Withdrawal leaves one hopeful seeking District 3 council seat

Path all but clear for Boys & Girls Clubs leader Abeyta to represent city’s south side

One of the two remaining City Council candidates for an open southwest-side seat has called off his run, clearing the path for a former Santa Fe County manager in the March municipal elections.

Jim Williamson, an accountant, said Wednesday he had dropped his bid to replace three-term Councilor Carmichael Dominguez, who will not seek re-election in March.

Williamson’s move leaves Roman “Tiger” Abeyta, the head of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Fe and a former county manager, as the only candidate to succeed Dominguez in District 3.

A third District 3 hopeful, Lawrence Trujillo, a former administrator in the District Attorney’s Office, told the City Clerk’s Office he had abandoned his candidacy last month; the clerk said Trujillo, 60, did not state his reason.

Williamson, 42, said he had realized he wouldn’t have time to raise two sons as a single father, plus work and serve as a councilor. He briefly was a member of the controversial “back-to-basics” advocacy group Santa Fe Power but cut ties with it after group members shared racist imagery on social media.

“With the boys, it’s a tough one,” Williamson said of time commitments.

Four of eight council seats will appear on the ballot March 6. At least three, with no incumbent, will be filled by fresh faces.

If Abeyta collected enough valid voter signatures, to be determined by the City Clerk’s Office after nominating petitions are filed next week, he will all but clinch a spot on the council dais.

To qualify for the ballot, a council candidate must collect signatures from at least one half of 1 percent of the registered voters in the district he or she hopes to represent.

Abeyta said Wednesday he had 130 signatures by the Oct. 31 deadline, roughly 100 more than the minimum he would need.

Informed of Williamson’s decision, Abeyta said he would keep knocking on doors all the same.

“I still need to talk to a lot of people in my district,” Abeyta, 44, said. “I think that’s what democracy is all about: Having direct access not only to your constituents but constituents having direct access to you.”

The far southwest-side District 3, which covers most of Airport Road and stretches down to where city limits reach Interstate 25, has had the lowest turnout of the four council districts in recent elections.

Abeyta said “part of his push” will be to encourage residents to vote in March, even if he ends up running unopposed.

“We are going to have a say in who our next mayor is,” said Abeyta, who had a short-lived mayoral candidacy in 2014. “It is important in District 3 that we have a strong showing. I think that is part of the problem — I think candidates for the mayor’s office might feel like they don’t really need to pay attention to District 3.”