A second contender for the Albuquerque Mayoral race says the required 3,000 signatures needed to officially run is within his grasp. Alexander Uballez announced hitting the milestone at a rally Friday.
Uballez’s declaration was short and sweet, taking less than 10 minutes including a brief Q&A session, but was full of energy, positivity and confidence.
“The numbers today have not come out yet, but when they do, they will show that we are within striking distance of qualifying. And I can assure you, by next Tuesday, when we turn in our qualifying petitions, we will be on the ballot in November,” he said as the crowd responded with cheers.
So far, besides incumbent Democrat Mayor Tim Keller, only Independent Daniel Chavez, an Albuquerque businessman, has reached the required 3,000 signatures to get on the ballot.
Under Albuquerque’s public-funded campaign system, in addition to the petition signatures, each candidate must gather $5 donations. When they get 3,780 donations, equal to 1% of registered voters, they will gain access to about $700,000 in taxpayer money to fund their campaigns.
The system has garnered criticism though, with opponents saying loopholes still allow for outside money to influence campaigns. Uballez says he will be forgoing public funding as he thinks it heavily favors incumbents and candidates who have other funding sources.
“Public financing seems to work for one of the 11 candidates, but none of the rest,” he said. “If you look at the eight who've declared public financing I will be, when I file my documents today, the fourth to withdraw.”
Uballez, a Democrat, was the U.S. Attorney for New Mexico for 3 years before he stepped down from the position in February at the request of President Trump. Before that he was Assistant to the U.S. Attorney for six years, and was an Assistant District Attorney before that.
He said that experience as a prosecutor will help him address public safety, which has been a major focus in the lead up to the election.
“As a five-week-old politician, but a lifelong public servant, I'm no stranger to doing hard things. I'm a working class kid who is never supposed to be in the position of United States Attorney, let alone the youngest United States Attorney in the nation,” he said. “I know that I have to work twice as hard to get half as far, and I'm used to doing things that are hard.”
The remaining eight candidates who have yet to meet the signature goal will have until June 21 to do so to get on November’s ballot.
Support for this coverage comes from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
