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Clockwise from the top left: Alma Castro, Louis Carlos, Brian Gutierrez and Michael Garcia have qualified for public campaign financing under city rules and await verification from the county clerk.
The Nov. 7 municipal election ballot is shaping up, and voters from three City Council districts can expect competitive races for seats on the governing body.
Four candidates for City Council have made it to the next step in qualifying for public campaign financing for the municipal election: the waiting game.
Santa Fe City Clerk Kristine Bustos-Mihelcic tells SFR she delivered documents to the Santa Fe County clerk just before the close of business Friday. The county clerk will next review and potentially certify the four candidates: Alma Castro and Brian Gutierrez for District 1; incumbent Councilor Mike Garcia in District 2; and Louis Carlos in District 3.
Other prospective candidates who had announced they would seek the required signatures to receive taxpayer funds for the campaign didn’t meet the requirements or didn’t turn in documents by the deadline late last month, including Katherine Rivera, who says she still plans to run for District 1 but will now try for private funds.
Candidates seeking public campaign financing faced a July 24 deadline to submit nominating petitions and 150 $5 contributions from registered voters. Bustos-Mihelcic says final word on who has qualified should come no later than Aug. 10, with money heading to the candidates by Aug. 14.
District 3 candidate Carlos tells SFR he’s taking no chances. He submitted more than the required number of both signatures and $5 contributions to ensure that even if some of his contributions are ineligible, he still makes the cut.
Santa Fe elections have included the option for candidates to seek public campaign cash since 2008. Candidates for City Council and judicial candidates who collect enough small contributions from voters in their district receive $15,000, with the option to access matching funds later to raise that figure to $22,500 if private candidates raise more.
This election cycle, however, the city allowed for candidates to collect qualifying documents through an online portal for the first time.
Though Carlos seems certain he’ll qualify, he says the system is in need of an update. He says candidates are “waiting in limbo” to hear if they truly made it through the process. Meanwhile, candidates opting for private monies can continue fundraising and have until Aug. 29 to enter the race.
“I am sort of at the beckoning of the city. I am spending a great deal of time knocking on doors and talking with people for a $5 return, then submitting everything and hoping it goes as the city requires it,” Carlos says. “It puts me at a great disadvantage compared to other candidates who are going to solicit private fundraising because I can’t go and raise more money now. Materials are expensive, and $15,000 only goes so far.”
Other candidates also offer critiques of the public financing system. Gutierrez tells SFR he was “glad to see” the online portal’s introduction but agrees there are other aspects of public campaign financing that need to be reviewed.
This is a second attempt at the seat for the District 1 candidate who runs Mr. G’s Pro Tow, a towing company, and served as the former chairman of the 2021 Planning Commission and on the 2013 Charter Review Committee. He ran using public funds in 2021 and came in second to incumbent Councilor Signe Lindell, who snagged 60% of the vote in a four-way race.
Despite the previous outcome, he’s making another go to address some long standing and often ignored issues in his district.
“In 2021, we did a lot of walking, talking ...It was a total grassroots campaign, and that’s what I plan to focus on in this campaign,” Gutierrez says. “With the limited resources, the cost of inflation and the monies going toward a public-financed campaign, to be successful you really have to get out there and work.”
Bustos-Mihelcic says she also wants the City Council to consider future changes to the rules. The city plans to survey candidates about the current program after the election and has already collected opinions about the process after the last election.
“We support looking at it. It hasn’t been updated in about 15 years. I would like to make some amendments,” she tells SFR. “I could see that in 2009, $15,000 was more than enough for an election, but now, it just isn’t.”
Other cities, such as Albuquerque, have candidates running on the same deadlines and same rules, whether they are publicly or privately financed.
Miguel Acosta, District 3, did not file documents before the July 24 public campaign finance deadline, while Eric Morelli, from District 3 and Katherine Rivera, District 1, both collected signatures and cash, but fell short of the required amounts. When a candidate fails to qualify, the money they raised goes into the public fund. The candidate then has the opportunity to transition into private funding.
Rivera says she will now privately fund her campaign after meeting the signature requirement but falling around 10 donations short. Despite not getting access to city dollars, she says the fundraising process helped her meet more people, and she remains hopeful in her bid for a council seat.
“I was invited into many living rooms and front porches, and I walked away with a lot of feedback,” Rivera says. “My goal was to be on the ballot and a voice for District 1, and I definitely remain encouraged, if not more so, having gone through that exercise in May, June and July.”
District 4 Councilor Jamie Cassutt won her seat using public campaign financing in the 2019 election, but this time around, she’s going private. She tells SFR the rising costs of running a campaign led to the decision.
“At the end of the day, the amount of money that is provided at the public funding level is just not enough to run a campaign. It probably was 15 years ago,” Cassutt says. “I think we really need to take a look at our public financing system and make sure we are providing enough money that people could finance and run a campaign.”
Though Joel Nava had informed the city clerk he planned to run in District 4, he failed to turn in qualifying documents, pointing to what could be an uncontested race for the seat.
Other candidates who plan to formally file later this month include former assistant city attorney Geno Zamora in District 1; and Planning Commission members Pilar Faulkner in District 3 and Phil Lucero in District 2.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated from an earlier version.
