This year, Albuquerque is holding elections for mayor, odd-numbered city council districts — one, three, five, seven and nine — Albuquerque Municipal School Board districts three, five, six and seven, and 12 general obligation bond questions. The Daily Lobo spoke to the city council candidates for each district and asked them each the same five questions — for the mayoral candidates, we asked them each the same four questions, with one question specialized to each candidate, including what each candidate’s vision is for the partnership between the city and University of New Mexico.
Mayling Armijo, incumbent Mayor Tim Keller, City Councilor Louie Sanchez, Alex Uballez, Eddie Varela and Darren White are the six candidates for Albuquerque mayor. Daniel Chavez, whose name will still appear on the ballot, dropped out of the race. Varela did not respond to multiple requests for an interview in time for publication.
Albuquerque municipal elections are designed to be nonpartisan, meaning that on the ballot, no party identifiers will appear next to the candidates. Early voting began on Oct. 7 and voting ends on Election Day, Nov. 4. If no candidate in a race reaches a 50% vote share, a runoff election will be held within 45 days of election day.
You can read our profiles of each mayoral and city council candidate below, and our full interviews with the mayoral candidates online at dailylobo.com.
Jaden McKelvey-Francis is the editor-in-chief of the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at editorinchief@dailylobo.com or on X @jadenmckelvey
Mayling Armijo
Armijo is a Navy veteran and reservist who has spent 12 years in local government and is currently the Executive Director of the Enchantment Land Certified Development Company. She said she believes that her experience in both the private and public sectors uniquely positions her to be the city’s next mayor.
“(When) you work on the private side — you only get to eat what you kill. So there’s this level of hungriness that you have,” she said.
Armijo believes that crime and the city’s treatment of small businesses are the most important issues facing ABQ. She plans to hire a new police chief and work with them in order to boost recruitment and streamline City Hall to speed up the permitting process for businesses, Armijo said.
She plans to work with the UNM and Central New Mexico Community College to “enhance” the city’s workforce, said Armijo.
“For me, UNM’s role is our workforce; all the students there are our future workforce,” Armijo said.
In working with other parts of city government to accomplish her goals, she touted her work as former director of economic development at Bernalillo County.
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“It’s just a conversation. I think if you reach out, just try to have a conversation with people and put ego and arrogance aside, you’d be amazed, how much can get done,” Armijo said.
To “fix permitting delays, modernize City Hall and make Albuquerque competitive for high-paying jobs in aerospace engineering and manufacturing,” she said she plans to go to the permitting department to learn what is needed to fix the problem. She plans to focus city contracts on local businesses — especially veteran and women-owned businesses — instead of out-of-state vendors.
“The challenge this administration has is understanding that you’re not entitled to anything — you have to work for it,” Armijo said.
Tim Keller
The incumbent mayor, Keller has been in office since 2017 and is seeking his third consecutive term. He was born and raised in Albuquerque and said when he came into office, the city was facing “tough times,” including a federal consent decree for the Albuquerque Police Department.
Keller said he created the Office of the Superintendent of Police Reform to hold the department accountable and the Albuquerque Community Safety department to “make sure that officers are solely focused on things like violent crime and investigations,” he said.
Keller said there are three parts to his vision for the relationship between the city and UNM. The first being the large number of UNM graduates who work for the city, the second being the ways the city helps with development projects for the University and the third is public safety and the collaboration between APD and UNM Police.
Keller said that the city council and himself often agree on the big things and get important items done.
“Council and the mayor’s office are different branches, and they’re designed around the American principle of balance of power. So we are checks and balances on each other … even though it means there’s lots of arguing. That’s just part of our government, and so it’s natural. It’s inherent in the setup,” Keller said.
He said that fentanyl is the root cause of the city’s problems, including crime, homelessness and poverty. There needs to be a multi-pronged approach starting with treatment, Keller said. He also said the city needs to expand the Gateway Center to help more people.
“We know what’s working. We just have to see it through. And now is not the time to slow down or turn back — that would be disastrous for our city, because these are tough times,” Keller said.
Louie Sanchez
Sanchez is the current Albuquerque city councilor for district one, a small business owner and before that, he was a member of the Albuquerque Police Department for 26 years in various departments. He hopes to bring the “culture of excellence,” that he created at his business to the city of Albuquerque, he said.
Sanchez said he wants the partnership between UNM and the city to expand. He said the city should do more to help with transportation to and from the University for students, ensuring that walkways, lighting and police access corridors are set up around construction zones on campus to heighten public safety. He suggested a public private partnership and a partnership with UNM to develop another parking structure in the region.
Sanchez said that as mayor he would like to have a weekly or monthly meeting with the city council to understand what their districts’ needs are.
“The mayor and I have not had a conversation on anything because he doesn’t want to hear what city council has to say,” Sanchez said.
The most important issues for the city are crime, homelessness and economic growth, Sanchez said. He said the city needs to start enforcing penalties for crimes at the “lowest levels” such as assaults and shoplifting and audit public service providers to make sure adequate services are being provided.
“We need to be making sure that the taxpayers are getting what they expect when it comes to the services and the safety that we should be providing as a city,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez plans to utilize the city’s bond rating to subsidize small businesses and attract larger companies to Albuquerque.
“I’d like to change the culture within city government, so that the citizens of Albuquerque are treated as number one. They are what matters, and we need to always remember that we work for them,” Sanchez said.
Alex Uballez
Uballez was the previous U.S. Attorney for New Mexico, the chief federal law enforcement officer in the state. He worked with APD and the District Attorney to create Albuquerque’s Violence Intervention Program. Before becoming the U.S. Attorney, Uballez said he was a Crimes Against Children prosecutor for New Mexico’s first judicial district, then a federal cartel investigator.
As mayor, Uballez would have a senior-level liaison for both UNM and Albuquerque Public Schools, he said.
“We need to be building pathways for people, our youth and the youth that join us from out of state, to have professions, to have specialties, to have traits and skills so they can build their lives here with well-paying jobs and futures and opportunities,” Uballez said.
He would attend city council meetings as mayor to help build trust and relationships with the community and city council members he said.
“You don’t elect a mayor for his feelings; you elect them for his judgment. And that means we are required to put our feelings aside, no matter how we feel about a person, or what they did to you, what they said about you, and get the job done,” he said.
Uballez said homelessness is the most important issue for Albuquerque, with poverty, addiction and mental health being the drivers behind that issue. He suggested investing more in UNM Hospital’s street medicine program to re-earn the trust of people who don’t trust the government.
He called the city’s street sweeping programs “ineffective” and “inhumane.” He also wants to expand transitional housing to give people a place to go after a temporary shelter.
“Any government intervention first has to rebuild the trust by saying, I’m actually here to help you, then building the meaningful relationships and connecting people with the services and medical treatments that they need,” Uballez said.
Darren White
White served in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, as Sheriff of Bernalillo County, head of the New Mexico State Police and has been an Albuquerque business owner. If elected, White said he only plans to serve for four years and isn’t looking for a ticket to higher office.
White said that crime and homelessness are the most important issues facing Albuquerque. He plans to hire a new police chief, return to “proactive policing” by having more officers on the street and making traffic stops, and thin out the ranks of the police department’s executive command, he said.
“I have the reputation of being pretty tough on crime, and I think it’s what our city needs right now,” White said.
White plans to create a juvenile crime unit within APD, end Albuquerque’s immigrant-friendly city status and “strictly enforce” laws regarding homelessness if people don’t take advantage of the city’s service programs, he said.
White said the city’s relationship with UNM is an important one and he wants to work with the University on the issue of crime in the area.
“It’s a New Mexico treasure, and it’s important that we work together to ensure that the students and the faculty and visitors can go to the University of New Mexico, and they can feel safe,” he said.
White said he thinks he will be able to work with city council but will not jeopardize what he believes is important.
He plans to bring in a third party into the zoning department to assist with getting plans approved quicker. He also said that the issue of crime must be addressed in order for small businesses to operate.
“It’s important that we continue to attract large companies to Albuquerque; it’s imperative that we remember the small businesses are what drive our economy,” White said.
