It’s Election Day Tuesday, Dec. 12, in Albuquerque City Council District 6, where no candidate in last month’s four-way race secured over half of votes cast. So, the top two finishers are competing in a head-to-head runoff election to represent the area that includes Nob Hill, the International District, and neighborhoods around the Sunport.
Nichole Rogers earned 40% of votes last month and Jeff Hoehn came in second with 32%.
Both are Democrats. Rogers is a Black and Hispanic woman who lives East of San Mateo, in the lower-income and more ethnically diverse area of the district. Hoehn is a white man who lives in Nob Hill, the more affluent area.
They’ve run in part on their experience — both professional and lived — being the more valuable for the council.
They also differ in their approach to combating crime. While Rogers has focused on addressing poverty as a root cause, Hoehn has proposed ramping up police presence through mobile command units.
“Addressing poverty is a long-term, multifaceted, wicked problem that we have to address. Here’s the challenge: Right now crime is out of control,” he told KUNM.
Rogers said she’ll help grow the city’s understaffed police force and serve residents who want to see more cops in their neighborhood. But, she said, many of her International District neighbors feel over-policed.
“We want to minimize harm,” she told KUNM. “And it’s not always by putting more police in an area.”
Both candidates support increasing the budget of the Albuquerque Community Safety Department to respond to behavioral health calls in place of officers.
There are 10 polling sites open in and around District 6 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. If you have an absentee ballot, you’ll need to drop it off by the time polls close.
