Nineteen candidates have qualified for Boulder’s 2026 municipal ballot: six running for mayor and 13 seeking five city council seats. The council field is slightly larger than last year’s, when 11 candidates competed for four seats.
Only three sitting councilmembers, Tina Marquis, Tara Winer and Ryan Schuchard, are seeking reelection to the council, guaranteeing at least two newcomers. Mayor Aaron Brockett faces five challengers, including Councilmember Taishya Adams.
Candidates elected this year will also be the first to receive sharply higher pay. Beginning in December, councilmembers will earn 40% of the area median income, while the mayor will earn 50%. Based on estimates presented to voters in 2024, annual pay would increase from roughly $12,700 to about $41,000 for councilmembers and $51,000 for the mayor. The precise amounts will be adjusted annually.
This will also be Boulder’s first regular municipal election held in an even-numbered year, a change intended to increase turnout and engage a broader range of voters.
Find a candidate
Jump to a race to browse all candidate cards. Click on a candidate’s photo or a name below to read their full profile. Profiles will be updated throughout the election.
Taishya Adams • Aaron Brockett • Jameson “Jamo” Goldstein • Lisa Ann Jacobs • Aquiles La Grave • Fred Smith
Benita Duran • Sam Fuqua • Lee Gilbert • Jill Grano • Rachel Rose Isaacson • Ryan Jamieson • Tina Marquis • David Martus • Scott Rendleman • Jamillah Richmond • Ryan Schuchard • Lynn Segal • Tara Winer
Boulder Reporting Lab has published profiles of nearly all 19 candidates and will update them as more information becomes available. In the coming weeks, BRL will also publish candidates’ answers to policy questions submitted by readers.
BRL has not yet published a full profile of mayoral candidate Lisa Ann Jacobs because little biographical or campaign information is publicly available.
Mayoral candidates
Click on a candidate’s photo to learn more.
Aaron Brockett
Age: 53
City council candidates
Click on a candidate’s photo to learn more.
Benita Duran
Age: 65
Sam Fuqua
Age: 62
Lee Gilbert
Jill Grano
Age: 44
Rachel Rose Isaacson
Age: 29
Tina Marquis
Age: 55
David Martus
Ryan Schuchard
Age: 49
Scott Rendleman
Jamillah Richmond
Age: 42
Lynn Segal
Age: 73
What’s shaping the race
Several candidates say voters are looking for institutional change. Some are campaigning to give elected councilmembers a stronger role in city governance, arguing that the council needs to provide greater leadership and oversight. Under Boulder’s council-manager form of government, the council sets policy and approves the budget, while the city manager oversees administrative operations.
The next council will also govern during Boulder’s first year as host of the Sundance Film Festival, which arrives in January 2027.
Because Boulder’s elections are nonpartisan and local political groups organize around issues that can shift from one election to the next, candidates do not always fall into neat camps. Most support more affordable and attainable housing, stronger protection against fires and floods, and more transparent and accountable city government.
In past elections, development provided a clearer dividing line between candidates who favored greater density and those who preferred more limited growth. Public safety has also emerged as a defining issue in recent races. This year, the clearest divide so far is the proposed $400 million bond measure.
The $400 million question
A $400 million bond measure on the November ballot would raise property taxes to pay for recreation centers and other city facilities.
All five incumbent candidates support the measure. They cite an urgent need to address more than $400 million in deferred maintenance before projects grow more expensive. Sam Fuqua and Jamillah Richmond also support it.
Many challengers oppose the measure, arguing that voters have not received enough information about how the money would be spent. The opponents include mayoral candidates Aquiles La Grave, Fred Smith and Lisa Ann Jacobs, and council candidates Benita Duran, Ryan Jamieson, Scott Rendleman, Rachel Rose Isaacson, Jill Grano and Lynn Segal.
Endorsements so far
For voters trying to sort through the crowded field, endorsements from Boulder’s political organizations offer one guide, though an imperfect one.
Boulder Progressives is the first of the city’s major political groups to announce their choices. The organization endorsed Brockett for mayor and Schuchard, Marquis, Fuqua, Isaacson and Grano for council. It also said it “enthusiastically supports” Richmond, who entered the race after the group’s endorsement process had concluded.
Other endorsements will follow. PLAN-Boulder County, Open Boulder and Better Boulder will co-host a candidate forum on Sept. 2 and plan to announce their selections afterward.
But the endorsements are unlikely to divide the field into tidy camps. Boulder’s political groups can be placed loosely along a moderate-to-progressive spectrum, but candidates often find common ground across those lines. The council’s voting record reflects that fluidity: Unanimous decisions are common, and members associated with Boulder’s more moderate groups sometimes align with those backed by the Boulder Progressives, and vice versa.