Jameson “Jamo” Goldstein

Jameson “Jamo” Goldstein is running for Mayor of Boulder in 2026. He is the youngest candidate in this year’s race, soon to be a CU college graduate, but he said he’s been “passionate” about Boulder culture for years, and had a bit of a realization after meeting some members of the local unhoused community and learning more about the broader issue.

“So it kind of got me started thinking about politics. And then after high school, I came to school at CU Boulder, really started to see a lot more of the unique problems that Boulder has, did more research, and saw this Ordinance 8762 (editor’s note: 8762 is on the ballot as a debt limitation increase) that’s just completely ridiculous. Then one night, I was with one of my buddies. I mean, there are so many issues in Boulder that need to be addressed. And we were really angry about it,” he said.

Jamo learned what it took to run for Mayor, decided it was doable, and threw his hat in the ring.

(Editor’s note – I normally only use last names in these pieces but I’m going to use “Jamo” in this one.)

Mayoral Issues

Jamo said he believes the role of the Mayor is somewhat like the CEO of Boulder, while the City Manager is like a Chief Operating Officer (COO) who is getting the work done, but might push back on the Mayor. He said the City Council is like a Board of Directors, with part of its role being to make sure the Mayor doesn’t get out of line or off track.

In mid-2025, some City Council meetings got heated and contentious with protests over the situation in Gaza. When asked how “Mayor Jamo” would handle contentious meetings, he said “There’s no reason to stop people from expressing what their view is on the situation. I think that anybody who has a point of view should be coming in and expressing that point of view. Everybody definitely has the right to free speech. It’s the principle that America was founded on.”

Mini-Bio

Jamo was born in Arvada, Colorado. While in high school, he said he was on student council for two years, and participated as a “Game Master” in a new structure called the “House System” which A.I. describes as “designed to build community and culture.” He also participated in a “Mock Trial” program as a high school senior, and called his coach, Michael Hegarty, a federal magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court, “one of the greatest guys I’ve ever met.” Jamo’s team finished second in state.

“Law and politics are very adjacent, so it really got me interested in politics. So those are, I would say, my prerequisites to a political position,” he said.

He came to CU-Boulder, and said he will graduate with a major in finance and a minor in philosophy in 2027.

His campaign website is https://www.jamoformayor.org/

On The Issues

Q – Status of Boulder’s Economy, What to Do?

Jamo said he believes the status of Boulder’s economy is “not great,” adding that the city did a budget cut in 2026, will need to cut the budget in 2027, and has proposed the ballot measure from Ordinance 8762 that includes new city debt through a $400 million bond measure. However, he believes the situation is “addressable,” suggesting the new debt could be reduced substantially if accountants could “go through the records of things that need to be done, appraise them, revalue them, and then release to the public exactly what their valuation of things are.”

Q – Public Safety Concerns?

This early August interview took place on University Hill, and Jamo said he believes there is some mis-prioritization with the type of police presence on the Hill. “I think their efforts are really misdirected right now. You can go, any given Friday, Saturday night, there are just police officers all around the Hill kind of just watching drunk college students. Drunk college students typically aren’t causing very many problems…I don’t think anyone wants their tax dollars going to police officers who are just giving people who are like 20 years old a MIP. (Minor In Possession of alcohol)”

Q – Public Safety FROM Public Safety?

There has been community controversy recently about the use of Flock cameras and other devices, including concern about how data that’s collected might be used. Jamo said “Nobody thinks that cameras should be tracking innocent civilians going about their day…We’ve seen a lot of really gross missteps across the nation of people using Flock cameras and situations that are completely unwarranted for them to be using them.” He believes the money Boulder’s spending on these cameras should be redirected toward “something more productive.”

Q – Thoughts on Sundance Film Festival?

Some of Jamo’s friends are film majors, and he said one of them is actively working to help find subleases for people coming to Boulder for the festival. He said Sundance is something that’s aligned with the culture of creativity in Boulder. While he said he isn’t sure how much of an “uproar” the festival will cause as large crowds come to the city, he knows people who are working to help ensure that visitors have a place to stay.

Q – Should Council Address International Issues?

According to Jamo, it could make sense for Council to have discussions about international issues if a conversation can be productive and it’s a topic on which the city can “actually have an impact” on broader issues. “Changes really do come from the local level in a certain capacity,” he said.

Q – Should Boulder Continue Pushing for More Housing?

“Right now, there’s a very large subsection of the Boulder population that finds it very difficult to even make ends meet and pay rent,” he said. He believes the city needs to continue prioritizing its affordable housing program and building its affordable housing supply, which could include new apartments, duplexes or triplexes.

Q – How is Boulder Doing on Managing Homelessness?

Jamo said he has met some members of the local unhoused community (Editor’s note – I didn’t want to include names or nicknames in this post), and said “they’re all really fantastic people.” However, he believes there is a lack of behavioral health services in this geographic area, and while the county typically manages public health issues, he believes there should be a role for the city as well since some people might benefit from services or assistance. “I mean, anybody can see that when you walk around. A lot of these homeless people have very serious issues and I think that it’s usually not even their fault. They just need somebody to be there for them,” he said.

Q – Downtown Development Authority?

Along the lines of what he’s said on other issues, Jamo noted that the DDA would have used financing for business district improvements, but while leveraging property and sales tax revenue – using “money that’s not even ours.” At the time of this interview, he didn’t have specific examples of how the Hill or Downtown business districts could be improved without DDA revenue, saying Downtown is already “pretty magnificent” and the Hill is a “really nice area” given that it’s dominated by college students.

Q – Climate Action?

Jamo brought up that the city’s climate action program once again enables projects that are financed by leveraging taxes. He suggested one climate action idea that wouldn’t involve taxation – if more Boulder residents would use their yards to plant “natural forage” as opposed to maintaining grass lawns.

Q – Rec Centers and Deferred Maintenance?

The $400 million bond measure that Boulder voters will see in 2026 mentions rec centers as among the projects the city might take on if the bonding is approved by voters. According to Jamo, he could support a smaller amount of debt for projects, but believes the $400 million figure is “grossly exaggerated.” He would also support using an independent auditor to help the city better manage its spending. “Right now, Boulder has a credit card, and they’re just swiping it over and over. We need to figure out what is truly essential,” he said.

2026 Ballot Issues

  • City of Boulder Bond Measure: He opposes this measure, and much of the post above covers reasons why.
  • City of Boulder Residential Vacancy Tax: Jamo supports it because people need housing and this tax might result in new housing availability.
  • Boulder County Childcare Tax: He said “on paper, it sounds like a fantastic deal,” but added that the program should be audited if the ballot measure passes.
  • City of Boulder Firefighter Collective Bargaining: He’s “100%” in favor
  • City of Boulder Debt Limit Expansion: He’s opposed to it
  • Boulder County Increase from 3 to 5 Commissioners: He supports it.

Endorsements: Goldstein received a “third-choice” endorsement from PLAN-Boulder County (this is a ranked-choice election).