Zamora, Cassutt lead race for funding in City Council election

Carina Julig, The Santa Fe New Mexican
·2 min read

Sep. 12—Privately funded candidates already have outraised their publicly funded counterparts in most Santa Fe City Council races, according to their first set of campaign finance reports.

Geno Zamora, an attorney running for a District 1 seat, and District 4 City Councilor Jamie Cassutt, who is seeking reelection, have so far raised the most money by a wide margin, according to the reports, which were filed Friday and published Monday evening on the city clerk's website.

Zamora has far outstripped the other three candidates in the District 1 race with almost $52,000 in contributions, about $19,000 of which has been spent. Candidates Brian Gutierrez and Alma Castro are both relying on $15,000 in public funding. Castro has spent about $5,000 so far on her campaign, and Gutierrez almost nothing. The fourth candidate, Kathy Rivera, has raised $1,025 and spent nothing, her report shows.

Cassutt has raised $39,474 and spent just a little over $1,800, while her competitor, Joel Nava, reported only a $52 contribution from himself.

In District 2, challenger Phil Lucero outraised incumbent Michael Garcia, who is relying on public funding. Lucero has raised $27,500 so far, about $7,000 of which has been spent. Garcia has used about $5,500 of his funding.

In District 3, candidate Louis Carlos is relying on public funding and has spent $3,000. Rival candidate Pilar Faulkner had raised about $12,000 by the filing deadline and had yet to spend any of it, her finance report shows. Another initial candidate, Eric Morelli, announced last week he was dropping out of the race. He cited insufficient funding to run a strong campaign.

Chad Chittum, the only candidate running for municipal judge, has slightly over $2,000 in contributions, almost all of which come from himself and his wife.

United for Affordable Housing — a political action committee created in support of the proposed 3% tax on sales of homes over $1 million to support affordable housing initiatives, which will be on city voters' ballots this fall — has raised about $5,500.

The next campaign finance statements are due Oct. 10, 30 days before the election.

This is a developing story and will be updated.