Richard Berry
It’s still too close to call in the Albuquerque mayoral race, but things are looking pretty good for Richard Berry.
With 105 of 186 precincts reporting, Berry has 19,366 votes, or 41 percent — enough to avoid a runoff if he can hold on to it.
Meanwhile, incumbent Martin Chávez has 16, 778 votes, or 35.52 percent. Richard Romero is out of the race at this point, with 10,979 votes, or 23.25 percent.
The percentages for the three candidates have remained remarkably consistent throughout the evening as early, absentee and regular votes have been counted, so there’s a good chance Berry will finish with more than 40 percent of the vote and be Albuquerque’s next mayor.
But if Berry can’t finish with more than 40 percent tonight, Chávez probably has the advantage in a runoff. Berry is a Republican, and Chávez and Romero are Democrats. It’s fair to assume that most of Romero’s support would shift to Chávez in a runoff.