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Monday, October 06, 2025A Boastful Mayor Keller Ignores The Field But Takes On Media And ICE In First TV Ad; Says His Accomplishments Are Not Being Heard; Ad Takes On Happy Days Tone; Critics Call It Audacious A feeble opposition has prompted ABQ Mayor Tim Keller to embrace a "happy days are here again" narrative in his first TV ad, backing off his previous tone where he boasted of progress but with the caveat that serious challenges remain. In spot #1 any bow to his many skeptics is gone and the boasting is effusive. There is even come cocky confidence and blame-shaming as Keller chides the media, claiming, "we are getting a lot more done than the news media is telling you about." The ad features a young Hispanic woman posing as a peppy news reporter as she runs through a "pop quiz" with a beaming Keller by her side. The transcript: Pop Quiz. True or false. Tim Keller created the nation's first community safety department with mental helth responders. The police are freed up to fight crime. He created before and after-school programs for over ten thousand children, twenty-five hundred affordable housing units and shelter with addiction treatment for 1,000 homeless. He's also blocking ICE if they don't have a warrant. Keller: We're getting a lot more done than the news media is telling you about. Keller supporters will see the ad that sugarcoats homelessness and the high rate of violent crime as reasonably balanced when contrasted with his record. The critics, like several emailers here, will view it as audacious and the result of a political system so awash in apathy (and a failed Republican party) that it has produced no candidates who are a threat to Keller or an unsatisfactory status quo. Keller may not see a legitimate opponent in the field of candidates but he does need foils to finger because so many folks (over 60 percent) believe the city is headed in the wrong direction. In addition to alleged news media bias, his declaration about ICE adds President Trump to his target list. Dem consultant David Alcon is tracking the action: Keller is trying to set this up as a retention election where the opponents on the ballot continue to be ignored and where voters are simply asked to give him credit for his record. Having Trump hanging out there is a bonus. With no alternative messaging being heard, the strategy is sound. Keller essentially adopting the "stop bagging and start bragging" slogan is actually a defiant posture candy-wrapped in his pop quiz. The mayor's reasoning is that he has done everything that can be done--and done it right--to address crime and homelessness and that the city must now bend to his version of reality. It is confrontational with no opposition to seriously confront him. The political reality is that for many voters this campaign so far is like going to a restaurant with one item on the menu. Order it or walk away. GETTING SOCIAL Dem candidate Alex Uballez can't yet afford to go on broadcast TV like Keller but he does come with an ad for the socials "featuring Alex's mother-in-law, Peggy Lopez, sharing her twenty year relationship with Alex and what she's witnessed in their family and his career." The ad is here. IMPORTING POLITICOS  If you do not believe the Democratic Party has a new generation of leaders, you are not paying attention. Our state party vice chair is 24 and the Bernalillo County chair is 25. . .To suggest we should “import” politicos is an insult to New Mexico. We are not the Republican Party. The Democratic Party of New Mexico supports, trains, and pushes young people—and it’s not just chairs and vice chairs. I am 19 and have done consulting work from school-board races to statewide races, I have represented the State on the National Level with the DNC. The future of the state is in good hands. The claim that New Mexico is “running out of politicians” is wrong. It ignores what’s happening on the ground: young organizers, first-time candidates, and newly elected leaders are building the bench in cities, pueblos, and rural communities alike. That’s the pipeline. It’s already working. We joked that if McClure's plan can bring new politicos here then some of them should also be badly needed doctors. But that was no joke for physician Anjali Tenaja who writes: I think we can grow our own (politicians)! I am a family physician who ran for the NM state House (District HD 18), in last year's Democratic primary. I have also been keenly interested in how we support healthcare workers (physicians and others) to run for office. We critically need healthcare expertise at the state and local levels. Physicians and other healthcare workers also bring lived experience around healthcare and healthcare delivery in NM. A few of us have been informally discussing how to encourage and support healthcare workers to run. Thanks for noting how important it is to get doctors into office to help change policy and the course of things here in NM. THE BOTTOM LINES You didn't miss much but what action there was at last week's special legislative session that ended Thursday is here and here. This is the Home of New Mexico Politics. |
 
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