Manny's Mad Money Scramble As Mayoral Race Conjurs Memories Of '09, Plus: More Candidates Line Up For '22 And MLG's "Singular Focus"

Manny's mad money scramble is on. 

BernCo Sheriff and mayoral candidate Manny Gonzales says he picked up $90,000 in private donations in the days after he finally ran out of courtrooms to appeal the city's denial of over $600,000 in public financing for his campaign.

That's a start but as the song says he has a long way to go and a short time to get there. Gonzales is going for the quick, big money reminding supporters they can give the maximum donation allowed of $6,250.

Mayor Keller successfully qualifying for the taxpayer money looms even larger over the Nov. 2 contest. 

Republican Eddy Aragon also has a steep climb. He reports raising over $30,000 in his first fundraising forays but just one week of high profile TV ads costs more than double that. 

The '21 contest is starting to look something like 2009. That's when two Dems--Mayor Chavez and Richard Romero--battled each other only to see the lone Republican, Richard Berry, consolidate the non Democratic vote and take the prize. This time it is two conservatives--Gonzales and Aragon that are giving Democrat Keller that middle path. But if Keller is unable to get 50 percent of the vote Nov. 2 there will be a runoff election in mid-December between the two top vote-getters. 

And this year could also remind old timers of '77 when David Rusk, son of former Sec. of State Dean Rusk consolidated the Dem/liberal vote against three more conservative opponents including GOP Mayor Kinney. In that election only 40 percent of the vote was required to avoid a run-off.

An example of today's conservative divide is the announcement from longtime ABQ GOP City Councilor Trudy Jones that she is endorsing Gonzales over Aragon who she says will "help us rein in wasteful government spending. . .and focus on basic services." She also backs him for pledging to fight crime and homelessness. 

Former GOP Bernalillo County Commissioner Wayne Johnson has also endorsed Democrat Gonzales.

Aragon says the Republicans are split down the middle over his candidacy and he faults controversial Republican political consultant Jay McCleskey who is now consulting Democrat Gonzales. He says McCleskey is trying to hold onto power in the GOP and is behind these endorsements.

JAMPACKED

In the Santa Fe mayor's race, Councilor JoAnne Vigil Coppler jams in a lot of info in a new 30 second social media video, including her qualifications, a major union endorsement and her governing philosophy. The only thing she left out is why she would be a better mayor than incumbent Alan Webber. Hmmm. 

AGAIN?

That's what the campaign watchers were asking this weekend when Republican Michelle Garcia Holmes announced yet another campaign--this time for a second run for the ABQ congressional seat held by Dem Melanie Stansbury. She uses the unease over Covid as her launching pad: 

We need to get past pandemic shutdowns. Let’s focus on addressing our state’s economic needs; let’s fight the crime wave that has overwhelmed us. Let’s embrace the value of a hard day’s work, just like our parents did. I will work hard to make New Mexico safe and economically strong.”

Besides the ABQ congress seat she lost to Stansbury in 2020, Garcia Holmes has also sought the ABQ mayor's office and the lieutenant governor's office.

The Dems see the 2022 ABQ contest as dead money. Stansbury took the seat in a 60 percent plus landslide at the June special election and this December's redistricting is not expected to have any appreciable impact on the heavy D district.

ANT'S ARMY

Ant Thornton

The 2022 candidates continue to line up. Here's an announcement for the GOP nod for lieutenant governor from Anthony "Ant" Thornton of ABQ's East Mountains. He says he is a Black Republican who was a Dem but grew disillusioned with President Obama and became a "walkaway Democrat."

Thornton is an aerospace engineer with a Ph.D who had a long career at Sandia Labs. He wants to form "Ant's Army" to "propel the state forward." (Is that anything like Arnie's Army?)

So we've got a possible army of Ants and an engineer who favors cowboy hats. Folks, there's blogging potential there. 

By the way, we're not hearing of any movement to dump current Dem Lt. Governor Howie Morales from the 2022 Dem ticket--in case you were wondering. 

MLG'S "SINGULAR FOCUS"

Interesting that Governor Lujan Grisham has issued no statements (at least none we've seen) on President Biden's mandate for Covid vaccinations for all employees of businesses with 100 or more workers. We asked a Dem operative for analysis:

It has been MLG's singular focus on Covid that has caused her approval rating to drop below 50 percent. It has been a rallying cry for the opposition and while a plurality support her, voters may want to see more from her governorship besides the constant Covid narrative which is mostly negative. 

MLG has been getting out and about more in recent days and has an opportunity to redefine the narrative as the state accumulates historic surpluses in the billions from oil and gas. But a flare up in Covid could again demand the "singular focus" that our operative complains is keeping her voter approval on the cool side. 

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2021