That depressing news brings into focus the embryonic campaign for ABQ mayor. The election isn't until November but the sensational crime headlines are impacting the electorate that will decide if Dem Tim Keller is awarded a second four year term.

So far, Keller seems in good shape with decent approval numbers and no announced opponents, but the soaring homicide rate has the forces of Dem BernCo Sheriff Manny Gonzales on high alert as he weighs a challenge to Keller. 

After years of resistance Gonzales recently equipped his deputies with body cameras, essentially removing the cameras as a negative campaign issue.

Gonzales' camp expects the mayoral derby to cost about $2 million. About $661,000 is available from public financing, if he chooses to go that route. The remaining $1.3 million would have to be raised by an independent campaign committee which can play outside the city's formal finance system. 

The unrelenting murders have also put pressure on Keller in his choice for a permanent police chief. Cynics say his latest nationwide search for a chief is "wired" for interim APD Chief Harold Medina, the same way a previous national search by Keller ended with interim Chief Mike Geier getting the permanent posting. 

There are three finalists and Keller expects to name one of them chief by March. Joseph Sullivan, a recently retired deputy commissioner with the Philadelphia PD, is getting a second look from the insiders and others who see the current fight against violent crime as an obvious failure. They argue that only a competent outsider can change a damaged APD culture that is holding the city back. 

Does Sullivan have a chance against a longtime insider like Chief Medina? Well, if it was only a 5 percent chance before the January murder mayhem, that's at least doubled.

THE PELOSI PLAY

Foes of ABQ congressional hopeful Randi McGinn were about to pounce: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was getting cold feet and rumored to be cancelling her appearance on a Monday night McGinn telephone town hall that McGinn was touting. But there was no pouncing.

Pelosi did postpone her appearance because, she said, meetings over COVID relief were running late due to a big DC snowstorm, but in the same four minute video she also heaped praise on trial lawyer McGinn, coming up just short of an outright endorsement. Take a look:  

I hope to be with you sometime soon. Why? Because Randi McGinn is so special. I know you have many good candidates and I respect the decision you make. But I wanted you to know how important I think it would be for Randi to be in the Congress of the United States. Good luck to all of you who are running for central committee. Thank you Randi McGinn for running for Congress.

About 200 Dem state central committee members will choose the party nominee for the ABQ congressional seat when it becomes vacant when the US Senate confirms Rep. Deb Haaland as Sec. of Interior. Central committee elections are expected to occur before the vacancy so Pelosi was aiming the pitch at those running.

Pelosi's tacit endorsement bolstered McGinn but it also fortified her opposition. The stop McGinn crowd said having her take the congressional seat would be an insult to women of color who have held it since 2012. And the party's left wing--a soft spot for Pelosi--grumbled over the speaker's involvement. Mitchell Freedman of Rio Rancho blasted:

Pelosi has been a brake against what the majority of Americans support, starting with single payer medical security, canceling all student debt, free public college, and the Green New Deal. . .Antoinette Sedillo-Lopez and Melanie Stansbury have far more support among central committee members and each is actually a topnotch candidate. 

About 200 central committee members will name a nominee for the special election to replace Haaland and will have at least six candidates to choose from. The central committee probably won't name a nominee until sometime in March with a special election likely in June. 

This week McGinn rose to the top of the crowd on Pelosi's wings Now she has to hope that doesn't backfire and she can keep flying. 

NEW GOP ENTRANT

Michaela Chavez

The GOP has little chance of taking the ABQ seat but their central committee members who will choose a nominee do have a fresh face to consider. 39 year old Michaela Chavez, a former Democrat says she is in the race. 

She describes herself as a proud mother, wife and native New Mexican who graduated from Sandia Prep and whose husband is NM GOP treasurer David Chavez.

Shooting for Dem votes if she is the US House nominee, Chavez says: 

As a former Democrat with friends and family members who are Democrats, I understand that our greatest challenges are not a Democrat vs. Republican issue. I am a leader and will unite diverse groups to find a solution to our greatest challenges.  

Chavez joins radio talk show host Eddy Aragon and 2020 GOP congressional nominee Michelle Garcia Holmes in officially seeking the GOP nod. Also running, according to a GOP consultant, are Jared Vander Dussen, Peggy Aragon and Ron Lucero. Aubrey Dunn is running as an independent.

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