Editor’s note: This story was corrected to reflect that mayoral candidate Tim Keller did file a campaign finance report.
Mayoral candidate Brian Colón continues to dominate his opponents in fundraising, coming within $59,000 of matching the combined total raised by his competitors over the last three months.
“We’re working hard. No one’s going to outwork us in this race,” Colón told the Journal, noting that his campaign has raised more than $600,000 to date.
Campaign finance reports filed with the city Clerk’s Office on Friday show that Colón, the former chairman of the state Democratic Party, raised a little more than $263,000 during that period. By contrast, the six other mayoral candidates running privately financed campaigns reported a combined $322,000 in monetary donations.
“We’re working hard. No one’s going to outwork us in this race,” Colón told the Journal, noting that his campaign has raised more than $600,000 to date.
Over the last three months, Colón has spent close to $54,000 and has more than $517,000 available in his campaign war chest.
Colón is one of eight candidates vying to be Albuquerque’s next mayor.
The candidate coming in second in the money race, City Councilor Dan Lewis, raised just more than $160,000 this quarter, spent close to $118,000 and has nearly $192,600 in his campaign coffers.
“We’re on target for our fundraising plan,” Lewis said. “We’re setting goals and meeting them.”
Coming in third was Bernalillo County Commissioner Wayne Johnson, who raised nearly $122,000 during this period and has cash on hand of $187,000.
Lewis and Johnson are both Republicans, although city races are nonpartisan, which means political affiliations won’t appear on the ballot.
The four other mayoral candidates who filed campaign finance reports – Michelle Garcia Holmes, a former chief of staff for the state Attorney General’s Office and a retired Albuquerque police detective; local businessman Ricardo Chaves; Susan Wheeler-Deichsel, founder of the civic group Urban ABQ; and recent University of New Mexico graduate Gus Pedrotty – reported receiving monetary contributions of between $22,131 and $2,955 during the last three months.
Chaves, a Republican and the founder of Parking Company of America, reported that he received contributions of about $8,600. But he lent his campaign another $200,000, bringing the total amount he’s lent to his campaign to $500,000. He has spent close to $135,000 and has nearly $374,000 remaining in his campaign coffers.
State Auditor Tim Keller, a Democrat, is running a publicly financed campaign. Keller has received $342,952 in city funds to run his campaign. He reported expenditures of nearly $131,000 and has a little more than $232,000 left in his campaign account.
While Keller isn’t taking campaign contributions, a finance committee dubbed ABQ Forward Together has formed to support his mayoral run. The group reported that it received about $21,600 in contributions, spent a little more than $19,000 and has just under $2,600 in the bank.
Election Day is Oct. 3. If no candidate receives 50 percent of the vote, the top two vote getters will compete in a run-off election in November.
