neighborhoods are defined by crime, and that residents of Thornton should be ashamed of living here. That kind of rhetoric won’t harm her, though. It harms the students who grow up hearing that they are from a dangerous and impoverished place. It harms the families who want to feel pride in where they live. It harms the communities working every day to invest in this community.”

Thornton Mayor Pro-Tem Roberta Ayala slammed the comments made by Phillips. “Crime is steadily decreasing according to Q4-2024 and Q1-2025 data by the Thornton Police Department.” said Ayala. “This is a major discredit to the deep work and community policing that has been done with the Thornton Police Department for years to continue building trust in our communities.”

According to data acquired via CORA requests, calls have not decreased in South Thornton. Appalled Thornton residents, led by Ryan Mader, submitted the CORA request to the Thornton Police Department disproving Phillips’ claim upon learning of the comments. “I find it alarming to hear statements from our Representative suggesting that lower incident numbers in South Thornton are due to residents choosing not to report crimes to law enforcement,” said Mader. “Residents of South Thornton are proud of our community and care deeply about it — far more than Representative Philips’ comments would suggest.”

Cervantes emphasized that these are the same fear-based narratives that conservatives use to stigmatize working-class neighborhoods. “This is a fear tactic parroted by Trump and Colorado Republicans,” said Cervantes. “They solicit fear and anger for votes and if the data says otherwise, they dismiss it as being manipulated or wrong— Which is what Phillips is doing. We deserve better and we will have better come June.”

Gabriel Cervantes is running for the Democratic nomination for Colorado House District 31, which covers Southern to Eastern Thornton. He was born and raised in Thornton, where he attended Thornton High School, and is currently the Ward 1 representative on the Thornton Arts, Sciences, and Humanities Council, as well as the RTD Citizens’ Board Member that represents Thornton. Prior to launching his bid for office, he was a recruitment organizer for the Adams County Young Democrats and later the Colorado Young Democrats.

Sources:

Thornton February Town Hall | @ 40:00

January 27, 2026 Thornton Crime Reporting Statistics | @ 1:40:03

April 28, 2026 Thornton Crime Reporting Statistics | @ 2:46:17

Thornton Police Department Call Statistics 2023-2025

Thornton Community Watch Program Sector (South Thornton)-2024 Phone Calls to Police

Thornton Community Watch Program Sector (South Thornton)-2025 Phone Calls to Police

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