State Auditor Tim Keller landed strong in his bid to be Albuquerque’s next mayor, sweeping up just under 62 percent of the vote last night in an election with large turnout for Albuquerque — 29 percent.
Courtesy photo
Albuquerque Mayor-elect Tim Keller
Keller ran a largely positive campaign, emphasizing along the way grassroots support for his campaign. The only candidate in the race who went for public financing, he raised 6,000 small donations of $5 apiece early in the year to qualify for public funding.
Keller noted in his victory speech the positive nature of his campaign, saying he had “rejected division.” His campaign overcame negative ads charging he was soft on sex offenders and numerous ethics complaints filed by his political opponents.
As a publicly financed candidate he was in the middle of the pack financially in what was the most expensive mayoral race in Albuquerque, ever.
Here’s a breakdown of the funds available to each candidate, including in-kind support and loans from candidates to themselves, during the general election:
| Total Amount | Percent | |
| Brian Colón | $859,106 | 29.58% |
| Dan Lewis | $580,010 | 19.97% |
| Ricardo Chaves | $524,910 | 18.07% |
| Tim Keller | $418,762 | 14.42% |
| Wayne Johnson | $393,711 | 13.56% |
| Michelle Garcia Holmes | $88,416 | 3.04% |
| Gus Pedrotty | $23,943 | 0.82% |
| Susan Wheeler-Deichsel | $15,522 | 0.53% |
| Total | $2,904,380 |
During the run-off period, Keller was outraised significantly by his opponent, City Councilor Dan Lewis.
| Total Amount | Percent | |
| Dan Lewis | $294,972 | 70.16% |
| Tim Keller | $125,463 | 29.84% |
| Total | $415,435 |
On the surface, it appears Keller pulled out a win while being resoundingly outspent.
Technically, he was.
But he also benefited from a political committee formed specifically to support him. Albuquerque Forward Together gathered impressive support from labor and other progressive organizations, both in New Mexico and nationally. When combined, Keller and ABQ Forward Together funds significantly outstripped other candidates.
| Total ABQ Forward Together | $673,761 |
| Total Tim Keller | $544,225 |
| Total funds supporting Keller | $1,217,986 |
While some argue that the political committee undercuts the spirit of Albuquerque public financing, others point to the hobbled nature of the current law that had a key matching funds provision thrown out after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in an Arizona case that such laws stifle free speech.
Since the matching fund provision was thrown out in 2011, the Albuquerque City Council has not fixed the law in a way that would allow publicly financed candidates to keep pace with the fundraising of their opponents.
There were other political committees in the mix. An organization called ABQ Working Families raised $145,445 to support Keller and others. Several others ran ads against Keller in the general and runoff elections.
Keller’s method of using the 10 percent in-kind support allowed under the public financing law made him the subject of an ethics complaint. Just a day before the run-off election, the city’s Board of Ethics & Campaign Practices found that Keller’s campaign violated the campaign finance law, but that it was unintentional.
Keller also has two other ethics complaints left to deal with, including one that alleges his campaign coordinated with the political committee supporting his run. And there are other outstanding ethics complaints against a political committee that ran negative ads against Keller.