City Council District 1 contest draws 4 candidates with deep roots

Sep. 30—How do you stand out in a field with three opponents?

Tenacity, lots of door knocking — and money.

In the four-way race to represent the City Council's District 1, candidates are working to get their names out to voters in an area that spans most of downtown Santa Fe, the north side and much of the city's northwest.

It's a district that tends to draw the highest numbers of voters to municipal elections and sometimes sees the most contenders, even when a tough-to-beat incumbent is in the mix.

That's not the case this year.

District 1 Councilor Renee Villarreal, who has served in the seat since March 2016, announced earlier this year she would not run again, citing a commitment to just two terms in office.

Candidates Alma Castro, Brian Gutierrez, Kathy Rivera and Geno Zamora, vying to succeed her, come from a variety of backgrounds, but all grew up in Santa Fe and tout their deep roots here and their love for the city.

Zamora has an edge over his rivals when it comes to funding, with tens of thousands of dollars in private contributions. But a well-funded campaign isn't always the key to victory in a Santa Fe election.

The District 1 contenders have an additional challenge those in three other council contests don't face: ranked-choice voting. While they work to be each voter's No. 1 choice, they also must strive for wider appeal, ranking No. 2 in some voters' lineups in an effort to secure more than 50% of the vote after what could be a few rounds of ballot tallying.

The hopefuls

Gutierrez ran for a District 1 council seat in 2021 against Councilor Signe Lindell and two other contenders, and came in second with about 20% of the votes.

He is a small-business owner who operates Mr. G's, a scrap metal recycling buyback center off Baca Lane. He grew up in Santa Fe and is a father of four.

Gutierrez has years of experience with city government. He served as a member of the 2013 Charter Review Commission — which overhauled the mayor's job from a part-time gig to a full-time position with more authority and a vote on the council — and was a member of the Planning Commission for eight years.

He said his perspective as a father and his experience working on city commissions set him apart as a candidate and make him more prepared to make decisions for the city.

Rivera is a retired project manager with 33 years of experience at Arrow Electronics Inc., a Colorado-based Fortune 500 technology company. She grew up in District 1 and graduated from St. Michael's High School but has lived and worked on the East Coast and West Coast, as well as internationally, according to her campaign website.

She completed the 2023 Santa Fe Citizens Police Academy and is a frequent arroyo and roadside cleanup volunteer around the city.

Rivera said her campaign resonates with voters because she cares about the same things they do and has experienced the same issues, including property crime.

"My message is resonating with them in terms of trying to get our city back," she said.

Castro is an organizer and community activist who in 2019 took the reins as administrative director at Café Castro, her family's restaurant on Cerrillos Road. Her father came to Santa Fe from El Saldavor in the 1980s, and she grew up in the city.

Before returning to run Café Castro, she left Santa Fe to work as an organizer, including at the Chicago Worker's Collaborative, and has been involved with the Public Allies Program at the local nonprofit Somos Un Pueblo Unido.

She cited her community connections, "ability to bridge different ideologies" and experience working with policy in the state Legislature as strengths in her campaign.

Castro served as a member of the Santa Fe Arts Commission for three years but resigned after the City Council introduced an ultimately unsuccessful resolution earlier this year to rebuild the Soldiers' Monument on the Plaza, a 155-year-old obelisk erected in honor of Civil War Union soldiers.

The monument, which had an inscription also dedicating it to soldiers who died in battle with "savage Indians," drew controversy for decades before it was toppled during an Indigenous Peoples Day rally in 2020.

Castro wrote in her resignation letter it was "appalling" to watch councilors push forward a controversial plan "with no regard for the will of the advisory bodies or the community at large."

Zamora is an attorney who co-owns the Ortiz and Zamora law firm. He has a long history in government, including serving as chief counsel to Gov. Bill Richardson from 2002-05, serving as a Santa Fe city attorney from 2010-13 under Mayor David Coss and as general counsel for Santa Fe Public Schools from 2013-15. He was briefly acting city attorney for several months in 2018.

Zamora said his former employment with the city is a strength of his campaign because he is familiar with how the municipal government operates.

Some voters also may view it as a drawback.

In 2011, he told councilors they could spend money from a $30.3 million bond for parks and trails in 2008 to cover payroll expenses in the wake of the recession — money that was later determined to have been improperly spent.

Zamora told New Mexican columnist Milan Simonich he had given the city bad advice and that officials should have brought in an attorney who specialized in bond issues. He said it was a "teachable moment" and the kind of mistake he won't make again.

Castro, Gutierrez and Zamora are Democrats in the officially nonpartisan race, while Rivera is an independent.

Though some may have long ties to politics, each of the four candidates would be a first-time elected official.

The campaign trail

Castro and Gutierrez are both relying on public funding of $15,000, with the possibility of up to $22,500 with matching funds.

Rivera attempted to qualify for public funding but was unsuccessful. As of the first filing deadline early last month, she had only $1,025 in her campaign account.

Zamora had raised almost $52,000 at that time, more than any other city council candidate in the municipal election.

Zamora said his successful fundraising is a testament to the amount of support he has in the community and is being used to pay campaign staff, advertise and send out mailers.

His donors are a who's-who of Santa Fe politics, including the mayor. Zamora is the only candidate Webber had donated to as of the first filing deadline, but he was careful when asked if he has the mayor's support.

"He's neither endorsed nor have I sought his endorsement," Zamora said, adding he hopes to join the City Council "at a time that we need to do better in uniting the community."

Some of his competitors see things differently.

"He's the mayor's choice for this election," Gutierrez said of Zamora.

At a Santa Fe Hispanic Chamber of Commerce forum for District 1 and 2 candidates Sept. 21, the contenders were asked to grade the mayor's performance. Castro gave him an F, Rivera a D, Gutierrez a C-minus and Zamora a C, the mayor's best grade of the night. District 2 candidate Phil Lucero also gave Webber a C.

"It's not a complete epic fail," Rivera said of the mayor's tenure, but she doesn't think the city is doing enough to put plans in place to address many issues.

Still, she and other District 1 candidates don't see this election as a referendum on Webber.

"This election is not necessarily about the mayor, it's about the state of the city," Rivera said.

Gutierrez and Castro did not voice regrets about opting for public funding, and both said their campaigns are going strong.

"If money wins the race, I lost," Gutierrez said. "But if hard work, commitment and truth to self and the constituents win, then I feel very good about this race."

Castro, reached on the day a man was shot while protesting the planned installation of a controversial statue of Juan de O?ate in Espa?ola, said resolving some of the city's divisions regarding how it addresses culture and history is a top priority for her.

She said the issue is connected to the city's affordable housing crisis, which several candidates cited as a priority.

"As much as these issues are about culture, they're also about the economic pressures we're dealing with as a community," Castro said, adding the shortage of housing pushes people out of the city and dilutes voting power.

The candidates have different views on how to address the site of the Soldiers' Monument on the Plaza as its base remains encased in a wooden box three years after its destruction.

Castro has said she would prefer not to return it to the Plaza, and more community input is needed to reach a decision. Zamora said the obelisk should be restored as a veterans monument and installed in the Santa Fe National Cemetery, and a gazebo should be built in its place on the Plaza. Rivera and Gutierrez said they would like to see it rebuilt at its original site.

"I still stand with the fact that the Soldiers' Monument is a part of Santa Fe history, and I think it needs to be rebuilt there," Gutierrez said. He added an altercation at the protest in Espa?ola on Thursday "should never have escalated" to the point of a shooting.

Gutierrez and Rivera said people on the campaign trail have raised concerns to them about an increase in crime and homelessness, and they believe more resources should be invested in addressing those issues.

Rivera would like to see more funding for police and the city's Alternative Response Unit, in which teams of paramedics and social workers respond to nonviolent situations involving people in need of services such as shelter or behavioral health care.

Gutierrez raised concerns about the city's long-overdue audit for fiscal year 2022 following news last week it could not access legislative capital funding from the state Department of Finance and Administration until it is back in compliance with state requirements for financial reports.

The city has wrangled with a series of missed deadlines to file annual financial audits with the State Auditor's Office and is working to clear a backlog.

"I would be a loud voice for fiscal responsibility with that audit," Gutierrez said.

Rivera said she believes Santa Feans are frustrated by a lack of transparency from the mayor and city government, something she'd like to change.

"My disappointment is in the lack of community trust," she said.

Castro said she would support the creation of an independent inspector general's office to strengthen financial oversight in the city.

The ranked-choice effect

The ranked-choice voting system appears to make the candidates more hesitant to criticize one another.

"I think it encourages a cleaner race," Castro said.

Zamora said it encourages the candidates to "engage in a positive and respectful campaign."

Some of the candidates said the voting system doesn't come up much as they speak with residents, while others said they are mindful to mention it while going door to door.

"We're doing a lot of informing at doors," Castro said.

Rivera said she tells people if they already have made up their mind on who will be their No. 1 choice, she asks them to consider her for No. 2.

Gutierrez takes a similar tack.

"It's beyond, 'Vote for me,' " Rivera said. "It's, 'I'd like to be your top choice, or one of your top two choices.' "