Here's who we know is running for Pueblo City Council in 2023

Pueblo's municipal election is still more than seven months away, but several candidates have already filed to run for city council with the city clerk’s office.

Here’s who we know is running for the three Pueblo City Council seats that will be on November ballots as of March 14: one at-large representative, District 2 and District 4. All of the candidates who have filed have previously been on Pueblo ballots.

At large: Brandon Martin

Brandon Martin, 28, is seeking to run for city council again. Martin attracted a crowd of local politicos from across the political spectrum when he announced his plans to run at Walter’s Brewery earlier this month.

“Pueblo is not just a city: it's a community we all are proud to call home. However, we have witnessed a decline in our community sense of pride and identity. Our crime rates are rising, local businesses are struggling. And our streets are filled with bitter and abandoned buildings,” Martin said, adding that there needs to be more investment into infrastructure and educational partnerships for job training.

He told the Chieftain that just 10 people — mostly friends and family — came to his first launch event, so he acknowledged the growth he’s made in connecting with community leaders.

Martin ran for the District 4 seat in 2021, finishing second.

He said he wants to potentially team up with nonprofits during the campaign process to split campaign donations to “help the community now."

“We're also on our way towards significant population growth and yet we lacked the current infrastructure to take care of our residents now. Now's the time for us to come together as a community and collaborate to come up with solutions,” Martin said.

Who else is running for the at-large seat?

Former at-large city councilor Mark Aliff has filed with the city clerk’s office to run again, but he told the Chieftain in a text message he is still deciding whether to run.

Aliff, an incumbent councilor in 2021, was defeated in that year's election.

Current incumbent Lori Winner has not yet filed paperwork with the city clerk’s office. She has previously said that she will not run again for council if the city’s current governmental structure with a mayoral office continues to be the status quo. Winner has been involved with a group of people collecting petitions to ask voters to revert to the city’s former structure of government with a city manager.

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Elvis Martinez, a consistent commenter at city council meetings who ran for District 1 council representative in 2021, told the Chieftain he is planning on running but has not yet filed paperwork.

District 2: Steven Rodriguez

In District 2, which includes the East Side, Councilor Larry Atencio has served two consecutive terms and is ineligible to run for another.

So far, Steven Rodriguez is the only person who has filed to run for the District 2 seat.

Rodriguez is a lifelong Pueblo resident and has served on a variety of community boards. He said that his experience helped him learn about Pueblo’s needs and the bureaucratic systems of how things work.

He decided to run for city council because of the current direction of the city, but he didn’t think that any local leaders were to blame. He wants to be a “strong voice” for the East Side.

“I want to build upon what (city leaders) are doing, (but) the legislature over the past few years has caused chaos in our state and in our city,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez previously ran for city council in 2009 and in 2010 was the Republican candidate in House District 46 against Sal Pace. Rodriguez said he was previously the spokesman for a national group of Hispanic conservatives called Somos Republicans.

He will do some fundraising but wants to focus his efforts on door-knocking in his district and organizing community events featuring municipal leadership to educate more people on how the city works.

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District 4: Vicente Martinez Ortega

Current city councilor Vicente Martinez Ortega is the only sitting councilor who has currently filed to run for re-election. Martinez Ortega was first elected to the seat representing the Bessemer neighborhood in November 2021.

Martinez Ortega recently told the Chieftain that he wants to run again because he “still has a passion for representing people.”

“Everybody has similar issues that all relate to poverty,” Martinez Ortega said. “I just feel like I'm really able to tune into many of the needs of the district — I just want to help. I don't think two years is enough time to get anything done.”

Martinez Ortega has already started on his plan to knock on every door in his district. He said that people often are surprised that their city councilor is talking to them.

He has been holding quarterly town halls and touted his efforts last summer to encourage the mayor to place extra trash receptacles in the neighborhood around the state fairgrounds.

Martinez Ortega doesn’t participate in the pledge of allegiance before the city council meetings. He explained that it’s “a personal thing” and that he stands for the national anthem, but he doesn’t want to participate in the pledge of allegiance until “there’s justice for all.”

Anna Lynn Winfrey covers politics for the Pueblo Chieftain. She can be reached at awinfrey@gannett.com or on Twitter, @annalynnfrey.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Here's who we know is running for Pueblo City Council in 2023