Telles elected to ABQ City Council; District 3 race too close to call

The runoff election in the District 3 City Council contest was too close to call late Tuesday, although incumbent Klarissa Peña had a razor-thin lead over political newcomer Teresa Garcia.

But West Side voters decisively elected the city of Albuquerque’s newest City Council member, giving Stephanie Telles nearly 60% of the vote in the District 1 runoff election, according to unofficial election returns.

Telles’ opponent, Joshua Neal, garnered about 40% of the unofficial vote.

In the District 3 contest, Peña led by just over 1 percentage point late Tuesday. Peña had 50.52% of the vote to Garcia’s 49.49%. Peña was leading by 68 votes as of 10 p.m.

The race was too close to call Tuesday night, said Brian Sanderoff, president of Research & Polling. Unknown is whether additional outstanding votes remain to be counted, he said.

Under state law, automatic recounts occur in local elections when the margin between the two candidates is 1% or less.

The District 1 City Council race was a contest between Telles, a Democrat, and Neal, a Republican, who were the two top vote-getters Nov. 4 in a four-way contest in the West Side district.

The winner will succeed Councilor Louie Sanchez, who chose not to seek reelection this year to pursue a bid for mayor.

“I’ve been a lifelong Democrat and I’m proud of that because of the values that the Democratic Party represents,” Telles said Tuesday night. “I think those are the values that reflect our community and so I am just excited to bring those values to City Hall.”

Telles, 41, and Neal, 29, both ran on their professional credentials.

Telles is a forensic accountant and fraud examiner who worked for the New Mexico Office of the State Auditor and is founder and CEO of Otoño Consulting, a fraud risk management firm.

Neal is a land development engineer for Albuquerque-based Bohannan Huston, who has worked on commercial and residential development projects in New Mexico.

In District 3, Peña and Garcia were the two top vote-getters in a three-way contest on Nov. 4.

Both candidates made Peña’s accomplishments a focus of their campaigns. Peña, 58, cited a list of projects completed or in progress during her 12 years in office.

Garcia argued that residents on the Southwest Mesa lack retail and job opportunities, and that the accomplishments cited by Peña too often have provided little benefit for District 3 residents.

In particular, Garcia criticized Peña for her advocacy of the Route 66 Visitors Center, a $13.1 million project located west of Albuquerque at Atrisco Vista and Central built with state, city and county funds. Garcia argued that the visitor center lies outside the city and remains little used.

Garcia also identifies as a survivor of domestic violence. In October she completed a three-year term as chair of the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Commission for the city of Albuquerque. Currently, she works remotely as a digital marketing and communications specialist for the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence.

Olivier Uyttebrouck can be reached at ouyttebrouck@abqjournal.com.