Veteran incumbent faces newcomer in District 2
Runoff needed because none of original 6 candidates won at least 50% of the vote
It’s take two for District 2. After a crowded — and sometimes ugly — race to represent Albuquerque’s most historic neighborhoods on the City Council failed to yield a winner in the Nov. 5 election, Isaac Benton and Zack Quintero are competing in a Dec. 10 runoff.
While Benton and Quintero are both progressive Democrats who espouse many of the same values, they are each keen to pitch this as a battle between a council veteran and a young newcomer.
Benton, the 68-year-old incumbent, is banking on his experience. The retired architect has spent 14 years on the council and highlights his legislative efforts to fund affordable housing, promote walkability and ensure preservation of historic properties such as the
Rail Yards.
He says he understands the area he represents.
“I’ve lived in our district for 43 years,” said Benton, who grew up in Puerto Rico but came to New Mexico in his 20s with the AmeriCorps VISTA program. “(Quintero’s) lived here for three years.”
Quintero, meanwhile, is campaigning on the promise of change. A 29-year-old legal analyst who moved to the district in 2015, Quintero has touted his plans to link more local graduates to jobs, better use of data to combat crime and homelessness and work to improve outcomes for minority communities.
“I wouldn’t be running if we were on the right path for homelessness, environmental health and keeping graduates here, but we’re not,” said Quintero, who grew up in Mesilla and recently graduated from the University of New Mexico School of Law.
Attack ads
The head-to-head matchup continues a bruising campaign season for the district, which includes Downtown, Old Town and parts of the North Valley.
Six candidates ran for the job — and four demonstrated enough community support to get public financing.
But winning the seat requires at least 50% of the vote, something no candidate achieved on Nov. 5.
That triggered a runoff between the top two finishers: Benton, who got 42% of the vote; and Quintero, who received 21%.
Despite the size of the initial field, Benton and Quintero have long attracted the most attention in the race, with political action committees flooding the mailboxes with negative campaign advertisements targeting the two.
The Progressive ABQ committee sent a series of mailers questioning Quintero’s resumé. That includes one that Quintero condemned as racist because it photoshopped his face on the body of a heavily tattooed chef. Committee Chairwoman Stephanie Maez has denied the ad was racially motivated.
“Never have I seen an attack ad like that leveled against Councilor Benton,” Quintero said of the ad.
But Benton was also pilloried. The ABQ United for District 2 committee blasted the incumbent for his support of Albuquerque Rapid Transit, attempting to link its approval to increasing crime the city had a few years ago.
Both candidates are publicly financed and say they were not involved in the committee spending in the race. Benton said he dislikes political action committees but attributed their activism to interest in the city’s center.
“I think it’s … the critical nature of District 2; there’s no district like this in the city,” Benton said. “I think a lot of people care about it, and they want to weigh in more than with just their vote.”
On the issues
Benton and Quintero have many ideological similarities.
Both support mandatory paid leave for workers in the city and say they like the Bernalillo County ordinance as it was originally passed.
When it comes to homelessness, the candidates say the city should consider creating several smaller shelters instead of the centralized 300-bed shelter envisioned by Mayor Tim Keller’s administration but opposed by some District 2 residents worried it will be built in their neighborhood.
On the issue of gun violence, Benton recently cosponsored legislation that would ban firearms in cityowned facilities. Quintero said he supports the idea.
Although the candidates share many values, they have different approaches.
For example, Benton has identified the ongoing Rail Yards redevelopment as one of the city’s greatest economic opportunities, both for large-scale projects — such as Central New Mexico Community College’s proposed film center — but also on a micro level, pointing to the local businesses that have grown out of the existing Rail Yards Market as promising.
Quintero is promoting the idea of a local jobs pipeline, saying simple coordination among the city, New Mexico universities, the chambers of commerce and the business community could help put new graduates into area jobs.
Albuquerque Rapid Transit has become a central issue in the campaign, with Quintero questioning how city leaders allowed it to advance, saying the city failed to “do some basic things” like ensure the quality of the buses originally purchased (and eventually replaced) and get adequate public feedback.
“Truly, we missed the mark on a major public works project,” he said.
But Benton argues that the council had limited authority for the project spearheaded by former Mayor Richard Berry.
“Did we have the power as a council … to somehow stop the mayor’s progress on the project? I don’t think we did,” said Benton, who voted with the majority of the council in 2016 to accept federal funding for the project after he successfully proposed an amendment to adjust the design between the Rio Grande and Downtown for landscaping and wider sidewalks.
“What I proceeded to do was try to affect the design within my district, but I wasn’t in any position to do it citywide,” he said.