Boulder's mayoral election this November has become a referendum on how the city should respond to antisemitism and the Israel-Hamas war, with incumbent Aaron Brockett saying he believes Israel should exist while challenger Taishya Adams has declined to affirm the same position. The race arrives roughly a year and a half after a Boulder man firebombed a weekly walk supporting Israeli hostages on Pearl Street Mall, an attack that left one woman dead and a dozen others injured.
According to the Baltimore Jewish Times, Adams, a city councilmember since 2023, declined to sign the council's statement formally denouncing the June 2025 firebombing as an act of violence and terror, saying she withheld her signature because colleagues would not link the attack to antisemitism and anti-Zionism specifically. Brockett, the incumbent mayor, has stated plainly that he believes Israel should exist. Rabbi Fred Greene has said Israel's right to exist is not a partisan position, per the same report.
The attack that looms over the race targeted the weekly “Run for Their Lives” walk supporting Israeli hostages. Suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman used Molotov cocktails and a makeshift flamethrower while shouting anti-Zionist slogans, according to The Colorado Sun. Eighty-two-year-old community activist Karen Diamond died three weeks after the attack from severe burn injuries, and 12 other victims were hurt in the attack. Soliman told investigators he wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead, per an FBI affidavit cited in the Baltimore Jewish Times report.
Soliman's Guilty Plea and Looming Federal Charges
Soliman pleaded guilty in state court in May 2026 to first-degree murder and attempted murder, receiving a sentence of life without parole plus 2,128 years. The Colorado Sun reports that he agreed this month to change his plea to federal hate-crime charges; he faces 12 federal charges, including a hate crime. Hoodline previously covered the FBI's terrorism probe into the attack and the early court proceedings that followed.
Tensions have spilled beyond the courtroom and into other local confrontations. Protester Laura Gonzalez was arrested in September 2025 on felony retaliation and misdemeanor harassment charges after confronting Councilmember Matt Benjamin and bumping his wife at a local market over council foreign policy votes, according to CBS News. Two of the charges were dropped in May 2026, but Gonzalez pleaded not guilty and is still expected to face trial on the physical harassment misdemeanor, with her attorneys arguing the prosecution targeted her protected political speech.
A Years-Long Fight Over Council Resolutions
The roots of the current divide stretch back to the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, which prompted demonstrations in Boulder protesting Israel's operations in Gaza. In February 2024, the Boulder City Council voted against considering a Gaza ceasefire resolution, with Adams among just two council members who voted to advance it; the resolution never moved forward, according to Boulder Reporting Lab's account referenced in the Baltimore Jewish Times piece.
Adams has also pushed, largely alone, to revisit the city's investment policy to potentially exclude more weapons manufacturers, a position she first raised in February 2025 and renewed in August 2025 as the only councilmember supporting it at that later point, though three members had backed reconsideration in February.
New Meeting Rules Born From Months of Conflict
The Boulder City Council spent about 20 months holding contentious public-comment sessions over the Gaza war, during which officials suspended some individuals and limited poster sizes at meetings. In 2025, the council enacted new open-comment rules, including an earlier start time, a two-minute speaking cap per speaker, and audio-only virtual broadcasts, according to Boulder Reporting Lab.
Her foreign-policy positions sit alongside a broader pattern of breaking with council progressives: Adams voted against Boulder's 2026 budget, short-term rental licenses tied to the Sundance Film Festival, a transportation maintenance fee, and a plan to raise the city's minimum wage to match Denver's by 2027, according to Boulder Reporting Lab. On the wage issue, Adams supported a smaller increase, citing potential harm to locally owned small businesses.
A Settlement in the Schools
The debate over antisemitism has reached beyond City Hall and into the Boulder Valley School District, which in September 2026 settled a federal Title VI civil rights complaint filed by the Anti-Defamation League. Per JNS, the district agreed to policy reforms, staff training on antisemitism, and a new advisory council following allegations that an eighth-grade student at Southern Hills Middle School endured persistent antisemitic slurs and physical assault.
On the University of Colorado Boulder campus, the divide was visible on October 7, when CU Boulder Hillel hosted a memorial event the same day Boulder Students for Justice in Palestine held a campus vigil it called for the martyrs of Palestine.
How Ranked-Choice Voting Could Decide It
Boulder uses ranked-choice voting for mayoral elections, a system that produced the city's first directly elected mayor in November 2023, when Brockett defeated Bob Yates through vote reallocations, according to Boulder County. That system means second-choice rankings could prove decisive again this year: the Boulder County Democratic Socialists of America have endorsed Adams for mayor, while Boulder Progressives have backed Brockett as their first choice and listed Adams second.
Boulder has moved its council elections to even-numbered years, with a mayoral election scheduled for this November. Hoodline has reported on a similar shift under consideration in Aurora. Brockett has served on the Boulder City Council since 2015.
Because Boulder's city charter forbids running for mayor and council at the same time, Adams will give up her council seat at the end of 2026 regardless of how the mayoral race turns out, a stake that has shaped the urgency of her campaign since she announced her candidacy that summer. The fights over resolutions and meeting rules have become a barometer of the city's civic cohesion heading into November.
