Boulder City Council, 2023

That’s a San Diegan City Council in the public domain picture above, but Boulder’s City Council is a bit like a Board of Directors for the City of Boulder government. The nine-member Council gets the final vote on a number of issues – the city budget, ordinances, hiring or firing key city positions (city manager, city attorney, municipal judge), annexations, and board or commission appointments among them. Council members also typically engage with the community in the exchange of ideas and opinions, since city residents can contact Council members to share their positions while Council members can express their opinions verbally or in writing.

In the 2023 election, there are four open seats on Council, so voters can vote for up to four candidates. Unlike the Mayor’s race, the Council race will not be conducted with ranked-choice voting, so the four candidates with the highest vote totals will earn seats.

However, there’s a possible twist. If current Council member Nicole Speer wins the race for Mayor of Boulder, the fifth-place finisher in the Council race will earn a seat on Council to finish out Speer’s term that expires in 2025. The other four seats on Council will be for three-year terms that expire in 2026, thanks to a ballot measure passed in 2022 that moves Council races from their current odd-year elections to even-year elections beginning in 2026.

I interviewed every candidate in this year’s race, and asked them for the most part similar but not identical questions. Those who read my profiles can learn more about the candidates’ life stories, their relevant experience, and their position on top issues of the day. For one editorial comment, I found this year’s candidates very cooperative, giving for the most part honest statements on positions on issues and interesting life stories. This was refreshing compared to 2021, when answers to some of my questions seemed formulaic, as if someone had coached them how to respond.

There are 10 candidates for Council in this year’s race, and they’re listed below in the order in which I interviewed them. If you read them all, you will learn more about some interesting candidates with unique characteristics.