OPINION: Baca emerging as best choice for next City Council president

While the mudslinging in the mayoral runoff unfolds daily on the local news to the interest of political junkies like myself, a similarly impactful race is taking place out of public view that could have a determinative impact on the next mayoral administration — whether it’s the third consecutive term of Mayor Tim Keller or the one four-year term promised by challenger Darren White.

The first City Council meeting in January will begin with the election of a council president, vice president and chair of the council’s Committee-of-the-Whole, which consists of all nine councilors and considers budget and capital improvements proposed by the mayor.

At least five votes are needed to secure any of the three leadership posts, and there are no restrictions on councilors serving multiple or consecutive terms.

Current City Council President Brook Bassan told me last week she is proud of how she has run City Council meetings during her yearlong tenure, but she added she didn’t think she has the votes to retain the key leadership post.

“I have no idea who it’s going to be next year because there were several people trying and, of course, we do not know what’s going to happen with the runoff,” Bassan said. “So far, I do not believe anyone can count to five, which is what’s needed.”

City Councilor Joaquin Baca does think he has the five votes, hinging somewhat on the outcome of two City Council runoff elections next month.

District 3 incumbent Klarissa Peña, who is seeking a fourth term on the City Council, faces challenger Teresa Garcia in the Dec. 9 runoff to represent the Southwest Mesa district.

Peña and Garcia finished close in the Local Election on Nov. 4, with Peña receiving 41% of votes in a three-way contest and Garcia garnering 38%.

Garcia is progressive, Peña is more pro-growth and I am a fiscal conservative. But I am supporting Garcia.

For one thing, Peña, who is currently the City Council’s vice president, has had her chance to shape city policies after 12 years on the council. That’s enough time for any one person. It also says a lot that incumbent candidates for mayor and City Council, seeking third and fourth terms, respectively, were unable to reach 50% of votes in the initial round of voting.

Most voters clearly want change, either for mayor or District 3 councilor. Albuquerque is stuck in a rut, with no real population growth other than our blossoming homeless population, about half of whom aren’t even from the city.

Plus, I like Garcia. She has the potential to be a breath of fresh air on a stale City Council too often paralyzed by personal grudges. If elected in the runoff, Garcia told me Baca would be her first choice for council president.

“Mixing things up is good. People want change — and we need change to move Albuquerque forward, especially in District 3, which has been neglected for 12 years,” Garcia said. “That’s why I decided to run for City Council. And I believe that a change on the City Council will help make that happen, especially when we work together.”

Garcia, a first-generation Mexican-American and professional advocate for survivors of domestic violence, also made reference to the Route 66 Visitor Center, a boondoggle so bad Bernalillo County eventually donated it to the city in February 2024 like an aging holiday fruitcake. The $13.1 million project west of Albuquerque at Atrisco Vista and Central was built with state, city and county dollars and was incomplete at the time of the official ribbon cutting in September 2022. And it’s still incomplete.

Peña’s steadfast support for the project has clouded her tenure on the City Council with conflict of interest concerns. She has served as a past executive director of the West Central Community Development Group, which was contracted to operate the visitor center from June 2023 to February 2024, and Peña’s husband was a past board member of the WCCDG.

“Funding is getting harder and harder to secure, and we must make sure we spend it properly — not on vanity projects like the Route 66 Visitors Center, but on real investments that strengthen our community,” Garcia said.

Baca and Garcia are progressives, but we all three agree managing a city is more about fixing potholes and street lights, installing speed bumps in residential neighborhoods, making the buses run on time, and that police show up promptly when called upon than it is about left-right politics.

The other runoff election that will shape the leadership of the City Council is the District 1 race between Democrat Stephanie Telles and moderate Republican Joshua Taylor Neal. Telles topped Neal 36% to 26% in the Nov. 4 election, but there were a lot of other voters in the four-way contest.

Voter turnout for the runoff elections will be key for all the runoff candidates, so Neal has a chance.

I like Neal, too. The Journal Editorial Board endorsed Neal in the Republican primary of 2022 for a seat in the New Mexico House of Representatives and again in November 2024 for the same House District 17 seat.

Neal, 29, offers youthful exuberance, professional pragmatism and new ideas for District 1, which is north of Central Avenue nearly as far north as Paseo del Norte on the city’s West Side. A land development engineer who has worked on commercial and residential development projects in New Mexico, Neal has experience helping companies navigate the permitting process and site-plan approvals for housing and commercial projects.

“We’ve seen some developers that want to build here in Albuquerque and they just throw their hands up,” Neal told the Journal.

Neal would also be a breath of fresh air on the City Council, succeeding City Councilor Louie Sanchez, who ran for mayor instead of seeking reelection to the City Council.

One city councilor told me if Neal and Peña were successful in their runoff campaigns, it could open the door to current city councilors Dan Champine or Renee Grout ascending to council president, although that seems like a longshot.

As two-time former City Council president Pat Davis explained to me last week, the council president wields important powers, including making committee appointments and deciding which committees will consider bills.

“Committees and waiting on the mayor to die so you can be mayor are the two big jobs,” Davis quipped.

Baca is a smart guy. He received a master of studies in law from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 2020, a master of arts from California State University in 2007, and a bachelor of science from UNM in 2005. Before being elected to the City Council in 2023, he was a elected board member of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District. A hydrologist by trade, he’s also a dedicated public servant, and he’s moderate enough for me.

One point on which Baca, who represents Downtown-based District 2, and I totally agree is that the city cannot and must not give up on its Downtown.

I encourage voters to back Garcia and Neal in the runoffs, so that Baca becomes the next City Council president when he throws his Kangol in the ring in January.