Election 2023: The candidates, the turnout and where to vote in Albuquerque City Council District 6 runoff

Alaina Mencinger, Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
·2 min read

Dec. 11—From 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, District 6 voters will have the chance to decide their future city councilor.

While the District 2, 4 and 8 races have been decided, one seat remains a question mark. Candidates Jeff Hoehn, the executive director of nonprofit Cuidando Los Niños, and Nichole Rogers, a former city employee and business consultant, face off against each other in Tuesday's runoff election to replace Pat Davis. Both are Democrats.

District 6 encompasses Nob Hill, the International District and the University of New Mexico.

As early and absentee voting wraps up, just 8% of the more than 30,000 voters in the district have cast their votes. In the Nov. 7 general local election, 22% of District 6 voters turned out — greater than the total voter turnout for Albuquerque.

Hoehn and Rogers, garnering 32% and 40% of the vote, respectively, pulled away from fellow candidates Kristin Greene and Abel Otero, who split the remaining portion of the vote in November.

The runoff election campaign has been fierce, as Measure Finance Committees — political committees, groups or individuals pushing for particular candidates — for both Hoehn and Rogers have been on the attack.

Rogers is supported by several committees, including the Albuquerque Fire PAC, which funds candidates who advocate for policies supporting firefighters; the Sierra Club; and Real New Mexican Leadership, which funded a mailer that cited reports of sexual harassment and discrimination by the National Association of Realtors, one of Hoehn's donors.

"With friends like these, we can't count on Jeff Hoehn to stand with us," the mailer read.

HelpABQ, the MFC supporting Hoehn, in turn, labeled Rogers "unserious, inexperienced," and "wrong for ABQ," in an ad, saying she is endorsed by the "most extreme groups." Hoehn later disavowed the "negative messaging" which he said occurred without his authorization.

"I reject HelpABQ's message that organizations like Planned Parenthood or the Sierra Club are extremist groups," Hoehn wrote in a letter to voters.

Hoehn is privately financed; Rogers is publicly financed. Hoehn has raised $43,075 and spent $37,870. Rogers has a spending limit of $40,000, plus a $20,000 bonus for the runoff. She's spent $41,034.