This story was originally published by City Desk ABQ.
Editor’s note: The people running our city have huge power to decide our future — if they can get out of their own way. At City Desk, we are bringing a new approach to how we cover local news and politics. Veteran local government reporter Rodd Cayton will provide coverage of the city council’s meetings and mayor’s agenda. But understanding what bills get introduced and how to count the votes requires a more in-depth understanding of the personalities and priorities of the 10 elected officials (9 councilors and the mayor) considering them. In addition to bringing you council reports, we welcome analysis to help readers understand the interpersonal and internal dynamics at play.
In that spirit, our Co-editor Carolyn Carlson provides a look at the changing dynamics and competing agendas at play with the new city council that begins with its first meeting Monday night.
Carolyn Carlson is a veteran journalist having covered local politicians and government meetings for more than 30 years, first with the Estancia Valley Citizen, then with the Albuquerque Journal, Mountain View Telegraph, New Mexico Compass, Weekly Alibi and The Paper. She brings more than 30 years of local government reporting to City Desk as a founding co-editor.
Tough negotiations with the new city council are in the forecast for Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller. Despite having a 5-4 majority of Democrats, the council on Monday night elected two Republicans — both highly critical of the Mayor in the past — to serve as president and vice-president of the 2024 Council. The composition of the new Council does not appear to be in the Mayor’s favor, yet there could be some surprises.
City Council elections are considered non-partisan but over the course of the last decade partisan politics have played a much larger role at the City Council table. For instance, the outgoing council could be looked at as having three conservative voices, three progressives and three others who often split on key votes, including overriding vetoes of council initiatives. With this new set of Councilors, it seems probable that the Mayor will have to do some negotiations to carry out his initiatives.
Who’s New?
Taking the seat of retiring progressive Councilor Isaac Benton is Joaquin Baca. He will be serving his first term representing District 2. Baca, a Democrat, is a federal water rights manager who campaigned that his top priorities are crime, homelessness and addiction, housing, and to protect natural resources. This district is in the city-center encompassing Downtown, Old Town, parts of the University of New Mexico campus and the entire valley east of the Rio Grande. Nichole Rogers, the city’s first African-American elected official and will be serving her first term. District 6 covers Albuquerque’s Southeast Heights encompassing the University of New Mexico campus, Nob Hill, Mesa del Sol and the International District. This is the former seat of outgoing Democrat Councilor Pat Davis. Rogers fought a tough battle but won the seat during a runoff. A former employee of the Mayor’s office, Rogers was originally criticized for being too closely aligned with the Mayor. However, Rogers has frequently been a critic of her former boss’ lack of progress on housing and homelessness services. Rogers, a Democrat, said during her campaign her priorities will be poverty, housing, and public education.
Daniel Champine, City Councilor for District 8 is the lone new Republican and the second former Albuquerque Police Department officer to serve on the new Council, after Louie Sanchez. This seat was previously held by longtime conservative Councilor Trudy Jones. This covers Albuquerque’s Far Northeast Heights and Foothills. Champine said during his campaign that his issues are crime, homelessness, economy and budget/taxes.
District 4 Councilor Brook Bassan, who was also up for re-election, eked out a win over a progressive Democrat to represent her historically conservative district.
Big Table Politics
Democrats Baca and Rogers will join Tammy Fiebelkorn, Klarissa Peña and Louie Sanchez to retain the Democratic majority with 5 of 9 seats. Republican Champine will round out the Republican caucus with Brook Basson, Renee Grout, and Dan Lewis. If Mayor Keller wants to get a bill on the table and on its way to approval, he must find a councilor willing to sponsor his proposed legislation. The six veteran lawmakers all shied away from carrying the Mayor’s priority legislation last year and it is unknown at this point how the new councilors will vote on some of the mayor’s initiatives.
In her last term on the Council, Councilor Jones regularly surprised council watchers by joining with Democrats to provide a veto-proof majority for council initiatives and supporting key housing and homelessness initiatives sought by the mayor. Councilor Sanchez, a registered Democrat, has most often voted with conservatives and against the Mayor on big issues. If Champine and Sanchez stick with the more conservative councilors in this new term, conservatives would maintain a 5-4 majority, making it difficult, if not impossible, for the Mayor to move any new key initiatives in the next two years leading up to the Mayor’s reelection in 2025.
Councilors have been quick to point out that of the dozens of agenda items they consider each week, just a handful are divisive; but the divisions that do exist are often on the most impactful and high profile pieces of legislation.
They have recently clashed loudly over how the city/county air quality board should function. Then there is the clash with the massive homeless hub Gateway Center at the Old Lovelace Hospital on Gibson that has been delayed by asbestos and other construction delays. The Mayor and Council have butted heads over Safe Outdoor Spaces, an idea to put up temporary service shelters in neighborhoods struggling with homeless residents. In the past, Councilors Grout, Lewis, Sanchez, Bassan tended to vote together against the Mayor, with Peña, a former reliable vote for Keller, throwing some curveballs by casting several recent critical votes with them to block legislation from colleagues of the Mayor. It is assumed that newly elected Councilor Champine will not be much different from his predecessor Trudy Jones and will toe the line with the conservative block. This leaves Councilors Fiebelkorn, Baca and Rogers defending a more progressive agenda.
What’s Next
With a new Council comes new leadership. Councilor Dan Lewis, a Westside Republican who ran and lost against Keller for mayor in 2021, was elected president and Republican Renee Grout of Four Hills was elected vice-president by their colleagues. Westside Democrat Klarissa Peña will serve as Chair of the Committee of the Whole, the Council’s powerful budget committee.
Those councilors will help to set the tone for Council-Mayor relations in the last full year before the mayoral election in 2025. Keller has said he intends to seek a third term but several councilors have postured that they are considering a run for mayor in the next election. They will be trying to differentiate themselves from each other. Councilor Bassan had an awakening with the close election with a competitive Democrat challenger who almost took her seat. So Bassan could be an interesting swing vote. Councilor Bassan does her homework and has in the past broke from the conservative block to support some of the Mayor’s initiatives. Councilors Fiebelkorn, Baca and Rogers are going to be the Mayor’s best options for getting his projects on the table. Fiebelkorn is not shy about her passion to help the downtrodden residents and is wasting no time testing the will of the new council with some interesting legislation.
