Thanks to everyone who voted in the 2021 local elections, and a super big thanks to all of you who got out and worked for the election of our endorsed candidates. The results were mostly good, but with some disappointments.
In mayoral races, both of our endorsed candidates won resounding victories. Tim Keller in Albuquerque and Alan Webber in Santa Fe both received mandates for their agendas in their second terms.
In the Las Cruces city council elections, all of our endorsed candidates won. Congratulations to Becky Corran, Yvonne Flores, and Becki Graham. Las Cruces now has a city council composed entirely of women.
In Santa Fe city council races, three of our four endorsed candidates, Sig Lindell, Carol Romero-Wirth, and newcomer Amanda Chavez, prevailed. Roman “Tiger” Abeyta was upset in a very low turnout race in District 3, which highlights the need for all of us to vote.
In Albuquerque, the westside districts remained a tough nut to crack in city council races. Mayor Keller appointed Lan Sena to fill a vacant seat in District 1, the first real progressive to represent a westside district, but she was unable to hold onto the seat against a very conservative Democratic candidate. Conservative Democrat Cynthia Borrego also lost in District 5, to the former holder of that seat, conservative Republican Dan Lewis.
We did better on the east side, where both of our endorsed candidates advanced to runoff elections in multi-person races. Tammy Fiebelkorn prevailed over a strong field of five Democratic candidates, all progressives, to advance to a runoff against the sole Republican in the race in District 7. Democrats received 68% of the votes in this race. In District 9, Rob Grilley advanced to a runoff in a race in which the two Democratic candidates received 58% of the votes cast. If Tammy and Rob can prevail in their runoff races on December 7, Albuquerque’s city council will have a very similar makeup to the current council. If you live in District 7 or 9, it’s urgent that you vote in the runoff! See our runoff article for more information.
All of our endorsed Soil and Water Conservation District candidates won. Steve Glass and Zoe Economou crushed their opponents in races for the Ciudad Soil and Water Conservation District board, as did Teresa Smith de Cherif in the Valencia Soil and Water Conservation District race. Gill Sorgwon a seat on the Doña Ana Soil and Water Conservation District board.
The Chapter for the first time made endorsements in school board races, for the Albuquerque Public School board. It seemed important to get involved in these races, not only because of what the schools might or might not teach about climate, which directly involves the environment, but also because of our commitment to equity. Schools are often ground zero for equity issues. However, only one of our three endorsed candidates, Josie Dominguez, won her race.
We’re not done yet this year, as Albuquerque, in the absence of ranked choice voting, will have a runoff election in the District 7 and District 9 races, and there will be lots coming up in 2022, with races for governor, state land commissioner, and all of the State House seats. Stay tuned!