In city elections where raising tens of thousands of dollars is common occurrence, Albuquerque participates in a program which seeks to democratize campaign fundraising. The system uses public financing to allow candidates to run for office without the financial burden typical in elections.
This tool was a common feature in this year’s Nov. 4 municipal elections, with many candidates financed by the city.
Mayoral candidate and incumbent Tim Keller and City Council candidates, incumbent Renée Grout from district nine, incumbent Tammy Fiebelkorn from district seven, incumbent Dan Lewis from district five, incumbent Klarissa Peña from district three, Ahren Griego and Daniel Levia from district one were all publicly financed this election.
Albuquerque City Clerk Ethan Watson, whose office certifies candidates for public finance, as well as distributes and oversees funding, said the program offers candidates an “exciting option” for funding their campaigns.
“Our program eliminates the impact of large donors directly via candidates. Candidates don’t have to raise large contributions, they have to raise a set contribution from everyone and from a certain number of people,” Watson told the Daily Lobo.
Albuquerque uses a grant system where candidates are provided with a sum of money from their jurisdiction to help finance their campaign. In order to qualify for public financing, a candidate is required to collect donations of $5 or more from at least 1% of voters in their district, or the entire city if they are running for mayor, which will then be set aside in the Open and Ethical Elections fund. In addition, candidates cannot accept private donations.
Just like privately funded elections, candidates are only allowed to use received money for campaign expenses and not for personal expenses. Additionally, they are not allowed to raise more money through private donations.
The Campaign Finance Report System is an online portal managed by the City of Albuquerque where residents can track the spending of candidates who are publicly of privately financed to make sure all those who are running are using their money responsibly for their campaign, and encouraging transparency between candidates and voters during election.
During Watson’s time as clerk, his office adopted an online platform that allows people to make qualifying contributions online. Watson said it has increased the public’s ability to engage and be more accessible to candidates.
“My goal is to make it more accessible to candidates. The more accessible it is, the better and more popular it will be,” Watson said.
Albuquerque City Clerk Office’s Public Information Officer Cristobal Rocha said that one way the clerk’s office is “keeping up with times” is by increasing the amount of money candidates can get through public financing.
An ordinance signed by Mayor Keller in 2024 increased funding to mayoral candidates to $2 from $1.75 per registered Albuquerque voter, and from $1 to $1.25 for each voter in the district where the city council candidate is running. This was the first increase to either of these figures since the city’s public financing program was first enacted, Rocha said.
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“This is one way to keep public spending in pace with non-publicly financed candidates,” Rocha said. “This year, we saw candidates that qualified getting $50,000 or $55,000, while in the past, it was something close to $40,000. Considering privately financed candidates that were running against them, it kept them both at the same level.”
As for Albuquerque City Council, in district one, the two publicly financed candidates got the fewest votes and the privately-financed candidates Joshua Neal and Stephanie Telles will face a run-off. In district three, incumbent Klarissa Peña and privately financed candidate, Teresa Garcia are headed to a run-off. Districts five, seven and nine also all had publicly-financed candidates come out on top.
Mayor Tim Keller, the only mayoral candidate to be publicly funded this election cycle, won 36% of the vote in the mayoral election this month with seven candidates on the ballot. He has been publicly financed through all three of his elections.
Keller will face former Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White, whose campaign is privately funded, in a run-off election on Dec. 9, with early voting occurring from Dec. 1 through 6.
Editor’s note: Penelope Loyd Sment was employed by Tim Keller’s campaign for mayor as a social media coordinator during the general election. Officials from Keller’s campaign had no input on the writing or reporting of this article.
Penelope Loyd Sment is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on X @DailyLobo
