On November 11, two term Democrat Mayor Tim Keller and Republican former two term Bernalillo County Sherrif Darren White entered the “politcal arena” and debated live on KOB-TV Channel 4 for thirty minutes. KOB reporters Tessa Mentus and Trevor Thompson acted as moderators asking questions. It was the first time both debated with each other since the November 4 election where they both qualified for the runoff. On November 4, Keller secured 36% of the vote and White secured 31% of the vote with both failing to secure 50% of the vote to avoid a run off in a field of seven candidates. The November 11 debate quickly degenerated into an emotional mud wrestling match to the point where the moderators had to remind the candidates not to talk over each other and when their time was up.
The link to view the full debate here.
CONTRAST WITH PAST DEBATES
In past debates, White and Keller have exchanged accusations over crime statistics and the homeless crisis, but those debates and accusations were somewhat subdued with other candidates appearing with them on stage. During the televised November 11 debate, White took a much more aggressive and hardline approach and saying that the city’s crime rates are “out of control.” Keller for his part countered with accusing White of being a complete failure when it came to crime and APD and it was he who had to clean things up when White left the city.
CRIME, STATISTICS AND RECORDS
As expected crime was a major topic of discussion. Keller has argued that crime is down in all categories under his leadership. The day before the debate, the city’s crime statistics released by the Albuquerque Police Department detailed those decreases. Despite this, Keller said that residents still perceive crime to be high.
Keller said this:
“I understand that the perception may not be that crime is going down, in fact, I would agree with that perception. But I will tell you if we continue doing this for several more years, we will absolutely feel safer because we are safer. … [Crime has] been going down for the past nine months for the first time in 10 years. …”
White aggressively disagreed that crime is down and essentially accused Keller of lying and said APD’s statistics were a false representation of crime in the city. White said this:
“Mayor Keller, nobody believes that [crime is going down] … I believe Albuquerque is at a tipping point. I think the crime, we’ve seen record-breaking crime. … The mayor is going to tell you that we’re on a comeback. This is not a comeback. This is a crisis.”
White cited the city’s rising homicides saying there were 30 in 2014 and 106 in 2024, though APD statistics show 96 homicides in 2024.
Keller responded to White saying he was “picking a year when we had the best year for crime” and noted homicides are down, with crime declining across all categories over the past nine months. APD statistics show a 32% drop so far this year.
Keller said this:
“Now is the time for strong, experienced leadership because change, real change, deep change, takes time. It’s not the flip of a switch. It’s not a slogan. It takes hard work every day for years.”
To deal with crime, White said that if elected Mayor, he would appoint a new APD Chief that people would be proud of to restore confidence in APD, reduce the number of command staff, order APD to get back to “pro active” policing with more traffic stops and creating a juvenile crime unit.
White said the city must push for tougher state laws to address juvenile crime and said this:
“Our juvenile laws were created for kids that pack lunches, not guns. …We have to go to Santa Fe and we need to restructure our juvenile codes so that they have some teeth, so they have some accountability.”
Keller for his part argued that his policies and programs have in fact reduced crime and he said he would continue reliance on technology such as traffic camera speeding enforcement. Keller also argued he has been on the forefront of criminal justice reform.
Keller and White exchanged statistics about how many homicides had occurred under each other’s time in office, with both essentially calling each other’s statistics false. White said that there have been over 750 homicides in the city during Keller’s tenure as Mayor. Keller countered that there were over1,000 homicide state wide during Whites tenure as the Cabinet Secretary for Public Safety under Republican Governor Gary Johnson.
Keller aggressively criticized White’s public safety career and labeled it a “failure.” Keller referenced a 2011 “no confidence” vote against White by APD’s police union and the 1999 vote of “no confidence” vote against White by the State Police Union. In 2011, as the City’s Chief Public Safety Officer who oversaw APD, more than half of APD’s 1,100 sworn APD officers voted “no confidence” in Darren White because White took away take-home car privileges and White imposed severe pay cuts in violation of the police union contract negotiated in good faith by the police union. White did so at the direction of then Republican Mayor Richard Berry. Under White’s tenure, APD ranks fell from 1,100 sworn to approximately 900. In 1999, while serving as the Secretary of the New Mexico Department of Public Safety who oversaw the New Mexico State Police, the State Police union voted 243 – 31 “No Confidence” in White because they felt White wasn’t doing enough to get State Police needed equipment and cars.
Keller said this
“A lot of the things I’ve had to clean up started under your watch [as Chief Public Safety Officer], including the [Department of Justice consent decree], including officers leaving, including the no confidence vote in you as their boss.”
DEALING WITH THE HOMELESS CRISIS
After Keller and White discussed crime and their records, the moderators shifted the debate immediately to the homeless crisis and how it should be dealt with.
White said the homeless crisis has grown untenable under Mayor Keller’s leadership with the homeless numbers tripling under his watch and that Keller’s policies were not working. White boldly proclaimed:
“When I’m elected, the homeless tent cities will come down on day one.”
White said he would offer services but strictly enforce laws for those who refuse.
Keller called White’s approach “Trump-style roundups and chaos and violence” and White said “take the gloves off” to deal with the homeless when he was the city’s Public Safety Director and it cost the city “$130 million in lawsuits because they’re illegal.” Keller was ostensibly referring to when White said it was “time to take the gloves off” to remove the homeless from downtown which resulted in the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) initiating a lawsuit on behalf of 3 homeless. The lawsuit resulted in the city settling the case for $100,000. Where Keller got his figure of $130,000 million in lawsuits is unknown and appears to be made up. White said “You bet I said take the gloves off ” and said had Keller done the same the city would not be dealing with the homeless crisis today.
White criticized the city’s recent filing of a civil complaint against Quirky Books, a used bookstore that has allowed homeless people to camp in its parking lot. The bookstore owner has been repeatedly cited by the city for violating city ordinances, and rather than prohibiting the unhoused from camping on his property he has simply paid the fines. The civil complaint filed by the city is asking the Court to find the property a “public nuisance” under the city’s nuisance abatement ordinance. White said Keller and the City are hypocritical filing the action while thousands of people live unsheltered on sidewalks, at parks and in front of businesses across the city. White pointedly asked Keller this:
“If that business owner in Nob Hill is a public nuisance, what does that make you?”
FEDERAL IMMIGRATION LAW ENFORCEMENT
Whether APD should assist federal immigration enforcement was also hotly debated by Keller and White.
In his March 6 announcement for Mayor, Darren White said this:
“One of Keller’s first acts as Mayor was too make Albuquerque a Sanctuary City for illegal immigrants who commit crimes. Now we have case after case of violent crimes being committed by illegal immigrants, many of who have been arrested multiple times but turned back onto the streets by this Mayor’s backward policies. As Mayor, I will end the Sanctuary City law immediately.”
EDITORS NOTE: The Mayor of Albuquerque does not have the legal authority to declare the city a Sanctuary City and that is the exclusive authority of the city council. Albuquerque is not and has never been a “Sanctuary City” but is an “Immigrant Friendly City” as declared by City Council Ordinance enacted over 20 years ago. A “Sanctuary City” is a jurisdiction that prohibits local law enforcement from a enforcing immigration laws leaving that work exclusively to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). A “Sanctuary City” requires the local government to protect the undocumented from federal authorities. “Immigrant Friendly” cities on the other hand enact policies that are favorable to undocumented people to allow services and its local law enforcement personnel do not make arrests for violations of federal immigration laws and only make arrests of undocumented people for violations of local ordinances and state laws. Albuquerque’s Immigrant Friendly ordinance prevents city resources from being used for immigration enforcement or for sharing information about an individual’s immigration status, unless legally required. City employees, including law enforcement, and all city departments are not allowed to ask for a person’s immigrant status, and no department is allowed to maintain statistics on immigrants.
During the debate White condemned Keller for the policies he has initiated as being “too dangerous”. During the debate, Keller remained in support of the city’s immigrant-friendly policies enacted by the city council, which forbids any city employee, including police, to collect information about immigration status or assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Keller said the city’s current immigrant-friendly policy protects public safety arguing it keeps people from fearing to call 911. Keller said this:
“We don’t ask your status when the fire department comes to help you or when the police come to keep you safe.”
White said he would let APD share arrest information with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and said he would permit APD to cooperate with Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) if elected. White said this:
“They are preying on our communities and the mayor is shielding them with his policy, which says ‘we are not going to provide any information to immigration’.’”
Mayor Keller accused Darren White of using fearmonger tactics and said this:
“Make no mistake, this is him trying to resurrect his own failed public safety career. … And what you heard today is why it’s never worked — because it’s based on fear, it’s based on slogans and some sort of savior complex that’s not about substance, that’s not about governing.”
The link to quoted or relied upon news sources are here:
The link to view the full debate here
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
The debate was a mere thirty minutes long and for that reason alone all it did was exhibit the vast differences in debate skills between the two as they assailed each other’s records.
Darren White was clearly by far the most aggressive, looking directly at Keller, often raising his voice and pointing his finger at Keller and ignoring the moderators. Keller on the other hand essentially ignored White’s theatrics, spoke firmly and looked directly into the camera as he deflected much of what White said and also ignored the moderators.
In the final analysis, both Keller and White supporters argued that their candidate won. The real losers of the debate were the general public because the debate failed to address in any meaningful way the underlying solutions the candidates have to solve the cities complex problems.
Early voting is from December 1 to December 6. The runoff election is December 9 and as usual voter turnout will be critical. Please vote!
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