There are a total of 11 candidates who have registered with the City Clerk as candidates for Mayor. All 11 candidates are required to collect 3,000 qualifying nominating signatures.
Originally, 8 candidates applied for public finance, now there are 4 with the other 4 withdrawing their applications for public finance. Public financed candidates must 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 is the same and it is from April 19, 2025 to June 21, 2025, a mere 64 days. As of May 30, with 42 days expiring, there are only 22 days remaining to collect nominating petition signatures and $5.00 qualifying donations.
QUALIFYING NOMINATING PETITION SIGNATURES
All eleven candidates must collect at least 3,000 qualifying nominating petition signatures from April 19, 2025 to June 21, 2025, a mere 64 days. Each signature must come from registered voters in the Albuquerque area. City clerk’s go through each one of the signatures to confirm their registration. Candidates can challenge each other’s signatures for disqualification. The signatures of people who sign the nomination petitions and who are not actually registered voters are tossed and are not counted.
Daniel Chavez was the first to secure the required 3,000 signatures to get on the ballot followed by Mayor Tim Keller. The following are the processed qualifying nominating petition signatures for each of the 11 candidates as of Friday May 30 from the highest to lowest in tabulations:
DANIEL CHAVEZ
- Required Petition Signatures 3,000
- Verified Petition Signatures 3,422
- Rejected Petition Signatures 2,338
- Remaining Petition Signatures Needed -0-
- Percentage of Verified Petition Signatures Met 100%
TIMOTHY KELLER
- Required Petition Signatures 3,000
- Verified Petition Signatures 3,424
- Rejected Petition Signatures 592
- Remaining Petition Signatures Needed -0-
- Percentage of Verified Petition Signatures Met 100%
ALEXANDER UBALLEZ
- Required Petition Signatures 3,000
- Verified Petition Signatures 2,680
- Rejected Petition Signatures 455
- Remaining Petition Signatures Needed 320
- Percentage of Verified Petition Signatures Met 89%
EDDIE VARELA
- Required Petition Signatures 3,000
- Verified Petition Signatures 1,998
- Rejected Petition Signatures 485
- Remaining Petition Signatures Needed 1,002
- Percentage of Verified Petition Signatures Met 67%
LOUIE SANCHEZ
- Required Petition Signatures 3,000
- Verified Petition Signatures 1,707
- Rejected Petition Signatures 396
- Remaining Petition Signatures Needed 1,293
- Percentage of Verified Petition Signatures Met 57%
DARREN WHITE
- Required Petition Signatures 3,000
- Verified Petition Signatures 1,699
- Rejected Petition Signatures 150
- Remaining Petition Signatures Needed 1,301
- Percentage of Verified Petition Signatures Met 57%
MAYLING ARMIJO
- Required Petition Signatures 3,000
- Verified Petition Signatures 1,084
- Rejected Petition Signatures 373
- Remaining Petition Signatures Needed 1,916
- Percentage of Verified Petition Signatures Met 36%
PATRICK SAIS
- Required Petition Signatures 3,000
- Verified Petition Signatures 673
- Rejected Petition Signatures 670
- Remaining Petition Signatures Needed 2,327
- Percentage of Verified Petition Signatures Met 22%
BRIAN FEJER
- Required Petition Signatures 3,000
- Verified Petition Signatures 77
- Rejected Petition Signatures -0-
- Remaining Petition Signatures Needed 2,923
- Percentage of Verified Petition Signatures Met 3%
ALPANA ADAIR
- Required Petition Signatures 3,000
- Verified Petition Signatures 16
- Rejected Petition Signatures 19
- Remaining Petition Signatures Needed 2,984
- Percentage of Verified Petition Signatures Met 1%
ADEO HERRICK
- Required Petition Signatures 3,000
- Verified Petition Signatures 35
- Rejected Petition Signatures 28
- Remaining Petition Signatures Needed 2,965
- Percentage of Verified Petition Signatures Met 1%
COMMENTARY AND ANALSIS ON QUALIFYING PETITION SIGNATURES
As of May 30, the City Clerk has verified 2 candidates have collected the required 3,000 qualifying nominating petition signatures over the 49 day period from April 19 to May 30. Democrat Mayor Tim Keller and Republican Daniel Chavez secured 100% of the required verified qualifying petition signatures of 3,000.
Twenty two days, from May 30 to June 21, remain to collect the balance of the qualifying nominating petition signatures.
Democrat Alexander Uballez will likely make the ballot with 2,680 verified petition signatures secured or 89% and he needs 320 more verified. On May 30, Uballez announced during a press conference that he has collected and turned in enough signatures to appear on the ballot. However, signatures recently collected must be verified by the City Clerk.
Republican Eddie Varela is on track to secure the required 3,000 signatures to get on the ballot with 1,998 signatures collected or 67%. Varela needs 1,002 more signatures which is doable with 22 days left in the collection process.
Democrat City Council Louie Sanchez is lagging somewhat to secure the 3,000 required signatures with 1,707 verified or 57% and he needs 1,293 more signatures to get on the ballot but with 22 more days left in the collection process it still can be done.
Republican Darren White is lagging somewhat to secure the 3,000 required signatures having secured 1,699 or 57% with 150 rejected and needing 1,301 more signatures to get on the ballot but with 22 more days in the collection process it still can be done.
Democrat Mayling Armijo is seriously underwater with her collection of nominating petition signatures with 1,084 verified signatures collected or 36%, 373 were rejected and she needs 1,916 more needed to get on the ballot which will be difficult.
It appears that 4 out of 11 candidates for Mayor will not collect the required 3,000 verified signatures to be placed on the ballot with 3 having less than 15% of the required signatures and one with 22%. Those candidates who will likely fail to get on the ballot are: Brian Feger with 3% collected, Alpana Adair with 1% collected, Adeo Herrick with 1% collected and Patrick Sais with 22% collected. There is an outside chance that Patrick Sais with 22% will make the ballot, but at the rate he is going, making the ballot is doubtful
The link to the City Clerk web page is here:
https://www.cabq.gov/vote/candidate-information/2025-candidates-and-committees-1/2025-petition-qualifying-contribution-tally
PROCESSED PUBLIC FINANCE QUALIFYING DONATIONS
The single most difficult task for candidates who are publicly financed candidates is the collection of 3,780 qualifying donations of $5.00 each to secure $755,946 in city financing. The candidates are given from April 19, 2025 to June 21, 2025, a mere 64 days, to collect the 3,780 qualifying donations from registered Albuquerque voters.
The city clerks go through each one of the donations to confirm donor registration within the city limits. Audits are also conducted by the city clerk’s office where direct contact is made of donors to confirm the donation was made by the donor. If a candidate does not collect the full 3,780 qualifying donations, those donations collected revert to the city and not to a candidate’s campaign. The failing candidate to collect 3,780 qualifying donations can declare to be a privately finance candidate and solicit private campaign donation funding until election day November 5.
Originally, seven of the eleven candidates running for Mayor were “public financed” candidates: Alpana Adair, Alexander Uballez, Darren White, Tim Keller, Louis Sanchez, Edie Varella and Adeo Herrick. Four candidates have withdrawn their application for public finance and are now considered privately financed candidates: Alpana Adair, Alexander Uballez, Eddie Varela and Patrick Sais. The four candidates who are still declared public financed candidates are: Tim Keller, Darren White, Louis Sanchez and Adeo Henrick.
The following are the processed public finance qualifying donations for the 4 candidates who remain publicly financed candidates as of Friday May 30:
TIMOTHY KELLER
- Required Qualifying Contributions 3,780
- Verified Qualifying Contributions 2,614
- Rejected Qualifying Contributions 190
- Remaining Qualifying Contributions Needed 1,163
- Percentage of Verified Qualifying Contributions Met 69%
DARREN WHITE
- Required Qualifying Contributions 3,780
- Verified Qualifying Contributions 1,471
- Rejected Qualifying Contributions 26
- Remaining Qualifying Contributions Needed 2,309
- Percentage of Verified Qualifying Contributions Met 39%
LOUIE SANCHEZ
- Required Qualifying Contributions 3,780
- Verified Qualifying Contributions 661
- Rejected Qualifying Contributions 70
- Remaining Qualifying Contributions Needed 3,119
- Percentage of Verified Qualifying Contributions Met 17%
ADEO HERRICK
- Required Qualifying Contributions 3,780
- Verified Qualifying Contributions 6
- Rejected Qualifying Contributions -0-
- Remaining Qualifying Contributions Needed 3,774
- Percentage of Verified Qualifying Contributions Met 0%
The link to the City Clerk web page is here:
https://www.cabq.gov/vote/candidate-information/2025-candidates-and-committees-1/2025-petition-qualifying-contribution-tally
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS ON PUBLIC FINANCE
Mayor Tim Keller is seeking a third term as Mayor and for the third time he is seeking public financing. As of May 30, Keller has collected 2,617 verified qualifying $5.00 donations or 69% and he still needs 1,163 donations to qualify for public finance. With 22 days left in the collection period, Keller must collect an average of 53 donations a day, plus an additional number to take into account disqualifications. The odds are high that Mayor Keller will be the only candidate who will qualify for public finance given the number of house parties his campaign has scheduled for that very purpose as well as public events scheduled for June.
The odds are high that Republican Darren White will NOT qualify for public finance. White has collected 1,471 qualifying donations or 39% of the required 3,780 and he needs at least 2,309 more $5.00 donations. With 22 days left in the collection period, White must collect an average of 105 donations per day, plus an additional number to take into account city clerk rejected donations.
The odds are extremely high that Democrat City Councilor Louie Sanchez will NOT qualify for public finance. Sanchez has collected a mere 661 qualifying donations or 17% of the required 3,780 and he needs at least 3,119 more $5.00 donations. With 22 days left in the collection period, Sanchez must collect an average of 142 donations per day, plus an additional number to take into account city clerk rejected donations.
Adeo Herrick has collected 0% of the qualifying donations and 1% of the required nominating petition signatures and it is safe to assume Herrick will not qualify for the ballot nor public finance.
UBALLEZ ABRUPLTY ABANDONS PUBLIC FINANCE
On May 30, Alexander Uballez abruptly ended his efforts to seek public finance. He is the fourth candidate out of eight who applied to abandon his efforts to collect 3,780 qualifying donations to the city to secure public finance of $755,946. According to the City Clerk’s website, as of May 30, Uballez collected 812 contributions or 21% of the 3,780 donations before withdrawing.
In a news conference on May 30, Uballez eviscerated the city’s public finance system saying it favors incumbents and well-established candidates over those with less political support and name identification. 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. … However, I am too encouraged by the people already supporting our campaign, the volunteers who have worked so hard, and the surge we’re witnessing to do anything but keep moving forward. The people of Albuquerque deserve a better choice than candidates who can buy their way onto the ballot or use entrenched political power to get there. The people of Albuquerque want change to make our city safer and stronger and I will officially be their candidate in November.”
“The idealist in me, which has always driven my every decision, said, ‘Yeah, this thing, [public finance] makes sense, this thing I believe in. And you know what, I think I can hit it.’ But the reality of campaigning, as I’ve learned over the past five weeks, is that it’s quite a tall order. … I still believe in public financing. … I think how it’s currently structured, and maybe the goals you have to attain, reward those with political connections and close the door on political newcomers like myself.”
The links to quoted or relied upon news source is here:
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/article_5d5551fb-023c-4367-a7f5-429a96917917.html#tncms-source=home-featured-7-block
Uballez and other critics of the city’s public finance system have said that following the rules surrounding the $5 collections process is like running an impossible obstacle course. The qualifying period to collect both the 3,000 nominating petition signatures and the 3,780 $5.00 qualifying donations from registered voters is a 64-day period between April 19 and June 21.
OTHER CANDIDATES LASH OUT
Alpana Adair withdrew after collecting only seven verified $5.00 contributions, Patrick Sais withdrew after collecting only two, and 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.”
Varella said Mayor Tim Keller’s name recognition, combined with his built in campaign volunteer organization and established relationships with nonprofits who do business with the city, gives Mayor Keller the advantage when it comes to collecting contributions.
Democrat City Councilor Louie Sanchez and Republican former Bernalillo County Sherriff Darren White are both seeking public financing, but that too may end sooner rather than later with both also lashing out at the public finance process.
Former Bernalillo County Sherriff Darren White said this:
“The only person who has qualified for it 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.”
White said he is sticking with public financing for now. According to the City Clerk’s candidate’s web page, White has collected 1,471 qualifying $5,00 donations or 39% of the 3,780 donations needed to secure public finance.
City Councilor Louis Sanchez said he was considering withdrawing from public financing and would take the weekend to decide. As of May 30, Sanchez has collected 661 qualifying $5,00 donations or 17% of the 3,780 donations needed to secure public finance. Sanchez said this:
“There’s a very, very good chance that I may opt out too.”
KELLER RESPONDS TO CRITICS
In a statement, Keller took issue with his opponents’ claims that the public finance rules favor incumbents. The Keller campaign said qualifying for public financing isn’t supposed to be easy. 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.”
Keller’s statement notes that public financing was one of Albuquerque’s most critical democratic reforms, keeping campaigns focused on voters rather than big donors or special interests.
The link to the relied upon or quoted news source is here:
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/article_5d5551fb-023c-4367-a7f5-429a96917917.html#tncms-source=home-featured-7-block
2021 MAYOR’S RACE RECALLED
In 2021, Mayor Keller ran against former Sherriff Manny Gonzales and Republican Radio Talk Show host Eddie Aragon. Mayor Tim Keller successfully collected more than the then required 3,779 qualifying $5.00 donations collecting 3,945 and his campaign was given $661,309.25 in public financing. Keller was the only candidate to receive public financing after the city clerk rejected Manny Gonzales’ public financing bid. The clerk’s office found that Gonzales forged voter signatures and donations, something Gonzales denied having a personal connection to. Keller’s other challenger, Eddy Aragon, relied on private financing.
2017 MEASURED FINANCE COMMITTEES SUPPORTING KELLER
Keller was first elected Mayor in 2017 when he was a very popular State Auditor. Originally there were 16 candidates for Mayor, with only 8 candidates who secured the number of qualifying nominating signatures to be placed on the ballot. Under the election code ordinance at the time, all candidates for Mayor were given three months to collect nominating petition signatures from registered voters, but only six (6) weeks to secure the 3,000 required number of $5.00 qualifying donations for public finance.
It was a crowded field of 8 candidates who qualified for the ballot by collecting the required number of signatures. Keller was the only candidate in 2017 election that qualified for public finance. The Keller campaign collected the needed qualifying cash donations of $5 to the City of Albuquerque from registered voters over a six-week period.
Keller proclaimed he was “walking the talk” to keep big money out of the Mayor’s race by qualifying for public finance. Once qualified, the Keller for Mayor campaign was given a total of $506,254 in public financing allowed at the time, which included financing for the first election and separate financing for the runoff. As a condition to receive public financing from the City, Tim Keller agreed in writing to a spending cap not to exceed the amount given and agree not to raise and spend any more cash to finance his campaign.
Although Keller proclaimed he was “walking the talk” by being a public finance candidate to keep big donors as arm’s length, it was a false narrative and a political facade. Keller supporters realized that more would be needed to elect Keller. Supporters formed three (3) measured finance committees that either raised money directly to spend on his behalf or indirectly spent money and supported Keller’s candidacy for Mayor financially. No other candidate for Mayor in 2017 had a measured finance committee raising or spending on their behalf.
ABQ Forward Together was a measured finance committee that was formed specifically to raise money to promote Tim Keller for Mayor in 2017. The measured finance committee raised over $663,000 for Keller. ABQ Forward Together was chaired by longtime political consultant Nerie Olguin a former campaign consultant for Mr. Keller when he ran successfully for New Mexico State Senate. $67,000 was raised and spent by the Firefighters political action committee known as ABQFIREPAC for Tim Keller. $122,000 was raised and spent by ABQ Working Families on Tim Keller’s behalf.
In 2017, a whopping $1,358,254 was spent on Tim Keller’s successful campaign for Mayor. ($506,254 public finance money + $663,000 ABQ Forward + $67,000 ABQFIREPAC + $122,000 ABQ Working Families = $1,358,254.)
In the 2017 Mayor’s race, there was no other candidate that had measured finance committees that raised and spent money on their behalf. Republican City Councilor Dan Lewis, who made it into the runoff with Tim Keller, raised more than $847,000 combined in cash and in-kind contributions for the October election and the November Mayoral runoff election.
Democrat Brian Colón raised and spent nearly $824,000 for his unsuccessful mayoral run and came in third. Republican Wayne Johnson privately raised and spent approximately $250,000. Republican Ricardo Chavez financed his own campaign by contributing and loaning his campaign $1 million dollars, but when he dropped out of the race, all of the money was repaid to him after he spent approximately $200,000. The remaining three (3) candidates for Mayor raised and spent less than $50,000 combined after failing to qualify for public financing
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
The city’s public financing system is supposedly designed to reduce the influence of large donors in local elections, but that is simply a FALSE narrative with the existence of measured finance committees that can raise unlimited amounts of money and spend it on promoting a candidate.
MEASURED FINANCE COMMITEES FOR 2025 MUNICIPAL ELEXCTION
Under the City of Albuquerque’s campaign finance laws, a Measure Finance Committee (MFC) is a political action committee (PAC), person or group that supports or opposes a candidate or ballot measure within the City of Albuquerque. Measure Finance Committees are required to register with the City Clerk. Measure finance committees are not bound by the individual contribution limits and business bans like candidates. No Measure Finance Committee is supposed to coordinate their activities with the individual candidates running for office, but this is a very gray area as to what constitutes coordination of activities, and it is difficult to enforce.
The fact that measure finance committees are not bound by the individual contribution limits and business bans like candidates is what makes them a major threat to warping and influencing our municipal elections and the outcome. Any Measure Finance Committee can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money and can produce negative ads to destroy any candidate’s reputation and candidacy.
All Measure Finance Committees must register with the Albuquerque City Clerk, regardless of the group’s registration as a political action committee (PAC) with another governmental entity, county, state or federal. Measure finance committees must also file financial “Campaign Finance Reports” reporting monetary contributions, loans, in kind donations and expenditures. Under existing law, it is illegal for any candidate for office or their campaign committee to coordinate their campaign efforts with any measured finance committee.
In the 2025 municipal election, four measured finance Committees have been formed thus far and are registered with the City Clerk. They are:
- SAFER ALBUQUERQUE COMMITTEE (SAFER ABQ) formed for the purpose “To advocate for Mayling Armijo’s candidacy for mayor during the Albuquerque 2025 mayoral race and align with values that reduce crime, reduce homelessness, and promote job growth.”
https://campaignfinance.cabq.gov/#/exploreCommitteeDetail/M3FjOgNU2Z3h9u5VXBTrEgpRrh19RviUIoO4CmCWDAE1/null/null/2/2025
- ASCEND ALBUQUERQUE formed for the purpose “To support the election of Tim Keller as Mayor of Albuquerque.”
https://campaignfinance.cabq.gov/#/exploreCommitteeDetail/VMQvJiHXaP1z-Iz2eL_papP4048PFnxLXRUfdOLcQk01/null/null/2/2025
- ABQ For All formed for the purpose “To educate and advocate for or against candidates for City Council”
https://campaignfinance.cabq.gov/#/exploreCommitteeDetail/kfkMONlVQnqqDLwSKTLYnJP4048PFnxLXRUfdOLcQk01/null/null/2/2025
- CIPGAW: Committee to Elect Eddie Varela Mayor of Albuquerque formed for the purpose to “Elect Eddie Varela Mayor of Albuquerque.”
https://campaignfinance.cabq.gov/#/exploreCommitteeDetail/feXJuXAYkFJVGJBhl95rMZP4048PFnxLXRUfdOLcQk01/null/null/2/2025
DIRE NEED FOR REFORM TO PUBLIC FINANCE LAWS
The fact that only one candidate for Mayor will likely qualify for public finance this election year is clear evidence that the system has been set up for candidates to fail, that is why so few candidates for Mayor will qualify for public finance. The system favors incumbents such as Mayor Tim Keller who have high name identification and built in campaign organizations and staff and who holds two and three press conferences a day.
Some have argued it is a system that is supposed to be hard to “weed out” candidates who are incapable of mounting serious campaigns. But making it so hard that no one qualifies makes it a mockery of the purpose and intent of public finance which is to encourage qualified people to run who can not afford to run and who are not independently wealthy.
The deficiencies in the city’s public financing have been repeatedly warned about over the last 14 years but have been ignored. Some of the changes advocated is reducing the number of qualifying donations to a more realistic number as well as increasing the time to collect the qualifying donations. Simply put, public finance laws should not be set up to make it too difficult to qualify for public financing and should have sufficient safeguards to police and prevent fraud.
The following changes to the City’s public finance and election are in order:
- Double the amount of time from 64 days to 128 days to collect both the qualifying donations and petition signatures, and private campaign donation collection.
- Reduce the number of $5.00 qualifying donations of 3,780 to equal the number of nominating petition signatures of 3,000. Simply put, many voters loath making political donations of any kind.
- Allow the collection of the qualifying donations from anyone who wants, and not just residents or registered voters of Albuquerque. Privately finance candidates now can collect donations from anyone they want and anywhere in the State and Country.
- Once the allowed number of qualifying donations is collected, the public financing would immediately be made available, but not allowed to be spent until the date of closure of the collection process.
- Permit campaign spending for both publicly financed and privately financed candidates only from the date of closure of the collection process to the November election day.
- Return to candidates for their use in their campaign any qualifying donations the candidate has collected when the candidate fails to secure the required number of qualifying donations to get the public financing.
- Mandate the City Clerk to issue debit card or credit card collection devices to collect the qualifying donations and to issue receipts and eliminate the mandatory use of “paper receipts”. Continue to allow the collection of both nominating petition signature and $5.00 donations “on line.”
- Increase from $1.00 to $2.50 per registered voter the amount of public financing, which will be approximately $900,000, and allow for incremental increases of 10% every election cycle keeping up with inflation.
- Allow additional matching public financing available for run offs at the rate of $1.25 per registered voter, or $450,000.
- Albuquerque should make every effort to make municipal elections partisan elections to be held along with State and Federal elections by seeking a constitutional amendment from the legislature to be voted upon by the public.
- Any money raised and spent by measured finance committees on behalf a candidate should be required to first be applied to reimburse the City for any taxpayer money advanced to a public finance candidate or deducted from a publicly finance candidates account and returned to the city.
- City of Albuquerque campaign reporting and finance ordinances and regulations need to define with absolute clarity that strictly prohibit the coordination of expenditures and campaign activities with measured finance committees and individual candidate’s campaigns in municipal elections.
- A mandatory schedule of fines and penalties for violations of the code of ethics and campaign practices act should be enacted by the City Council.
CONCLUSION
Until there is real reform of public finance laws, we can continue to expect only one or two candidates, especially incumbents, to qualify for public financing in elections for Mayor and giving the incumbent the advantage.
