Boulder City Council: Winer, Marquis, Brncic, Schuchard ahead in second batch of results
Nov. 7—As Boulder County election results began rolling in Tuesday evening, several candidates emerged as leaders in Boulder City Council race.
As of 8:50 p.m. Tuesday, preliminary election results showed Councilmember Tara Winer, a senior brand manager, leading with 13,608 votes, or 19.51% of the total so far.
"It's looking good," Winer said of the initial results. "I'm really happy to serve the community of Boulder again, so I'm hoping for the best."
In second place, marketing professional and former BVSD School Board president Tina Marquis had 10,051 votes, or 14.41% of the total counted.
Next behind her was Terri Brncic, a CPA and CFO who had brought in 9,385 votes, or 13.46% of the total. Brncic is part of the group of parents who launched the Safe Zones 4 Kids ballot measure, which if passed would ask the city to prioritize removing homeless encampments near schools, sidewalks and multi-use paths.
Marquis and Brncic could not immediately be reached for comment.
Neck-and-neck in fourth and fifth place were climate advocate Ryan Schuchard and educator Taishya Adams with 8,363 and 8,358 votes respectively, or about 11.99% of the total each.
"I feel really great about the work our team has done," Schuchard said. "When I decided to run, my idea was to build climate and transportation and housing into the election dialogue, and it's here. I don't know what's going to happen, but I feel really positive."
Land use and zoning professional Jenny Robins was not far behind with 5,912 votes. Elephant Journal founder and editor-in-chief Waylon Lewis came in next with 3,860 votes, followed by paraeducator Silas Atkins at 2,464 votes and green energy and transportation professional Jacques Decalo at 1,389 votes. Software engineer Aaron Neyer was in last place with 1,293 votes.
The PLAN-Boulder County and Boulder Elevated candidate slates, which include Winer, Marquis and Brncic, have had a strong showing so far this year. Those groups' choice for mayor, Councilmember Bob Yates, was also leading in his race at the time of this writing.
Meanwhile, Adams and Schuchard are supported by the Boulder Progressives, the Sierra Club Indian Peaks group and Better Boulder.
At least four council seats are up for grabs in this year's election. Yates, Winer, Rachel Friend and Junie Joseph are completing their terms this year and all had the opportunity to run for reelection.
Winer is seeking reelection to the council, and Yates is running in Boulder's first-ever mayoral race. Friend and Joseph are not running for reelection.
Councilmember Nicole Speer is not up for reelection this year but is running for mayor. If she wins as mayor, a fifth seat could open up on City Council. But if her mayoral bid is unsuccessful, she will remain on the council to serve the remainder of her term.
Because the mayoral election is being conducted via ranked choice voting, a new voting method for Boulder County, it may take several days for the county to finalize those results and determine whether an additional seat will become available on the council.
All council members elected this year will serve three-year terms. Normally, councilmembers serve for either two or four years, but the city is preparing to transition to even-year municipal elections beginning in 2026. Candidates in 2025's election will also be elected to three-year terms. From 2026 onward, councilmember term limits will return to normal.
