Seven likely candidates vying for a seat on Boulder City Council gathered last week at the Elks Lodge for the first forum of the 2025 election season. Many consider the event the unofficial start of this year’s city council race.
Voters will elect four councilmembers on Nov. 4. With no mayoral race or citizen-led ballot measures on this year’s ballot, the council race is likely to be the main event.
The forum, hosted by Boulder Progressives, a local political group that describes its mission as building a community that is “welcoming, inclusive, accessible and safe for all,” featured a mix of yes-or-no and open-ended questions. Among them: Would you support enforcing the city’s camping ban if shelters were full? Did Boulder become too crowded the day after you moved here? And can you name a Beyoncé song?
Themes of housing affordability, wildfire risk and city finances were prominent. The recent Pearl Street attack, which has drawn attention to antisemitic speech and tensions within the council chambers, was not discussed, though all candidates said open comment remains important.
Four sitting councilmembers are running for re-election:
Matt Benjamin moved to Boulder to study astronomy at CU Boulder and later worked at the Fiske Planetarium. He said he helped establish the country’s first dark sky reserve in Idaho and now works as a photographer and freelance astronomer. Elected to council in 2021, Benjamin said one of his top priorities if reelected would be middle-income housing.
Nicole Speer moved to Boulder in 2005 for postdoctoral research at CU Boulder. She directs CU’s Intermountain Neuroimaging Consortium, a research facility and lab space for neuroscientists. However, she said she will be losing her job next month due to recent federal grant cuts. Elected to council in 2021, she was later appointed mayor pro tem and ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2023. She said her top priority is the city’s long-term financial plan.
Mark Wallach, a retired lawyer and former real estate developer, has said he first came to Boulder for the rock climbing. He worked on voter registration drives during the Vietnam War and civil rights era, according to his city council bio. He is a frequent opinion writer and has spoken out against antisemitism and disruptions during council meetings. He said wildfire resilience is his top issue.
Lauren Folkerts, an architect who grew up near Seattle, went to the University of Oregon and focused on sustainable design and metalsmithing. She was elected in 2021 and became mayor pro tem in 2024. She previously served on the city’s Design Advisory Board. Folkerts said her top priority is ensuring Boulder is “affordable, equitable, safe and sustainable.”
Three newcomers are also likely to enter the race:
Jennifer Robins, a telecommunications consultant and chair of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, is campaigning on broad themes of “good governance,” basic services, and wildfire resilience. At the forum, she said ensuring the city can continue delivering “core services” is a top concern.
Rachel Isaacson is the director of regeneration at Woven Web, a nonprofit focused on community resilience. She graduated in 2019 from Antioch College with a degree in political economics. She also served as treasurer for 2023 council candidate Aaron Gabriel Neyer. She said her top priority is supporting city workers.
Rob Kaplan, a former captain with Boulder Rural Fire Rescue, helped found Pro Peloton Cyclery, a since-closed bike shop. He was appointed to the city’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board earlier this year. Kaplan said wildfire protection was his main focus.
The city’s affordable housing crisis was a central theme during the event. Several candidates were asked how they would represent renters, who make up about half of Boulder’s population.
Kaplan said he supports collecting data from landlords.
“I could see creating something with management companies, landlords — getting data from them on evictions, vacancies, the rents that they’re charging,” he said. “It’s a basic right to have a roof over your head, and when you’re paying a landlord, you deserve to have some leeway.”
Isaacson, the only renter on stage, said: “People deserve more notice, especially during the winter times when their literal lives could be at risk.” She added, “A lot of renters are living in moldy houses right now. … I know people that are having insane fees thrown at them.”
On Boulder’s recent population decline, Speer said the city needs to attract more young people by making it easier to afford housing, child care and basic living costs.
“Who here likes being able to get in at the doctor? … Who likes having teachers in their schools?” she asked. “To have workers, we need to have people and we especially need to have young people here.”
Wallach agreed. He said the approximate $1 million median home listing price makes it difficult. “We’re not giving younger people an opportunity to acquire homes … and build the intergenerational wealth that comes with owning something. What we’re doing is pricing people out,” he said.
Candidates also weighed in on what more the city should do to increase housing affordability, beyond recent state-mandated reforms around density, parking minimums and accessory dwelling units.
Robins mentioned the Area III Planning Reserve and said the city should look at ways to support transit-oriented, family-friendly and workforce housing. “We’re not building for families,” she said.
Folkerts said she wants to see more “missing middle” housing, such as townhomes and walkable neighborhoods. She also said she supports stronger renter protections, including landlord-paid moving costs after large rent hikes. “I’d also like to see us push the state to remove the prohibition on rent control so long-term residents and working families are not in constant fear of unreasonable rent hikes,” she said, acknowledging the challenges of passing such state legislation.
On new solutions to homelessness, Benjamin said he’s awaiting recommendations from a consultant report. He also said Boulder County needs to step up.
“Homelessness is a regional problem, and we do not have a regional strategy,” he said. “The county has fallen very short on leadership on this issue.”
More forums are expected in the coming months as the campaign season ramps up. The deadline for candidates to qualify for the ballot is late August.
Why didn’t Mr Kaplan mention his interest in real estate in Boulder?
Hi Josh and thank you for the question.
I do have experience in real estate. I started purchasing foreclosure homes in Gary, IN., and renting them back to the occupants at well below market rates so they wouldn’t be displaced. I also have owed and managed mid-sized apartment complexes and a medical building. It does bring valuable experience and is pertinent to our city. I simply had to choose what I could fit in a 60 second intro and that didn’t make it.
City council has the ability to work on concrete basics like wildfire protection and maybe even filling more potholes. Those are things they can actually do. They can allocate funding and find resources for those things. As far as any of the bigger issues like making a dent in affordability or homelessness, that’s strictly aspirational. They have made zero actual impact in those types of larger social issues since they’ve been on council. I think that’s mainly because they don’t have much say. Staff has been working on these kinds of issues for a decade or more and their work goes on regardless of who is elected to serve on city council. The best council members can do is make suggestions or recommendations, but they rarely make significant policy changes that move the needle. They have to rely totally on the research provided to them by staff to make decisions so that cuts out most innovation right there. Staff runs the show and city council strives to keep up.