{"id":47870,"date":"2025-09-12T13:45:44","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T20:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/?p=47870"},"modified":"2025-09-12T13:45:46","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T20:45:46","slug":"how-were-covering-crowded-fields-in-mayoral-races","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/how-were-covering-crowded-fields-in-mayoral-races\/","title":{"rendered":"How We\u2019re Covering Crowded Fields in Mayoral Races"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Many of you have likely noticed that New Mexico in Focus is no longer in the debate-hosting game when election season comes around. The lockdowns accompanying the COVID-19 pandemic largely drove this shift in the beginning, but it\u2019s evolved into a more intentional choice in the last few years.\u00a0

While we aren\u2019t ruling out debates in the future, we feel like the election-coverage model we\u2019ve settled into \u2014 in-depth, one-on-one candidate interviews \u2014 provides a more complete service to our audience. That\u2019s because debates have essentially become, in our estimation, joint news conferences. And no one needs more of those.\u00a0

Instead, how about a well-prepared interviewer interrogating a candidate\u2019s platform and policy plans, fully empowered to respond, push back, dig deeper when warranted? That\u2019s what we\u2019re aiming for \u2014 and that\u2019s what we hope you\u2019ll find as we continue our coverage of the crowded Albuquerque and Santa Fe mayoral contests this year.\u00a0

You\u2019ll see the first of these conversations in this week\u2019s episode, when Host Nash Jones sits down separately with the two most progressive candidates vying for the Albuquerque mayor\u2019s office: incumbent Tim Keller, who is seeking an unprecedented third consecutive term, and Alexander Uballez, former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico. Those of you watching on television will see about 15 minutes from each of those interviews. Check out our YouTube<\/a> page for the full dives, which both stretched beyond half an hour.\u00a0

We plan to do something similar with two more Albuquerque mayoral challengers, Mayling Armijo and City Councilor Louie Sanchez, in next week\u2019s episode. (One quick note: Darren White, a former Bernalillo County sheriff and the race\u2019s most prominent conservative, declined our interview request<\/a> without citing a reason.)\u00a0

The Albuquerque race also includes two other candidates: Daniel Chavez and Eddie Varela. We featured them last week, but in a shorter format<\/a>. We did something similar this week, sending reporter Cailley Chella to Santa Fe<\/a> for interviews with three of the lesser-known candidates in the race for mayor in the City Different. You\u2019ll hear from as many of the remaining five candidates in the Santa Fe contest as we can wrangle in the coming weeks.\u00a0

With such crowded fields, we had to make some decisions about which candidates got the lengthier, in-studio treatment vs those Cailley spoke more briefly with in the field. Here\u2019s how we did that: We factored in fundraising<\/a> \u2014 excluding any contributions candidates made to themselves \u2014 along with ballot petition signatures<\/a> to identify\u00a0the candidates with the most and least support among voters.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As always, we welcome your feedback on how we\u2019re covering elections these days. Do you like the interviews? Want us to bring back debates? Have questions about how we ranked\/prioritized the candidates? Send me a note at JProctor@nmpbs.org<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0

-Jeff Proctor, Executive Producer<\/p>\n\n\n

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