Albuquerque residents will get the chance to elect city councilors for Districts 2, 4, 6 and 8 during the 2023 municipal elections to be held on Nov. 7.
Three of the four districts will elect new councilors after current representatives elected not to run for reelection. Only Republican Brook Bassan, who is currently running unopposed in District 4, will remain on the council.
“As the saying goes ‘out with the old and in with the new,’” Attorney Pete Dinelli said in a recent release on his website. “The November 7 municipal election will remake the council and perhaps there will be a shift from the current Democrat control to a Republican controlled city council.”
In District 2, which includes downtown, Old Town, and parts of the North Valley and West Side, the two candidates are Democrats Joaquin Baca and Loretta Naranjo Lopez. Baca is a hydrologist and elected member of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District. Lopez is a retired city planner and current member of the New Mexico Public Employees Retirement Association Board. Both intend to seek public financing.
District 6, which includes Nob Hill and the International District, features three candidates: Democrat Jeff Hoehn, a nonprofit executive director; Democrat Abel Otero, a barber; and Independent Joseph Pitluck Aguirre, a dentist and software development company owner. Hoehm and Otero intend to seek public financing while Aguirre will use private financing.
The two candidates in District 8, which encompasses Northeast Heights and Foothills, are Republican Dan Champine, a retired police officer and current mortgage lender; and Democrat Idalia Lechuga-Tena, a consultant and former state representative. Both will seek public financing.
In other news, current Councilors Louie Sanchez and Renee Grout recently co-sponsored a proposal that would integrate the mayor into the City Council, an Albuquerque Journal report said. If approved, the measure would eliminate the “strong mayor” form of government that has been in place in Albuquerque for several decades. The proposal would greatly lessen the power of the mayor.
The City Council voted to table the measure until June. If six of the nine councilors agree, then the measure will be put on the Nov. 7 ballot.