On November 4, 2025, the municipal elections for Albuquerque Mayor and City Council will be on the ballot. Of the nine-member city council, the 5 odd number City Council Districts 1,3,5,7, and 9 will be on the ballot. There are a total of 16 candidates running for the 5 City Council seats with 13 seeking public finance and 3 privately financed.
This blog article provides an update of the status of the 16 candidates running for city council as to their collection of the verified nominating petition signatures and the collection of $5.00 qualifying donations by those seeking public finance as of June 20th and as reported by the city clerk.
All Candidates for City Council must gather 500 verified nominating petition signatures from registered voters within the district the candidate wishes to represent. The nominating petition collection period is from June 2, 2025, at 8:00am to July 7, 2025, at 5:00pm.
The Public Finance qualifying contribution period for city council candidates is also from June 2, to July 7, 2025 where candidates are allowed to collect $5.00 donations to qualify for public financing. The number of $5.00 qualifying donations for public finance varies in each council district based upon the number of registered voters.
Applicant candidates for public finance must receive Qualifying Contributions from 1% of the registered voters in the district the candidate wishes to represent. The actual amount of public finance given to a candidate by the city if they qualify for public finance varies in each council district and an amount is given for each registered voter.
With 18 days expired in the qualifying period, following are the tabulations of qualifying petition signatures and collection of $5.00 donations for public finance:
CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 1
District 1 City Council District is the centrally located Westside District between City Council District 5 on the North represented by Republican Dan Lewis and City Council District 3 on the South represented by Democrat Klarissa Pena. The geographical borders generally include Central Avenue on the South, Coors and the Rio Grande River on the East and “zig zags” on the North to include Atrisco Dr., Tesuque Dr. and Buterfield Trail and with the West border jetting outwards to the city limits and vacant land.
There are four candidates running for District 1 City Council. All Four must collect 500 nominating petition signatures from people residing in the district
The number of qualifying $5.00 contributions to secure public finance in District 1 is 450. The amount of public finance given to candidates by the city and the spending cap for District 1 is $56,311.25.
- DANIEL GILBER LEIVA (Publicly Financed)
PETITION NOMINATING SIGNATURES
- Required Petition Signatures 500
- Verified Petition Signatures 456
- Rejected Petition Signatures 296
- Remaining Petition Signatures 44
- % of Verified Petition Signatures Met 91%
QUALIFYING $5 CONTRIBUTIONS
- Required Qualifying Contributions 450
- Verified Qualifying Contributions 145
- Rejected Qualifying Contributions 16
- Remaining Qualifying Contributions Needed 305
- % of Verified Qualifying Contributions Needed 32%
With 91% of nominating petition signatures collected, Leiva will likely qualify for the ballot. With 32% qualifying $5.00 donations collected its not likely Leiva will qualify for public finance.
2. STEPHANIE TELLES (Publicly Financed)
PETITION NOMINATING SIGNATURES
- Required Petition Signatures 500
- Verified Petition Signatures 201
- Rejected Petition Signatures 28
- Remaining Petition Signatures 299
- % of Verified Petition Signatures Met 40%
QUALIFYING $5 CONTRIBUTIONS
- Required Qualifying Contributions 450
- Verified Qualifying Contributions 175
- Rejected Qualifying Contributions 8
- Remaining Qualifying Contributions Needed 275
- % of Verified Qualifying Contributions Needed 39%
ANALYSIS: With 40% of nominating petition signatures collected, Telles may not qualify for the ballot. With 39% qualifying $5.00 donations collected its likely Telles will not qualify for public finance.
3. JOSHUA TAYLOR NEAL (Publicly Financed)
PETITION NOMINATING SIGNATURES
- Required Petition Signatures 500
- Verified Petition Signatures 133
- Rejected Petition Signatures -0-
- Remaining Petition Signatures 367
- % of Verified Petition Signatures Met 27%
QUALIFYING $5 CONTRIBUTIONS
- Required Qualifying Contributions 450
- Verified Qualifying Contributions 18
- Rejected Qualifying Contributions -0-
- Remaining Qualifying Contributions Needed 432
- % of Verified Qualifying Contributions Needed 4%
ANALYSIS: With 27% of nominating petition signatures collected, Neil will not likely qualify for the ballot. With 4% qualifying $5.00 donations collected its not likely Neil will qualify for public finance.
4. AHREN GRIEGO (Publicly Financed)
PETITION NOMINATING SIGNATURES
- Required Petition Signatures 500
- Verified Petition Signatures 544
- Rejected Petition Signatures 349
- Remaining Petition Signatures -0-
- % of Verified Petition Signatures Met 100%
QUALIFYING $5 CONTRIBUTIONS
- Required Qualifying Contributions 450
- Verified Qualifying Contributions 100
- Rejected Qualifying Contributions 25
- Remaining Qualifying Contributions Needed 350
- % of Verified Qualifying Contributions Needed 22%
The link to verify tallies for petition signatures and qualifying donations is here:
ANALYSIS: AHREN GRIEGO has secured 100% of the required verified signatures and is the only candidate thus far securing a ballot position. With only 22% of verified $5.00 donations collected, confidential sources have confirmed that collection of $5.00 donations for Griego has spiked and he is on track to collecting the qualifying donations.
CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 3
District 3 is currently represented by Klarissa Peña and she is running for a fourth term. The district is considered safe democrat. The geographic borders are generally “Old Coors Road” on the East and the Valley area, Central on the North, and Dennis Chavez Road on the South, with the West side border jetting out to the city limits and mostly vacant area.
The number of qualifying $5.00 contributions to secure public finance in District 3 is 335. The amount of public finance given to candidates by the city and the spending cap for District 3 is $41,865.00,
There are 4 candidates running for District 3 City Council. The links to the candidate campaign web pages and financial disclosure information are here:
- CHRISTOPHER R. SEDILLO (Publicly Financed)
PETITION NOMINATING SIGNATURES
- Required Petition Signatures 500
- Verified Petition Signatures 210
- Rejected Petition Signatures 45
- Remaining Petition Signatures 290
- % of Verified Petition Signatures Met 42%
QUALIFYING $5 CONTRIBUTIONS
- Required Qualifying Contributions 335
- Verified Qualifying Contributions 102
- Rejected Qualifying Contributions 6
- Remaining Qualifying Contributions Needed 233
- % of Verified Qualifying Contributions Needed 30%
ANALYSIS: With 42% of nominating petition signatures collected, it’s likely Sedillo will qualify for the ballot. With 30% qualifying $5.00 donations collected it is not likely Sedillo will qualify for public finance.
2. KLARISSA PEÑA (Incumbent) (Publicly Financed)
PETITION NOMINATING SIGNATURES
- Required Petition Signatures 500
- Verified Petition Signatures 313
- Rejected Petition Signatures 67
- Remaining Petition Signatures 187
- % of Verified Petition Signatures Met 63%
QUALIFYING $5 CONTRIBUTIONS
- Required Qualifying Contributions 335
- Verified Qualifying Contributions 146
- Rejected Qualifying Contributions 22
- Remaining Qualifying Contributions Needed 189
- % of Verified Qualifying Contributions Needed 44%
ANALYSIS: Democrat City Councilor Klarisa Peña is the incumbent. With 63% of nominating petition signatures collected, its likely she will qualify for the ballot. With 44% qualifying $5.00 donations, PEÑA is slightly behind where she should be on the collection of qualifying donations but still considered on track to qualify for public finance.
3. NATALIA SALDANA
PETITION NOMINATING SIGNATURES
- Required Petition Signatures 500
- Verified Petition Signatures 29
- Rejected Petition Signatures 7
- Remaining Petition Signatures 471
- % of Verified Petition Signatures Met 6%
ANALYSIS: With 6% of nominating petition signatures collected, its likely SALDANA will not qualify for the ballot and that she has in fact dropped out of the race.
QUALIFYING $5 CONTRIBUTIONS
NATALIA SALDANA withdrew from public financing and collected no public finance donations
4. TERESA GARCIA (Publicly Financed)
PETITION NOMINATING SIGNATURES
- Required Petition Signatures 500
- Verified Petition Signatures 99
- Rejected Petition Signatures 48
- Remaining Petition Signatures 401
- % of Verified Petition Signatures Met 20%
QUALIFYING $5 CONTRIBUTIONS
- Required Qualifying Contributions 335
- Verified Qualifying Contributions 12
- Rejected Qualifying Contributions -0-
- Remaining Qualifying Contributions Needed 323
- % of Verified Qualifying Contributions Needed 4%
ANALYSIS: With 20% of nominating petition signatures collected, it’s likely Garcia will NOT qualify for the ballot. With 4% qualifying $5.00 donations collected its likely Garcia will not qualify for public finance.
The link to verify tallies for petition signatures and qualifying donations is here:
CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 5
District 5 is the city’s northwest quadrant council district which is currently represented by Dan Lewis who is seeking a fourth term on the city council.
The number of qualifying $5.00 contributions to secure public finance in District 5 is 446. The amount of public finance given to candidates by the city and the spending cap for District 5 is $55,718,75.
https://www.cabq.gov/vote/candidate-information/publicly-financed-candidates
There are two candidates running for District 5 City Council. The links to the candidate campaign web pages and financial disclosure information are here:
- ATHENEA ALLEN (Privately Financed)
PETITION NOMINATING SIGNATURES
- Required Petition Signatures 500
- Verified Petition Signatures 346
- Rejected Petition Signatures 14
- Remaining Petition Signatures 154
- % of Verified Petition Signatures Met 69%
QUALIFYING $5 CONTRIBUTIONS
Athena Allen is a privately financed and there are no qualifying donations to report.
ANALYSIS: Athena Allen is the wife of Bernalillo County Sherriff John Allen. With 69% of nominating petition signatures collected, it’s likely Allen will qualify for the ballot.
QUALIFYING $5 CONTRIBUTIONS
Allen is a privately finance candidate and has collected no qualifying donations.
2. DAN LEWIS (Incumbent) Publicly Financed
PETITION NOMINATING SIGNATURES
- Required Petition Signatures 500
- Verified Petition Signatures 544
- Rejected Petition Signatures 6
- Remaining Petition Signatures 20
- % of Verified Petition Signatures Met 100%
QUALIFYING $5 CONTRIBUTIONS
- Required Qualifying Contributions 446
- Verified Qualifying Contributions 471
- Rejected Qualifying Contributions 1
- Remaining Qualifying Contributions Needed -0-
- % of Verified Qualifying Contributions Needed 100%
ANALYSIS: Republican incumbent City Councilor Dan Lewis has secured 100% of the required nominating petitions signatures and 100% of the required $5.00 donations for public finance and will be given $55,718,75 to run his campaign.
The link to verify tallies for petition signatures and qualifying donations is here:
CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 7
District 7 is the mid heights city council district currently represented by first term city councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn and she is unopposed. The district includes the uptown retail business district including the Commons, Winrock and Coronado Shopping Center. The District boundaries are generally Montgomery Boulevard on the North, I-25 on the West, Lomas on the South and Eubank on the East.
The number of qualifying $5.00 contributions to secure public finance in District 7 is 466. The amount of public finance given to candidates by the city and the spending cap for District 7 is $58,205.00.
https://www.cabq.gov/vote/candidate-information/publicly-financed-candidates
City Councilor Tammy Feibelkorn is the only incumbent who is running unopposed. She is a Publicly Financed candidate.
PETITION NOMINATING SIGNATURES
- Required Petition Signatures 500
- Verified Petition Signatures 588
- Rejected Petition Signatures 34
- Remaining Petition Signatures -0-
- % of Verified Petition Signatures Met 100%
QUALIFYING $5 CONTRIBUTIONS
- Required Qualifying Contributions 466
- Verified Qualifying Contributions 480
- Rejected Qualifying Contributions 8
- Remaining Qualifying Contributions Needed -0-
- % of Verified Qualifying Contributions Needed 100%
ANALYSIS: Democrat Incumbent City Councilor Tammy Feibelkorn is running unopposed. She has secured 100% of the required nominating petitions signatures and 100% of the required $5.00 donations for public finance and will be given $58,205.00 to run her campaign. The fact she is unopposed would dictate that there is no need for public finance and she should consider declining the public finance funding.
The link to verify tallies for petition signatures and qualifying donations is here:
CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 9
City Council District 9 is often referred to as the Four Hills area city council district and is currently represented by first term Republican City Councilor Renee Grout who is seeking a second term. Grout has 4 opponents. The District is very condensed and safe Republican. The Northern border is Menaul, the West border is Eubank, the Southern border is Dennis Ave, SE and the East border is the Sandia foothills federal land.
The number of qualifying $5.00 contributions to secure public finance in District 9 is 416. The amount of public finance given to candidates by the city and the spending cap for District 9 is $51,957.50.
There are five candidates running for District 9 City Council. The links to the candidate campaign web pages and financial disclosure information are here:
- RENEE GROUT (Incumbent) PUBLICLY FINANCED
PETITION NOMINATING SIGNATURES
- Required Petition Signatures 500
- Verified Petition Signatures 510
- Rejected Petition Signatures 7
- Remaining Petition Signatures -0-
- % of Verified Petition Signatures Met 100%
QUALIFYING $5 CONTRIBUTIONS
- Required Qualifying Contributions 416
- Verified Qualifying Contributions 419
- Rejected Qualifying Contributions 8
- Remaining Qualifying Contributions Needed -0-
- % of Verified Qualifying Contributions Needed 100%
ANALYSIS: Republican Incumbent City Councilor Renee Grout has secured 100% of the required nominating petitions signatures and 100% of the required $5.00 donations for public finance and she will be on the ballot and will be given $51,957.50 to run her campaign.
2. ANAMI DASS (Publicly Financed)
PETITION NOMINATING SIGNATURES
- Required Petition Signatures 500
- Verified Petition Signatures 27
- Rejected Petition Signatures 9
- Remaining Petition Signatures 473
- % of Verified Petition Signatures Met 5%
QUALIFYING $5 CONTRIBUTIONS
- Required Qualifying Contributions 416
- Verified Qualifying Contributions 2
- Rejected Qualifying Contributions -0-
- Remaining Qualifying Contributions Needed 414
- % of Verified Qualifying Contributions Needed 0%
ANALYSIS: With only 5% of nominating petition signatures collected and -0-% verified qualifying $5.00 donations collected its likely Anami Dass has dropped out of the race.
3. MELANI BUCHANAN FARMER (PRIVATELY FINANCED)
PETITION NOMINATING SIGNATURES
- Required Petition Signatures 500
- Verified Petition Signatures 379
- Rejected Petition Signatures 27
- Remaining Petition Signatures 124
- % of Verified Petition Signatures Met 76%
QUALIFYING $5 CONTRIBUTIONS
Melani Farmer Buchanan is a privately financed and there are no qualifying donations to report.
ANALYSIS: With 76% of nominating petition signatures collected, it’s likely Melani Buchanan Farmer Garcia will qualify for the ballot. Buchannan is a privately finance candidate and has collected no qualifying donations .
4. BYRON K. POWDRELL (Publicly Financed)
PETITION NOMINATING SIGNATURES
- Required Petition Signatures 500
- Verified Petition Signatures 154
- Rejected Petition Signatures 28
- Remaining Petition Signatures 346
- % of Verified Petition Signatures Met 31%
QUALIFYING $5 CONTRIBUTIONS
- Required Qualifying Contributions 416
- Verified Qualifying Contributions 28
- Rejected Qualifying Contributions 1
- Remaining Qualifying Contributions Needed 388
- % of Verified Qualifying Contributions Needed 7%
ANALYSIS: With 31% of nominating petition signatures collected, it’s likely that Byron K. Powdrell will NOT make the ballot unless he has a major surge. With only 7% of Verified $5.00 Qualifying Contributions collected, it is not likely Powdrell will qualify for public financing.
The link to verify tallies for petition signatures and qualifying donations is here:
5. COLTON ALAN NEWMAN (Publicly Financed)
PETITION NOMINATING SIGNATURES
- Required Petition Signatures 500
- Verified Petition Signatures 166
- Rejected Petition Signatures 38
- Remaining Petition Signatures 334
- % of Verified Petition Signatures Met 33%
QUALIFYING $5 CONTRIBUTIONS
- Required Qualifying Contributions 416
- Verified Qualifying Contributions 8
- Rejected Qualifying Contributions -0-
- Remaining Qualifying Contributions Needed 408
- % of Verified Qualifying Contributions Needed 2%
ANALYSIS: With 33% of nominating petition signatures collected, it’s likely Colton Alan Newman will not make the ballot. With only 2% of Verified $5.00 Qualifying Contributions collected, it is not likely Newman will qualify for public financing.
The link to verify tallies for petition signatures and qualifying donations is here:
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
The nominating petition collection period and qualifying donation period for city council is from June 2, 2025, at 8:00am to July 7, 2025, at 5:00pm. It’s very impressive that within 18 days three out of four City Council incumbents quickly secured 100% of both the required nominating petition signatures and $5.00 qualifying contributions. The three incumbent city councilors are:
Republican incumbent District 5 City Councilor Dan Lewis has submitted 544 Verified Qualifying Nominating Petition signatures when 500 were required and submitted 471 Verified Qualifying Contributions when 446 were needed and the city will give him $55,718,75 in public finance.
Democrat incumbent District 7 City Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn has submitted 588 Verified Qualifying Nominating Petition signatures when 500 were required and submitted 480 Verified Qualifying Contributions when 466 were needed and the city will give her $58,205.00 in public finance even though she is unopposed.
Republican incumbent District 9 City Councilor Renee Grout has submitted 510 verified qualifying nominating petition signatures when 500 were required and has submitted 419 Verified Qualifying Contributions when 416 were required and the city will give her $51,957.50 in public finance.
Democrat City Councilor Klarisa Peña is the incumbent in District 3. With 63% of nominating petition signatures collected, its likely she will qualify for the ballot. With 44% qualifying $5.00 donations PEÑA is also on track to qualify for public finance.
The fact that all four incumbents have done so well and so quickly in collecting both nominating petition signatures and collection of the $5.00 donations is testament to the power of incumbency. It is also clear evidence that public finance favors incumbents over unknown candidates.
PUBLIC FINANCE FAVORS INCUMBENTS
Albuquerque’s public finance system has come under sever criticism in the Mayor’s race as favoring incumbents who have high name identification and a volunteer network. In the Mayor’s race, public finance candidates had to collect 3,780 donations of $5.00 to the city from registered voters to qualify for the city to give them $755,946 in city financing for their campaigns. The time frame to collect both nominating petition signatures and $5.00 qualifying contributions was the same and it was from April 19, 2025 to June 21, 2025, a mere 64 days.
Originally 8 out of 11 candidates for Mayor declared themselves to be “public finance” candidates and they were Alpana Adair, Alexander Uballez, Darren White, Tim Keller, Louis Sanchez, Edie Varella, Patrick Sais and Adeo Herrick. Soon, 7 of the 8 candidates abandoned their efforts to qualify for public finance. Only Mayor Tim Keller qualified for public finance and was given $755,946 in city financing for his campaign.
Alpana Adair withdrew from public finance after collecting only seven verified $5.00 contributions. Patrick Sais withdrew after collecting only two.
Eddie Varela withdrew after collecting 95 of the 3,685 donations or 3%. Varela had this to say:
“I was of the belief that [public finance] would help just a regular guy or gal run for office and would be a great benefit to everybody. … I don’t believe that anymore. I believe it’s flawed, and it needs to be revisited.”
On May 30, former United States Attorney Alexander Uballez abruptly ended his efforts to seek public finance. Uballez said this:
“I’m the fourth candidate to make this decision. When the only candidate who appears on track to qualify for public financing is the incumbent, it’s a clear sign that this isn’t working as it should.
On June 2, City Councilor Louie Sanchez became the fifth candidate to withdraw from public finance and become a private financed candidate.
https://www.cabq.gov/clerk/documents/sanchez-withdrawal-as-an-applicant-candida
Sanchez said this of his withdrawal from public finance:
“One of the things that I’ve found out about public finance is that it’s extremely difficult. When you get into the realm of public financing, there is a lot of things that play in. We’re noticing that in this day and age, not everybody has a five-dollar bill, our volunteers don’t have change. … Since it’s online, or the online link, it takes several times or several tries to get the cumbersome process going.”
On June 8, former Bernalillo County Sherriff Darren White became the sixth candidate to withdraw from public finance by filing with the city clerk a withdrawal notice. White said this:
“Despite our tireless grassroots efforts, it became clear that we would not be able to meet the remaining 1,800 qualifying $5 donations within the two-week deadline. … The only person who has qualified for [public finance] in the past two elections is Tim Keller. And so what does that tell you? It tells you that the system is, as I said, it’s an incumbent protection plan.”
The Keller campaign said qualifying for public financing isn’t supposed to be easy. In a statement, Keller took issue with all his opponents’ claims that the public finance rules favor incumbents. Keller said this in a statement:
“Complaining that public financing doesn’t work is like blaming the ref because you can’t hit your free throws — it’s not the system’s fault you’re falling short. The real issue isn’t the rules; it’s a lack of grassroots support, campaign credibility, and the organizational strength to lead.
FINAL ANALYSIS
The fact that only incumbent Mayor Tim Keller qualified for public finance this election year is clear evidence that the public finance system has been set up for candidates to fail and that it favors incumbents. The fact that the 4 incumbent City Councilors will also be the only ones who will qualify for public finance is further evidence that the system favors incumbents and discourages opposition.
Some have argued, especially Mayor Keller and his staunchest supporters that public finance is a system that is “supposed to be hard”. Keller and his staunchest supporters are essentially saying public finance is designed to “weed out” candidates who are incapable of mounting serious campaigns or who have little or no political support. But building political support by newcomers to the political process is what political campaigns are all about and that can only accomplished with adequate funding.
Increases to the amount of public finance over the years were done to allow public finance candidates to compete with private financed candidates. But the problem is the system allows candidates to publicly finance and then allows their supporters to just turn around and set up measured finance committees so they can have the best of both worlds which is something Mayor Tim Keller and his enablers have perfected.
Making it so hard that no one qualifies for public finance but incumbents is a mockery of the purpose and intent of public finance which is to encourage qualified people to run who cannot afford to run and who are not independently wealthy and who are not politically connected.