Aliff and Latino elected to Pueblo City Council; incumbent Martinez Ortega loses to Gomez

Pueblo voters in city council races elected to bring back a former city councilman, voted out an incumbent and appointed a pair of longtime Puebloans, according to unofficial results from the Pueblo County Clerk’s office.

Mark Aliff, Joe Latino and Roger Gomez secured seats on city council. Each led their respective races as of Wednesday morning. Though the clerk’s office still has some ballots to count, it’s projected that there aren’t enough ballots remaining for other candidates to erase their deficits.

Aliff will take an at-large seat and replace Lori Winner, who didn’t seek reelection. Latino, a Pueblo native, is the successor to Larry Atencio for District 2 and Gomez will replace Vicente Martinez Ortega, who lost his bid for a second term in the District 4 seat.

Here’s how candidates in each city council race fared.

What happened in District 4?

Martinez Ortega had overwhelming support during his bid for the District 4 seat in 2021 and portrayed himself as a staunch supporter for residents in the district over the past few years. Those two factors made it seem like he had a strong chance to win a second term.

But Gomez as of Wednesday morning had an immense lead with 58% of the vote to Martinez Ortega’s 41%. Nearly 3,000 people had voted for Gomez while just more than 2,100 did so for Martinez Ortega.

Martinez Ortega did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Gomez told the Chieftain he felt his “experience and resume” helped him capture the District 4 seat. He has lived in Pueblo for 44 years and has spent 16 of them living in District 4. He owned the Steel City Dogs restaurant before it closed.

“I believe, honestly, that we can fix Pueblo’s (problems),” Gomez said. “I really believe that.”

Martinez Ortega at times during his tenure on city council mentioned his desire to look out for District 4 residents and vote for ordinances that he felt would benefit them. He’s been vocal about his desire to reform the criminal justice system and bring more social programs to Pueblo.

He led a protest of the new county jail, which he felt would disproportionately impact Pueblo’s Hispanic residents.

Martinez Ortega told the Chieftain in March that he wanted to run again because he still felt passionate about representing District 4 and felt he could “tune into many needs of the district.”

Before he joined city council, Martinez Ortega already had some critics after he damaged a portion of the wall surrounding Pueblo’s statue of Christopher Columbus.

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Some residents, including Gomez, later became perturbed by Martinez Ortega's decision not to participate in the pledge of allegiance before city council meetings. Martinez Ortega said in March that he stands for the national anthem but won’t for the pledge until “there’s justice for all.”

Martinez Ortega didn’t attend last month’s municipal debates, but it’s unclear if that decision swayed District 4 voters in this year’s election.

Gomez said he felt that Martinez Ortega’s decision to not stand for the pledge and vote to help fund Southern Colorado Harm Reduction Association’s planned wellness center in Bessemer hurt him among District 4 voters.

“This is a very, very, very patriotic city and I think that just came out in the selection,” Gomez said.

Aliff defeats two other candidates to return to dais

Aliff was first elected to city council in 2017 and sought reelection in 2021 but lost to Heather Graham and Dennis Flores.

His bid Tuesday to return to the dais was successful, as he had 42% of the vote, according to the latest unofficial results. Brandon Martin and Elvis Martinez, both of whom were in their second bids to join council, finished second and third, respectively.

Aliff did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

A registered Republican, Aliff at last month’s debates pledged to serve collaboratively while in the nonpartisan position. In his candidate questionnaire, he wrote that he wants to be a leader that “legislates by example,” communicates with his colleagues and is willing to compromise “for the greater good” of Pueblo.

Aliff also wrote in the questionnaire that some of his focus on council would go toward public safety, Pueblo’s youth and keeping the city clean through a residential trash service.

Aliff was Forging Pueblo’s pick for the at-large seat.

More: Complete local election results

Martinez, who knew he wanted to run again moments after his first bid, did not say whether he would launch a third run for a city council seat but admitted that it was "a bit shocking” to see the race’s results. He said he felt “pretty good” about his campaign and that he had more support this time around through donations.

Martinez plans to continue to attend city council meetings.

“Never say never and expect the unexpected,” Martinez said of his future plans.

Martin expressed congratulations to Aliff during an interview with the Chieftain and said he was “disappointed” with the results but grateful for his team that ran an “excellent campaign.”

“I still love Pueblo and my community. None of that changes,” Martin said. “I just look forward to hopefully moving Pueblo forward in the future in a positive way.”

Martin said he plans to stay active in Pueblo’s community but has no “political ambitions” at this time.

Latino pledges to 'work hard' for East Side and 'all of Pueblo'

Latino was overcome with emotion after he saw initial results in the District 2 race that showed he led by at least 10 points in the race. He tearfully addressed his campaign team and supporters thereafter, thanking them for their help in achieving a goal he'd sought to accomplish for years.

Latino maintained his lead as of Wednesday morning with 34% of the vote. Tom Carrigan was second at 24% and Pete Madrid and Sam Hernandez took third and fourth, respectively.

“I will work hard and try to do good things in this community,” Latino told the Chieftain on Tuesday. “Because of my background and experience and things that I’ve done, I think I can be a real help.

“The good Lord has blessed me and I’m very grateful, thankful and humbled about this whole thing… I will work hard for not only the East Side, but for the city and county of Pueblo.”

Latino on Tuesday discussed his aspiration to help Pueblo’s youth and mitigate the city’s crime.

Madrid said his campaign run was “eye opening” and that it was “amazing” to see how much support it received.

Hernandez conceded in a Facebook post Wednesday morning and thanked those who voted for him. It was his first bid for city council and might not be his last. He pledged Tuesday night to remain active in “Pueblo politics” and suggested Wednesday that he could run for another elected position in the future.

Chieftain reporter Josue Perez can be reached at JHPerez@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @josuepwrites. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo city council 2023 election results