Elections

Tim Keller and Dan Lewis head to a run-off election in November

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New Mexico State Auditor Tim Keller led all mayoral candidates with 39.35 percent of the votes Tuesday night in the Albuquerque race for mayor, but will still face Albuquerque City Councilor Dan Lewis in a runoff election next month. Lewis beat out Albuquerque attorney Brian Colón for second place by about 6.5 percentage points according to unofficial results with all 53 voting centers reporting. Keller would have needed to get 50 percent of the votes to avoid a runoff election. Keller spoke to a couple hundred supporters outside his campaign headquarters with about half of the votes counted, but enough to show him with a clear lead. Keller thanked his family, campaign staff and the handful or organizations that endorsed him.

Featured

Burning questions linger about legalizing marijuana in ABQ

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In less than a week, Albuquerque voters will cast ballots for the next mayor and in some districts, city councilors. Most candidates have straightforward ideas on how to improve the city, but one candidate is keeping true to his campaign modus operandi by proposing an idea that other candidates won’t even consider. Gus Pedrotty, the youngest candidate for mayor this year, recently added city-level marijuana legalization to his platform. While the idea of legalization on a local level may be enticing for some voters, other candidates and at least one cannabis producer said the idea is too complicated to work. Earlier this month, Pedrotty released a campaign video promoting his ideas for improving the city’s clean energy industry and how to help pay for it.

Albuquerque Newsdesk

Video: Federal sting draws responses in ABQ mayor’s race

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Criticism of a massive undercover drug- and gun-crime sting spilled into the Albuquerque mayoral race last week, when candidates were pressed about a 2016 federal law enforcement operation that netted a disproportionate number of black people. It was a serious question, made all the more serious by the man asking: Joe Powdrell, a longtime local activist past president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which sponsored the Sept. 8 forum.This story originally appeared on the New Mexico In Depth website and is reprinted with permission.The operation has drawn community and legal scrutiny for alleged racial profiling and for scooping up many who did not fit the “worst of the worst” profile trumpeted by federal officials after New Mexico In Depth investigations. Picking up on the alleged racial targeting, Powdrell asked the candidates “where your head is at in terms of this biased policing.”

Only three of the seven candidates who attended the forum addressed the sting directly. Dan Lewis, a second-term, Republican city councilor who has spoken out on a number of police-related issues during his seven-plus years on the council, gave the most forceful response.

2017 mayoral election

Political consultants see big figures in ABQ mayoral race

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During the 1992 United States presidential election, political commentator James Carville first made a name for himself as a political spin doctor who helped get Bill Clinton elected to the White House. The 1992 documentary “The War Room” shows Carville giving campaign staffers a last minute pep talk the night before the election. “There’s a simple doctrine,” Carville said with a southern drawl. “Outside of a person’s love, the most sacred thing that they can give is their labor.”

Pushing through tears, Carville called himself a “political professional.” “That’s what I do for a living. I’m proud of it.”

There’s no hyperbolic “Ragin’ Cajun” in the Albuquerque mayoral spot light, but analysis of the campaign records shows that several of the eight candidates are relying on the labor and spin of campaign managers and consultants.

Elections

Youth aren’t just watching, they’re running for office

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Everybody has an opinion on millennials. Young people in their 20s and early 30s are often described by older generations as overly sensitive, technology-addicted, cynical kids who constantly need feedback and flexible work schedules. News stories, essays and polls have sought a better understanding of the generation born in the 1980s and 1990s. With titles like “3 Reasons Why Millennials Are Timid Leaders” and “Why do millennials keep leaking government secrets?”, it’s not surprising there might be a lack of faith in the upcoming workforce, especially in politics. In Albuquerque, two young men say there is a place for 20-somethings in politics.

Albuquerque Newsdesk

Monday news wrapup

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A few things happened on the news front over the weekend that we’re deciding to wrap up the relevant details in quick summaries below:

—It looks like the controversial Albuquerque Rapid Transit project will likely get some federal cash after all. In Washington D.C., Congress has agreed on a spending plan to avoid a government shutdown that includes $50 million for ART. That’s $19 million short from what the city asked for, Dennis Domrzalski at ABQ Free Press reports. —As of Friday, nine mayoral candidates qualified for the Albuquerque ballot. One more candidate, Stella Padilla, is roughly 500 valid signatures away from getting on the ballot.