Tina Marquis
Tina Marquis, an incumbent member of Boulder City Council, is running for re-election to a second term in 2026. While circumstances around Boulder have changed since she first ran in 2023, at least one of her reasons for running – housing opportunities for families – remains an issue during her 2026 candidacy.
“I ran for election to city council (in 2023) in part to create more housing opportunities for young families. So that’s what we’re often called as middle income or middle type housing. I’m also interested in creating an area that’s resilient to climate change, and that includes wildfire mitigation, and power resiliency, as we experience more power shutoffs. I’m also looking to continue with public safety downtown, so people feel comfortable in our public spaces. And I’m looking for a continued vibrant economy. We came here and got jobs, and I want that to be a similar opportunity for others who come to Boulder,” said Marquis on her reasons for running.
Mini-bio
Marquis was raised in the Los Angeles area, living there until she was 18 years old, and then moved across the country to earn an undergraduate degree from Princeton University in New Jersey. She lived in East Coast areas for more than a decade, with the exceptions of earning a MBA from the University of Michigan and living in Santiago, Chile, for more than two years. She met her husband in New York City, and she worked in a marketing department housed in a building next to the World Trade Center.
On September 11, 2001, she recalled that she thought she was seeing confetti outside from a marketing stunt, but it was in fact debris from the Twin Tower buildings that were eventually destroyed in the 9/11 attack. The couple moved to Westchester County, NY, but didn’t like it and started shopping for new places to live, eventually moving to Boulder.
She first ran for the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) school board in 2013, winning that election and being re-elected in 2017. This BVSD experience included time as Treasurer and four years as President. She said in 2023 that she was proud of her work to help get Alicia Sanchez Elementary School in Lafayette back on track to meet its performance metrics, the process to hire BVSD’s current Superintendent Dr. Rob Anderson, working on BVSD’s Title IX anti-discrimination policies, and voting to deny a charter to Ascent Classical Education because they would not “incorporate gender identity or gender expression” in their anti-discrimination policies.
Marquis ran for her first term on City Council in 2023, finishing second in a race for four open seats, and earning a three-year term. Since then, she has served on a joint county/city committee to elect trustees for the Boulder Library District, and has served as an ex-officio member with the Downtown Boulder Business Improvement District (BID). She said her BID experience has helped her learn a lot about issues and challenges involving the city’s business community, including the challenge of “how to create or maintain vibrancy in the downtown area, which was so impacted by COVID when people went working from home.”
Her Council campaign website is https://www.tinaforboulder.com/
On The Issues
Q – Has Directly Elected Mayor Been a Good Experience?
Marquis said she believes the current “Council – City Manager” system is working well, but there might be some confusion in the city as to whether the Mayor is a “strong Mayor” position or not. (Note: it isn’t) She said she has heard some discussion in the community about if the city needs “a stronger mayor that has a different role or a role that is more significantly different than that of a council person,” and said she’ll be curious to see how it’s interpreted moving forward.
Q – Boulder’s Economic Status and Challenges?
Like many candidates, Marquis noted that city sales tax collections have been flat or declining, but she sees some positive signs for the local economy. She said the city’s had a long history of innovation, which could continue with Boulder’s local tech startups and natural foods companies, plus attracting the Sundance Film Festival should bring a lot of economic activity. She said landing Sundance was one piece of evidence that Boulder is “viewed as a sustainable and economically viable town.” She specifically mentioned the possibility of revitalization of the “East Bookend” area, for example, where the Dushanbe Tea House is located, which could help bring vibrancy to Boulder’s downtown in general. And she once again mentioned middle-income housing, which could help families be able to live in Boulder and contribute to the economy year-round.
Q – Contentious Council Meetings?
Marquis was on Council during meetings in 2025 that were often disrupted with protests over the situation in Gaza. She said it was a “hostile environment” for a while, and she knew people with city business who were hesitant to come to meetings. The council eventually made meeting policy changes that did lead to meetings with fewer disruptions, and Marquis said she thought the changes were good, but she wished they would have been implemented sooner.
Q – Is the City Ready for Sundance?
People from the City of Boulder involved with preparing for Sundance have recently visited Park City, Utah, to see how they handled Sundance – including Marquis, who went “on her own dime.” She said she was impressed by how Boulder’s footprint is actually more walkable and compact than Park City, and mentioned that people involved with Boulder transportation and public safety learned more about how these issues have been handled in Park City. She believes Boulder will still need to work on housing for the visitors, making sure there’s adequate signage, and facilitating small businesses like food trucks. She added, “I also think Sundance is doing a good job bringing in events and ways for the larger community to connect.”
Q – Public Safety?
While she believes overall public safety has improved since 2023, Marquis said it will be important to make sure Boulder maintains “welcoming” public spaces and business districts. Some candidates this year spoke about wildfire preparation during questions about climate, but Marquis mentioned it as a public safety issue, noting that fires are obviously possible and the city needs to be active in evacuation planning. There have been extended power outages in recent years, and Marquis said it will be important to help people affected by outages have ways to deal with issues like medical needs, or temperature situations like being too hot or too cold due to lack of power.
Q – How is Boulder Doing with Homelessness?
Marquis said she believes the city has done a good job, “if we continue to see the trends we’re seeing.” She said there are still instances where a member of the unhoused community might still experience behavioral health issues or commit crimes, including assault. “It’s terrible when it does … but I do think it’s fair to say things are better than they were three years ago,” she said, but added that the city needs to keep its focus to help make sure people feel safe in public spaces.
Q – Does Boulder Still Need to Push for More Housing?
In interviews for both of her campaigns for Council, she basically said it’s important to focus on not just quantity of housing, but also whether the types of housing will work for families. In 2026, she said the vast majority of housing produced in Boulder recently has been “stacked” multi-unit complexes geared toward the student market, and on the other side of the spectrum, there have been “scrapes” of older or smaller homes for the luxury market. For families of modest means, the single-family homes might be unaffordable, while the multi-unit complexes might not be the ideal type of housing for raising a family. She believes it would be a good idea to get more input from people in the middle-income range who are wondering if they should seek housing in Boulder or in nearby cities. She mentioned that land cost is a major driver of housing prices, and it might be possible to create housing on publicly-owned land to keep the costs down. She said manufactured homes might also help with affordability, especially if federal grants or local subsidies could be applied.
Q – Should City Council be Involved in International Affairs?
Marquis said “Every level of government has its own unique purpose, and that’s why we have different levels of government.” She believes the City Council should stay focused on core city responsibilities, and doesn’t believe the city can have major influence over international events. Marquis noted that the city does have a robust “Sister Cities” program with cities in other nations, but for the most part she stuck to talking about prioritizing city issues like water and sewer, fire and police, and rec centers while answering this question. “Each of us is able in our individual capacities to advocate for change with the people who are closer to those discussions, which would be more up at the federal level. And I rely on them, and I elect them based on those values,” she said.
Q – Rec Centers and Deferred Maintenance?
Marquis said issues with deferred maintenance started happening before she was on Council or before the current City Manager was hired. She mentioned some of the competing budget items that the city has faced or will face – expenses from the 2013 floods, maintaining strong financial reserves, and fire mitigation among them – and said while budgeting for maintenance is “critical,” other issues that might require city spending are often good ideas, plus they have community support. The city is running a $400 million bond issue in 2026, and Marquis supports looking into something similar to the BVSD Bond Oversight Committee, where people well-versed in finance could look into issues including maintenance budgeting. This might not be specific to the bond measure, and Marquis said it might be something along the lines of an “infrastructure advisory group” that could work independently from City Council.
Q – Is the City Moving Toward Fees and Property Taxes?
The Council recently approved a Transportation Maintenance Fee, while the bond measure would be funded by property taxes. Marquis again noted that sales tax revenues have been flat, with sales tax growth if any “not growing as fast as our expenses.” She said she wasn’t sure if the new fee and the property tax proposals would be “augmentation” of revenues or an actual shift of direction. With sales tax rates that are already high, and new increases proposed even in 2026, she is concerned that there might not be much room to look to sales taxes for new expenses. Without specifically talking about the $400 million bond measure, she said bonding with a property tax proposal “makes sense.”
Q – Surveillance and Civil Liberties?
There has been recent controversy over the use of Flock cameras and other systems, and Marquis said it will be important for the city to have a conversation about the data collected and if or how it’s being shared. She added that the City of Boulder is not the only entity that might use cameras, since private-sector companies use their own systems, like parking lot cameras, and it might not be clear what they’re doing with that data. She said cameras have been a key tool in solving crimes, giving the example of decreasing auto theft, but added that “those trade-offs are getting a lot fuzzier.” Marquis mentioned that there might be state legislation on the issue coming up next session, and meanwhile she wants to be “really careful how we proceed, if at all,” with this new technological concern.
Q – Climate Action Priorities?
Marquis said the city’s Climate Initiatives Department does “incredible” work, but added that there are many challenges the city and region will face regarding water. Not only might the city face its own water supply issues if climate change and precipitation totals remain problematic, but the city also sells water to other communities and leases it to agricultural operations. That’s (agriculture) one of the most intensive uses of water that we have, along with landscaping,” she said. Marquis said it’s important to consider shade for cooling, even if climate warming continues, and wants to “elevate the role” of having a tree canopy where possible, because shade from trees provide free cooling. She added that she’d like to look into ways of using the built environment in public spaces to help people cope with the weather or climate, including through shade for cooling or protection from extreme weather events.
Q – Downtown Development Authority?
Marquis voted against sending the DDA proposal to DDA voters, and noted that she didn’t believe there was sufficient community “buy-in,” in part because of a “compressed timeline” and not enough input from other entities with approved dedicated tax revenues that might have lost funding through tax-increment financing arrangements. She said there are things the city or existing business districts could investigate to improve the business district environment, even without DDA revenue. She added that there is interest from the private sector in downtown development, as evidenced by a recent proposal that she said “came out of the blue” to purchase a surface parking lot at Spruce and Broadway for the purpose of building a hotel.
2026 Ballot Measures
- City of Boulder $400 Million Bond: Yes
- City of Boulder Residential Vacancy Tax: Yes
- Boulder County Childcare Tax: Yes
- City of Boulder Firefighter Collective Bargaining: Yes
- City of Boulder Debt Limit increase: Yes
- Boulder County Increase Commissioners from 3 to 5: Yes
Endorsements: Marquis has received organizational endorsements from Boulder Progressives, Open Boulder, PLAN-Boulder County, and Better Boulder.
Follow the Money: Marquis has received maximum $100 donations from current Council members Ryan Schuchard, Tara Winer, (Mayor) Aaron Brockett, and Rob Kaplan; former Council members Sam Weaver, Rachel Friend, and Jill Grano; current state Senator Judy Amabile; current state Rep. Lesley Smith; current State Board of Education member Kathy Gebhardt; current BVSD board member Nicole Rajpal, and former BVSD board member Laurie Albright.
