2017 Albuquerque Mayoral Election

Colón endorses Keller in ABQ mayoral race

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The third place candidate in this month’s mayoral election officially announced Wednesday his support of State Auditor Tim Keller in next month’s runoff election. Albuquerque attorney Brian Colón, who received 16 percent of the votes last month announced his endorsement of Keller. While the race is non-partisan, both are Democrats. Meanwhile, a candidate that received under five percent of the vote endorsed Keller’s opponent, Dan Lewis. Michelle Garcia Holmes, a former Albuquerque Police Department detective, endorsed Lewis.

2017 Albuquerque Mayoral Election

Post-election, campaign finance concerns follow Keller

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Albuquerque’s mayoral runoff election is a month away and so far the two campaigns have stayed relatively quiet. But an upcoming ethics hearing and the city’s public finance rules could make the runoff election more complicated or at least open the door for more attack ads, particularly against State Auditor Tim Keller. Originally scheduled for Oct. 12, an ethics hearing for a complaint against Keller was moved to only a few days before the Nov. 14 runoff election—and well after early voting starts.

Albuquerque Newsdesk

APS facing federal scrutiny for handling of disabled student

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The federal government is investigating alleged discrimination by Albuquerque Public Schools against a student with a disability. The claim involves Michael Bruening, a 16-year-old autistic student who last saw an APS classroom in May 2015, according to his mother, Laura Gutierrez. The school district placed Bruening on homebound instruction, or education at home, but according to Gutierrez hasn’t done enough to support his educational development. Gutierrez, who said she does the bulk of instructing her son now, estimates he’s only attained education levels around the 6th or 7th grade. “I can’t teach him without him blowing up,” she said in a recent interview.

Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives

ABQ city council committee delays vote on ATF resolution

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An Albuquerque City Council committee voted Monday evening to defer for 90 days a resolution asking New Mexico’s congressional delegation to push for an investigation of a 2016 federal law enforcement operation that netted a highly disproportionate number of black people. Councilor Pat Davis*, who sponsored the measure, cast the lone vote to send it to the full City Council. This story originally appeared at New Mexico In Depth and is used with permission. Voting to defer the resolution were councilors Don Harris — who made the motion to delay the vote — Ken Sanchez, Brad Winter and Klarissa Peña. That means the council’s Finance and Government Operations Committee will rehear the resolution after 90 days during which time city officials hope to gather more information.

Albuquerque Newsdesk

Poll: Keller almost at 50 percent in ABQ mayoral runoff

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A new poll shows Tim Keller is in position to be Albuquerque’s next mayor. The poll by Carroll Strategies, an Albuquerque-based public relations firm, shows Keller, the state auditor, at 49 percent with Albuquerque City Councilor Dan Lewis at 39 percent. KOB-TV first reported on the poll. The results of the poll were provided to NM Political Report on Friday afternoon. The poll shows 47 percent believe Keller was the best person to address the crime problem in Albuquerque, while 35 percent preferred Lewis, with 18 percent undecided.

2017 election Albuquerque

Healthy Workforce Ordinance fails in razor-thin vote

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If voters needed a reason to bring their reading glasses and a snack to the polls on Tuesday, it was probably because of the 1,900-word Healthy Workforce Ordinance, which filled the back side of the ballot. As precincts reported results throughout the night, the results flip-flopped, but in the end, the initiative failed 50.39 percent to 49.61 percent. That was a margin of 718 votes out of over 91,000 cast. In short, the ordinance said employers in the City of Albuquerque would need to provide employees with paid sick time for their own or a family member’s illness, injury or medical care or for absences from work related to domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. Attorney Pat Rogers, who represented the business coalition that sued to void the initiative, called Tuesday’s vote a “testament to the Albuquerque voter.”

“Voters actually read the ordinance and determined it was a very bad proposal for employees in particular, as well as employers,” he said.

Albuquerque Newsdesk

2017 Albuquerque election liveblog

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As we have done with big election nights in recent years, we will be providing live updates on the Albuquerque municipal elections all night. The big race, of course, is to see who will be the next mayor. It’s not considered likely that any candidate will get the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff in November. The liveblog below will update automatically, no need to refresh.

2017 Albuquerque Mayoral Election

What to know on election day in ABQ

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Dozens of voting locations around Albuquerque opened this morning for the municipal election, which will determine who the top two contenders for mayor are in addition to the outcome of four city council races and whether businesses will have to provide paid sick leave to employees. The race for mayor has received the most attention, though it’s very unlikely Albuquerque residents will know who their next mayor will be by tonight. Don’t know where to vote? Look it up here. The city election code requires a runoff election if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of votes.

2017 Albuquerque Mayoral Election

Poll: Keller still leads heading into election day for ABQ mayor; Lewis in 2nd

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In the race for Albuquerque mayor, Tim Keller is in the lead, while Dan Lewis is now in second, according to a new poll for Albuquerque Journal by Research and Polling, Inc.

The poll shows 29 percent of likely voters support Keller, currently the State Auditor, while Lewis, an Albuquerque city councilor, is in second with 18 percent. Former Democratic Party of New Mexico chairman Brian Colón is in third place with 14 percent while Bernalillo County Commission Wayne Johnson has the support of ten percent of those polled. No other candidate has more than five percent support. If no candidate receives the support of 50 percent of voters after votes are tallied Tuesday, the top two vote-getters will head to a runoff election in November. Eighteen percent described themselves as undecided, a sizable number for days ahead of the election.

2017 Albuquerque Mayoral Election

Chaves drops out, endorses Lewis days before election

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And then there were seven. Just days ahead of Election Day, a mayoral candidate dropped out and endorsed another candidate. Candidate and business owner Ricardo Chaves announced at a press conference Thursday he would drop out of the race to support candidate and city councilor Dan Lewis. Chaves said it was a “gut-wrenching” decision to drop out of the race, but that he felt like Lewis is the next best choice. “I have been friends with Dan Lewis a long time and I’ve supported him in all of his previous campaigns,” Chaves said.