Episode 232: Albuquerque Mayor's Race Comes Down To The Wire With Darren White

Albuquerque stands at a crossroads—and the numbers don’t mince words. With crime and homelessness topping voter concerns and an incumbent polling under 30%, a runoff looks all but certain. We sit down with Darren White to parse the real levers of change: how to rebuild proactive policing, restore confidence in APD, and confront encampments with a plan that blends services and clear enforcement. No buzzwords, no techno-fixes-as-substitutes—just the tradeoffs, timelines, and leadership choices that move outcomes.

We get specific about what “day one” would look like on encampments, why recruitment can’t be outsourced to billboards or generic incentives, and how leadership culture—from the chief on down—sets the tone for response times, clearance rates, and community trust. The conversation also wades into the National Guard’s role as a force multiplier (and what deployment should and shouldn’t be), plus a candid reaction to the mayor’s latest ad and the claim that media coverage is the problem. On policy fault lines, we break down the sanctuary amendment that would have shared data with ICE on violent charges and trafficking, and why that vote became a litmus test for public safety priorities.

Campaign mechanics matter too. With a six-person field, limited public financing, and a low-information electorate weeks out, targeting is king: older voters, read mail, watch debates, and reward clarity. We talk debate criteria, who made the stage, and how one or two votes—on sanctuary policy or guaranteed basic income—can redraw the map in a tight race. If you’re weighing whether Albuquerque stays the course or resets on crime and homelessness, this conversation gives you the receipts, the stakes, and the likely paths to November.

If this helped you think sharper about Albuquerque’s future, tap follow, share with a friend who votes in the city, and leave a review telling us which policy would most improve your neighborhood. Your take might shape our next episode.

Website: https://www.nodoubtaboutitpodcast.com/
Twitter: @nodoubtpodcast
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NoDoubtAboutItPod/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markronchettinm/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_11 (00:08):
So I um I brought Mark an anniversary present.
Today's our anniversary.
I don't know if you know this.
Oh my gosh.
Happy anniversary.
Yeah, I mean, and who doesn'twant to spend their anniversary
with Darren White Mark?

SPEAKER_06 (00:17):
There's no question.

SPEAKER_11 (00:18):
I mean, there's no question about it.

SPEAKER_06 (00:19):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 (00:19):
You're welcome to happy anniversary of right here
and everybody.

SPEAKER_10 (00:23):
It is, it is.
We might get a round ofapplause.
I don't know if you can findthat on the scale.
Tell us how many years.
19.

SPEAKER_06 (00:29):
Wow, that's cool.
Oh my gosh.
I mean, it feels like uh justlike a yesterday.
Yesterday.
Yes, sorry.
Thanks.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 (00:40):
Here is my gift.
Okay.
How about that?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Uh Darren is here, uh, DarrenWhite, for those of you that
don't know, running forAlbuquerque mayor.
Yes.
Um, it's coming down to it.

SPEAKER_08 (00:50):
Three weeks away.
Uh is that crazy?

SPEAKER_11 (00:52):
Yeah, it feels like it's been fast.
I mean, maybe for me.

SPEAKER_08 (00:55):
And it does for me too.
It does.
I mean, yes, absolutely.
Now it'll probably slow downthese last three weeks a little
bit, but no, it's been very,very I mean, it's hard to
believe that here we are.
Um, you know, it's and but it'sstill somewhat of a low
information type election.

SPEAKER_06 (01:10):
Oh, there's no question.
I I think that part of it isthat, you know, you have the
what's happened was such a bigfield.
I think funds have been frozenup a little bit.
You've got some money.
There's a little bit of moneyand a few other candidates, and
then of course, Keller fixingthe system so that he gets
public financing.
Nobody else does.
So, what that really does is itlimits the the ability for most

(01:31):
candidates to get the word outthere.
You having been more well known,obviously that helps.

SPEAKER_08 (01:35):
It helps a lot.
Absolutely.
And if you say otherwise, I meanit's not my charming
personality, but maybe uh butno, it it absolutely helps.
And so um, you know, but thatdoesn't mean you keep your foot
on the throttle.
Three weeks to go, and you justkeep going hard.

SPEAKER_11 (01:50):
When does early voting start?

SPEAKER_08 (01:51):
Is it well kind of already has okay?
That's what I thought.
But it's only at the onelocation, okay, uh, which is at
uh 1500 Lomas.
Saturday, it opens up at all theearly voting locations.

SPEAKER_11 (02:02):
Okay, this Saturday.
Yep.
And we got a big debate.
We're gonna talk a little bitabout your upcoming debate,
which will be on K O E Ttomorrow night on Wednesday
night.
Um, and actually tonight, by thetime the people are watching
this.
Um, so that'll be kind ofinteresting that we can follow
that up right after with thisinterview so people can kind of
get a little more information.

SPEAKER_06 (02:18):
So um, well I I think I wonder, first of all,
where is the race at?
Where do you see this?
I mean, obviously, we have amayor uh in the city of
Albuquerque where most pollingshows, most people want someone
else.
It's been eight years.
You have skyrocketing crime andhomelessness, you have a lot of
different issues here, andplenty of people have said we
want somebody else.
However, you have a very largefield here, things are

(02:40):
fragmented.
So I'd love to know where do youthink this race is and what's
gonna turn this thing one way oranother?
And are we headed for a runoffno matter what?

SPEAKER_08 (02:49):
I don't think there's any question it's going
to a runoff.
I with six candidates, nobody'sgonna get 50% plus one.
Look, I mean, when the journalpoll came out a week and a half
ago, um, I woke up on Sundaymorning and I had a good
morning.
I don't think Keller had a goodmorning when he woke up because
he was at 29%.
Um, and that's disastrous for anincumbent, and especially an
incumbent who's been in officefor eight years.

(03:12):
Um, and so yeah, there's a bigchunk of undecided, uh, but I
liked where I'm positioned, astrong second place, and you
know, and that's what I've beensaying from the beginning is
that I want to get into a runoffwith him.
One-on-one, uh, put your recordup, and um, you know, and and
I'll I'll talk about what Ithink we should do uh, you know,

(03:33):
to correct where we're headed asa city because we're in trouble.
And and everybody realizes that.
And um, you know, Kellars, I hewants to talk about anything but
his record.
Right.
Uh we've been out doing theseforums now.
And so you you you pick up onwhat everybody's gonna say,
basically.
And uh, you know, the mayor hasjust said that um, you know, he

(03:55):
thinks that um we're making acomeback, and he believes that
he is the only one to usher usinto great times again.
And so I disagree with him,obviously.
Um, and but but I think whatelse is he gonna say?
Right.
That our city's in great shape.
Yeah, you know, you look at thatjournal poll, uh, which we're

(04:17):
gonna get into, and the the notjust is 29%, but all of the
other uh questions that wereasked were just disastrous for
him.
And so we're gonna keep pedal tothe metal, full throttle, uh, to
election day and work as hard aswe can get to be number one or
number two.

SPEAKER_11 (04:36):
Well, okay, so a lot of questions that come back,
like to me, for instance, on X.
So I'm pretty active on X fromtime to time.
And uh Okay.
All right.
Wow.
Yeah, Mark tells me to calm downon X.
That's all right though.
I I appreciate it.
I like it.
I I get out there occasionallyand I talk about things.
But the biggest thing thatpeople ask me all the time about
you is, you know, you sometimespeople say, Oh, you're you're

(05:00):
not a real conservative.
Uh what's you really gonna do tofix crime?
What's he really gonna do to fixthis or that?
I this is your opportunity.

SPEAKER_08 (05:08):
Yeah, I'm a I I am a conservative Republican, and I
have been for my adult life.
I mean, that's that's just who Iam.
Um, you know, I believe in a uhlimited government.
Um, I believe in fiscalconservative, I fiscally being
fiscally responsive.
I believe in all the things thatconservatives believe in.
And so uh I'll be very clearabout it.

(05:30):
What we need to do is um as itrelates to crime, first of all,
we're gonna get a new chief ofpolice.
That's uh it's we're gonna get anew chief of police.

SPEAKER_06 (05:41):
Yeah, we'd have to kick you off the show right now.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 (05:43):
If the answer is if there was even if I was like
waffling on that.
But it's not, it's not justgetting a new chief, it's
getting somebody into that jobthat recognizes they've got a
hell of a lot of work to do.
Uh, I want them to be strong,but I also want that person to
be inspirational.
I want it to be somebody thatthe officers can be proud of,

(06:04):
but the public as well.
And I think that's kind of beenmissing.
I'm also sensing as I've beenout there, and this is um it's
upsetting and it's alarming.
People are losing confidence,not just in the chief and his
staff, they're losing confidencein the police department as a
whole because they'refrustrated.
You know, they're they'recalling uh because things are

(06:26):
happening, and you know, theythey either show up uh uh hours
later or they don't show up atall.

SPEAKER_10 (06:33):
Right.

SPEAKER_08 (06:33):
And so what we need to do is get a chief in place.
Uh, and then what I'm gonna askthem to do is get back to the
basics, which is proactivepolicing.
Uh, the mayor is very clearsince he doesn't even talk about
hiring 11, 1200 cops like yousay.
He doesn't even talk about itanymore.
What he talks about when he sayswe're gonna fight crime is two
things.

(06:53):
He says we're gonna invest intechnology and civilians.
And yeah, that's a headscratcher.
It's cops that are gonna makeyou boots on the ground,
officers out there every singleday, uh working hard to make our
streets safe.
That's what's gonna uh help usbecome safer, uh, our
communities uh with a betterquality of life.

(07:14):
And so get out there and dotraffic stops.
Speed cameras do not do anythingexcept print money.
Um and gosh, they 50% of peopledon't even pay those.

SPEAKER_06 (07:27):
Well, can I ask you something real quick on this?
Because this is where you have avery unique lane in this
particular race, and that is youare going to have to be the face
of recruitment when it comes toAPD, because they're gonna have
to know that the person runningthe show has been on the street,
understands what they're goingthrough, and will back them to
the hilt when it's time to startrecruiting.

(07:49):
I think what's been devastatingin this state and in this
country is when you have the jobof policing that has been
demonized the way it has, it'screated a recruiting crisis
here.
And so to me, it seems that youwould be the guy to be able to
pull us out of that crisissimply because these guys are
going to be able to identifywith you and you've got to be
the front man when it comes torecruitment.

(08:10):
Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_08 (08:11):
And what you do is you try to solicit people that
want to come join you and maketheir city safer.
And you know, I I know it'sprobably and shouldn't say that
right now, but uh crimefighters, people that want to
get in there and roll up theirsleeves and become part of the
Albuquerque Police Department,part of a team that's committed

(08:34):
to making our streets safer.
I think um people are veryconcerned.
They, the DOJ, there's a lot ofreasons why people have not uh
signed up for the policedepartment.
Um and but those are you can'tuse those as excuses.
I think when we go out there andwe say, be a part of something
better, help us make our citysafer um and fight crime.

(08:57):
I I mean really fight crime.
And so that will be my message.
And I think we can we can reachpeople, we can talk to them, and
and I think we can attractpeople uh to become part of this
effort uh because Albuquerque isworth fighting for.

SPEAKER_06 (09:14):
Well, and can I ask one other thing?
I think it's kind of aninteresting uh situation here,
and I do think that sinceTrump's election, I think the
way things are spoken about andthe way certain things that are
just patently true and everybodyknows it, you're talking about
the crime in Albuquerque,homelessness and everybody knows
it.
You go driving along San Mateonow and you say, this is not the

(09:36):
same city that that I, you know,came to in my early 20s.
For example, we were just notthe same city anymore.
That's right.
Right.
And so we're seeing these thingssaying, my gosh, we can do
better than this.
Everybody knows we can do betterthan this.
But if you notice that there's acertain kind of twist in
language now that will allow youto be able to say, look, this is
the way it is, and let's justcall things out for what they

(09:59):
are.

SPEAKER_08 (09:59):
Well, too often we try to be touchy-feely, right?
And um, we've got a crimeproblem.
And so we want to attract peopleinto this profession that are
committed to doing just that.
And so, yeah, for some people,it'd be like, you know, aren't
we supposed to be kinder andgentler?
Sure.
But you can also still have thatcommitment, that fire to go out

(10:22):
there and fight crime on ourstreets and make them safer and
turn our city around.
And that's the message thatwe're gonna convey.
And I think we will get somepeople who are like very
concerned, like, what's going onwith the police department?
What are all the I think we canreach them, and I'm prepared to
do that.

SPEAKER_11 (10:39):
What do you think that what do you think is
missing right now with thepolice department?
Like, why is the response solow?
Is it just you think it's justmerely numbers?
We have low numbers, we don'thave enough police officers to
respond to everything.
Do you think they're being toldmaybe more hands-off on things?
I mean, what's your like theculture?

SPEAKER_08 (10:54):
The culture.
I think it also, again, as Italk about that chief that I
want to hire, a chief that theofficers can be proud of.
Um, I think we are we're lackingin that right now.
Uh I think uh considerably.
And so um, yeah, I mean, it'sit's it's yeah, it's difficult
around the country.

(11:14):
Agencies are having troubleattracting people.
And you know, we just can't say,well, it's COVID and it's DOJ.
Um, sure, those are contributingfactors.
It was, um, but maybe we'remissing people out there.
Back when I got involved uh inlaw enforcement, a very long

(11:35):
time ago, I might add, um, youwould you would do we love the
job so much we would do it forfree.
Uh, that's how much we wantedpolice officers.
Those are the people I want tospeak to.
I I want to, I want to attractpeople into this profession that
would be willing to give up apaycheck.
We're not gonna ask them to, butthey would be willing to go out
there and join us in this effortto turn our city around.

(11:58):
And if you're not committed tothat and you're just looking to
punch a clock from nine to five,don't bother.
Wrong job.
Not wrong job.

SPEAKER_11 (12:05):
What what are your?
I mean, I don't even know thelatest standings on this
national um deploy, like thisdeployment by the governor to
have the National Guard here tohelp support the police officers
in Albuquerque.
I don't even know if that'sstill going on right now or not.
Okay.
It is, yes.
And what are your thoughts onthat?
I'm just curious.
Do you think that was a goodcall?
Do you support that?

SPEAKER_08 (12:23):
So I understand why she did it.
If you look at her emergency uhdeclaration, she said that the
crime problem is so bad inAlbuquerque that the police
department isn't equipped tohandle it.
It's a pretty damning statement.
If I'm the chief of police, I'mgonna and I see that in in a

(12:43):
governor's declaration, I'mgonna go, wow, that's not really
a good look for me now, is it?

SPEAKER_06 (12:48):
Well, and they had that exact issue because Medina
had to come out and say, Oh, Iwanted the help.
This was an absolute Bigfootmove by the governor going after
Kim Keller.
Make no mistake.
They didn't coordinate this atall.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 (13:01):
Well, it there it sure wasn't flowery language
that she put it in.
I mean, she she called it whatit is.
And so look, I understand whyshe did it.
I don't like the way they weredeployed.
I I'm a former uh, you know,82nd Airborne uh uh paratrooper,
and I, you know, the the thepolo shirts and the khakis and

(13:22):
the loafers, the National Guardis a force of fighting men.
They're not a temp service.
And that's what I say.
Look, let them be in theirvehicles, military vehicles.
I completely support uh pasecomatadas.
We do not need law enforcementofficers enforcing the law.
And but you can have them outthere and be the eyes and ears

(13:45):
and give them a police radio andsay, hey, there's knuckleheads,
you know.
Uh, I think we could use someofficers over here and and have
a presence in our community, butalso assist law enforcement.
Having them stand out at a atyou know, at a a car accident or
um, you know, a homicidestanding next to a tape, that

(14:07):
that is not what our that is notwhat our National Guard is all
about.

SPEAKER_06 (14:12):
And so I'm and you can look at the way they were
they were deployed in DC.
That's a pretty good example ofwhat you're talking about, which
is being more eyes and ears,being uh a connective force to
law enforcement, who you'retalking about.
Force multipliers.
Yes, absolutely, versus, youknow, clerical work, snelling
services shows up, and you'relike, hey, let's just have you
guys do a little bit of that.

SPEAKER_05 (14:34):
Look really good.

SPEAKER_06 (14:34):
So okay, so let's do this.
Let uh I want to I want to playfor you uh Tim Keller's first
ad.
It's gonna be his main ad forthe for the for the first round,
anyway, before we get to arunoff here.
So I want you to just listen tothis, and then we're gonna react
to to what he says in themessage uh he's trying to run up
the flagpole here.

SPEAKER_01 (14:54):
Pop quiz.
True or false?
Tim Keller created the nation'sfirst community safety
department with mental healthresponders, so police are freed
up to fight crime.
He created before and afterschool programs for 10,000
children, 2,500 affordablehousing units, and shelter with
addiction treatment for 1,000homeless.

(15:16):
He's also blocking ice if theydon't have a warrant.

SPEAKER_05 (15:18):
We're getting a lot more done than the news media is
telling you about.
Approved by Tim Keller.

SPEAKER_06 (15:24):
Okay, uh quick thing on that.
Uh, you may have seen uh ournote there.
It it was our anniversary.
Ava just wrote uh happyanniversary to us uh during the
Tim Keller ad.
So that's the best thing I sawin that Tim Keller ad.
But let's go ahead.

SPEAKER_08 (15:37):
Dare, first of all, you're a little weird, a little
bizarre.
He just stands there with hishead bopping back and forth,
doesn't say a word, you know,staring at a young girl.
But uh besides that, uh um yeah,I don't get it.
I I I'm you know, and at thevery end, you know, that this
whole thing like the media isresponsible for the public

(15:59):
saying you're doing a horriblejob.

SPEAKER_05 (16:01):
This guy's on TV every day.
Right.

SPEAKER_06 (16:04):
And I would argue the media's been incredibly soft
to him.

SPEAKER_05 (16:08):
Oh, go read the journal.
You'd still think he's doing anincredible job.
Exactly.

SPEAKER_08 (16:12):
And so for him to him to to say that this is the
media's, you know, they didthis, they created this
hostility towards me, bro.
I like calling it bro.
No, no, bro, bro.
You brought this upon yourself.
You decided that you would letcrime and homelessness go
unchecked.

(16:33):
And you know, when I say at himon the streets, you know, if you
fail to enforce the law, thelawless takeover.
That's exactly what's happenedhere.
And so it's on him, nobody else.
He's responsible for it.
And most importantly, if youdon't, you know, they're the
first ones to raise their handwhen something good happens.
Uh well, I guess what?

(16:54):
You get the good and the bad,and right now it's pretty bad
and it's pretty ugly.
And it's on you.

SPEAKER_11 (16:58):
What do you think about the the way he ends that
way saying he's you know, withthe whole ICE thing that he's
not gonna go after and he's notgonna support ICE unless they
have a warrant?
My understanding is that ICE,nine times out of ten, has the
warrants.
Well, they don't need warrants.
They don't need warrants.

SPEAKER_08 (17:11):
They don't need warrants, uh, first of all.
Um so look, Tim Keller wants totalk about anything other, and
he would loves talking aboutDonald Trump.
And last time I checked, DonaldTrump did not set up a tent city
anywhere on our streets.
He's not committing crimes.
What the hell are you talkingabout?
But again, it's this wholedeflection.

(17:31):
Let's talk about Washington,D.C.
And if we talk about thatenough, we won't talk about how
bad our streets are here in ourown city.
750 murders plus in less thaneight years under his watch.
Sure, I can understand why hewants to talk about Donald
Trump.
Homeless that have completelytaken over our streets to where
city employees are cleaning uphuman waste.

(17:53):
I get that he wants to talkabout anything other than that.

SPEAKER_06 (17:57):
So and when you and when you look at his approach to
homelessness, a lot of people,it's a let's get into
homelessness real quickly beforewe get to some polling data.
The homeless issue is a trickyone in the respect that it's not
easy to solve, and no one'ssaying it is, but if you create
an environment in which youbasically make it easy to be
homeless in your community, youwill not only get more homeless,

(18:17):
but you'll draw people in fromother communities that will come
running in here because they saythey'll let you do whatever you
want in Albuquerque.
And there are compassionate waysto deal with this, but there are
also firm ways to deal with italong with that compassion so
that you don't have the issueswe have.

SPEAKER_08 (18:33):
They will do anything except blame the
homeless for the problems thatwe have.
It was just a few weeks agowhere they announced that
apparently our bus stops weretoo big and too comfortable and
inviting.
And the homeless took them over.
So they got together with theirminds and the and they may came

(18:53):
up with a genius idea.
We'll replace them all for acost.
I don't know, they say it's ahalf million dollars, but you we
all know that it's a hell of alot more than they're replacing
all the bus stops and they'remaking them smaller and they've
got bars across them becausethey they they don't they don't
want the homeless camping in thebus stops.

(19:15):
What the hell are you thinking,man?
It's the homeless, not thefurniture.
They constantly will point atanything except the homeless.
When you look at first and I-40,it's disgusting.
It's a cesspool.
They have taken that over fromall the way to uh from I-40 all

(19:36):
the way up to prospect.
And the the businesses that livein that area, my God, what they
have to endure every single day.
How they've been able tosurvive, I don't know.
Uh the one we talked about it inone of the other shows, the guy,
the gentleman that uh he's rightat first in prospect, it's a
lawnmower service.
Uh one of the homeless guysstabbed him.

(19:56):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 (19:56):
And so even I we have good friends that own
buildings around town, right?
And they they've they've sharedkind of, they've said, you know,
oh, the city will do great atcoming and covering up gr
graffiti right away.
Okay, because that probably likereflects really quickly in some
negative light on an electionyear is kind of my guess.
But they they continue to throwrocks through their windows.
There's no more money to replacethese windows, right?

(20:19):
There's no security to come.
So they're paying for Xadditional security privately to
have to cover their ownbuildings.
And it's they they're cleaningup human waste every day, then
every morning, needles, thingsof that nature.
I mean, some of these buildingshave like kid programs going on
in them, for example.
Yes.
And they're surrounded by thishomeless, these homeless folks.

(20:39):
It doesn't seem to be gettingany better.
But yet you see Keller on the adsaying, I've invested all this
money in basically, I myunderstanding is the gateway
center, right?
So you have this gateway centerthat all the homeless are
supposed to go to, but yet wedon't require them to go there.
I have friends that volunteer atthe gateway and they say there's
empty beds.
And that's great.

SPEAKER_08 (20:56):
You know, I think hundreds of millions of dollars.
And what do we have to show forit?
But that's part of my plan, isthat we do have that
infrastructure.
Uh God only knows what we spent.
So on day one, day one, it willbe we will take the vans out and
we'll explain to them.
You can either get in that van,uh, or if you choose to stay

(21:19):
here where your little camp is,we're gonna cite you.
And then if you refuse to leave,we're gonna arrest you.
It's not rocket science.
We have laws on the books thatsays that say it is illegal to
camp on our streets, on oursidewalks, and in our parks.
And it's going to be enforced.
Part of what Mark was saying, wemake it too comfortable for
them.
And most of these people, theydon't want the services.

(21:42):
They want to be left to go outand do their panhandling and get
their drugs and their alcohol orwhatever it is and be left
alone.
Well, that is coming to an end.
And so, um, yeah, I and youknow, I I was told, oh my God,
Darren, that that's cruel.
You know what cruel is raisingyour family around that tent

(22:04):
city.
Heard a woman say that she hadto cover her kids' eyes uh
because they drove out to takeher kids to school and they were
Yeah, doing all kinds of things.

SPEAKER_11 (22:13):
Well, you know what's also cruel is it's
unbelievable.
Even her own daughter, by theway, even her own daughter, not
even in Tent City area, prettycommon.
Pretty common area, filling hertank up with gas, and you've got
homeless people literally havingsex on the street.

SPEAKER_06 (22:26):
Literally.
Well, yeah, and and not only Andthat's disgusting.
But not only that, don't make nomistake.
What they're doing with not onlyuh meth and not only Trank and
those things, this isn't this isa live suicide attempt.
That's what they're heading to,right?
It's death.
It ends in one thing, it'sprogressive, it's a disease, and
it ends with them dying on thestreet.

(22:47):
Yeah, so so tell me how that'scompassionate to watch them do
it.
And they are it isn't, it isn't.
What in there's no?

SPEAKER_08 (22:53):
I mean, there's so many videos of the you know,
it's called the bends where theyjust sit there and bend.
Yep.
Um, and that's everywhere.
And and you're right, because itthere's not a place in our city
that's immune from it.

SPEAKER_11 (23:02):
Yeah, it really isn't anymore.

SPEAKER_08 (23:04):
That's the biggest difference in the city from
where we used to be.
That's exactly it, because nowpeople see it and they're going,
what the hell?
What are we doing about it?
Nothing.
Right.
That's what we're doing.
Mayor Keller has told the policedepartment, hands off, we'll
take care of the homeless.
Well, you're not doing a dick.

SPEAKER_11 (23:19):
Well, I mean, honestly, like the the Marshalls
right down on the StraightAvenue told this to Mark.
The Marshalls, it's right nextto home um Hobby Lobby, right?
Very popular shopping area.
A homeless guy went in there andstarted a fire a couple of days
ago.
Just started fire.

SPEAKER_08 (23:33):
And it's still closed.

SPEAKER_11 (23:34):
It's still closed.
Yes.
Split some betting or somethingon fire.
Like was asked to leave by theemployees, and then went back
and started a fire.
So again, it's just like so itwas a fire sale.

SPEAKER_06 (23:42):
No, not really.
Here, just but look at this.
So, you guys, you're welcome.

SPEAKER_05 (23:45):
He did that.

SPEAKER_06 (23:46):
Yeah, he did that too.
He did.
All right, so here are thenumbers, though, by the way, to
your points, right?
On this, uh, the biggest issueof concern for the people in the
Albuquerque metro area rightnow.
53% said crime, 47%homelessness, drug, opioid
abuse, and then illegal drugs,and go down from there.
This isn't even these numbers,okay, are staggering.

(24:08):
You rarely get these type ofnumbers.
So I've never, I've neverwitnessed it.
It's unreal, right?
So, so as you see that and andyou know where we are as a city
here, you see what kind ofopportunity you have.
So your campaign has been laserfocused on this.
You guys are running a smartcampaign, there's no question.
But but but how are you limitedin this?
Because I what I see from thecampaign is it's done, it's done

(24:30):
very well here.
What what keeps you up at nightwhen you look at this thing?
Because it's not messaging.
Your messaging is there, it'svery tight.
Your messaging here on the showis tight.
So, so what what what concernsyou the most about this race?
Demographics.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 (24:44):
I mean, there's more of them than there are of us.
And I mean, there's um right nowthere's 46% Democrat, uh, 28%
Republican, 25% independent.
And so we have to be able toattract folks that aren't
normally accustomed from leavingtheir tribe because that's how
we we're tribal.

(25:05):
Um, but I can tell you from thepeople that I talk to, many of
them are fed up.
And they recognize we, you know,we can't keep electing the same
person and and and expect adifferent result.
It's it's not gonna happen.
It's gonna take it is insane.
And that, and if we do, I I willguarantee you, if he does get

(25:27):
re-elected, nothing will change.
Nothing will change.
He will see it as a referendumthat, hey, I mean, they they
love what I do.

SPEAKER_11 (25:35):
Well, I actually can think, I think, Darren, it could
actually get worse.
Because of what I the point Imade on the last show is that
the the two elected officialsthat we have in office are still
in office.
They were in office when Markran for governor.
Nothing's changed.
The governor's the same, themayor's the same.
What's changed is our crime ratehas skyrocketed.
Our violent uh, you know, ourviolent offenses have

(25:55):
skyrocketed, uh, which we talkedabout, the us now being number
one in the country per capita,which is lovely and top list to
be on.
And it's amazing to me that yousay, okay, well, if we keep
voting in the same people overand over, I think it gets worse,
Darren.
I don't even think it stays thesame.
I think what's what this hasshown us the last four years is
it's gotten worse.

SPEAKER_08 (26:15):
I agree.
I I don't disagree with that.
And you're right.
And the one thing I always addto that is that, you know, the
teens are uh, you know, they'rebecoming killers at a younger
age, and they're they're so muchmore vicious than they were.
And um, we need to address thatas well.
And again, where is thelegislature?
They have had an opportunity toaddress this multiple times

(26:37):
because they're hopeful becausethey don't believe it.
Right.
That's I mean, you have to sayto yourself, if you look at
what's happening around ourstate and especially in our
city, and you have anopportunity to do something
about it, and you ignore it, I Imean, my God, I mean, that is
such an arrogance because that'slike, hey, we've been in charge
forever.

SPEAKER_06 (26:58):
So we get to call the shots the way we see them.
And that that's our argumentwith the media, though, which is
that we do not have a mediastructure in this state that
goes to these people, whether itbe, you know, the trial lawyers
in the Senate or whether it bethe extremists in the New Mexico
House, and say, wait a minute,look at where we are, look at
what you have done.
You have been in unfetteredcontrol of the legislature for

(27:19):
80 years.
You you've largely been incontrol of pretty much every
lever of power in this state for10 years.

SPEAKER_08 (27:27):
Or at least where they can impact something.
Yes.

SPEAKER_06 (27:29):
And and so, and as you you look at that, and
there's absolutely noaccountability, and you have
people that get elected to thisoffice that have no business
serving in it.
And because you don't have anysort of counterbalance, because
you don't have a media thatsticks up for its own citizens,
I think that's been a huge deal.
And it's you've seen the decayof the media in general.
We've talked about the TVratings are are gone across this

(27:50):
state.
They're toast, the radio numbersare down.
I mean, these numbers across theboard and the journal's hanging
on by a thread.

SPEAKER_08 (27:57):
Right.
No, it it it's sooner or latersomething has to change.
And I also say that's you know,and and that's one of the
reasons I I'd like to get thejob because um I would hope that
people would believe me when Isay I I want this to end.
I only want to serve four years.
I've made that very, very clear.
I'm not looking to pad mypolitical resume, and Lord knows

(28:18):
that the mayor's job is not achicken tire job.
Get in, Jeff.
Yes.

SPEAKER_06 (28:25):
All right, so let's do this real quick.
I want to play your ad.
Okay.
First of all, because uh becauseit really does do a good job of
focusing the attention on onwhere it needs to be and what
the issues are.

SPEAKER_00 (28:36):
Tim Keller's record, over 750 homicides, homeless
tent cities, everywhere.
We need change now.
Republican Darren White formayor, veteran of the elite,
82nd airborne, two-term sheriff,tough on crime.

SPEAKER_08 (28:52):
Eight years of failure is enough.
No more sanctuary for criminals,and the tent encampments, they
come down on day one.
Darren White for mayor.
I'm Darren White, and I approvethis message because it's time
for a change.

SPEAKER_06 (29:04):
Paid for by Darren White for Mayor.
Okay, that probably took youguys 55 seconds to write.
Right?
I mean, it's that it's thatsimple.
It writes itself.

SPEAKER_08 (29:14):
It's the message, right.
I mean, uh you you listen to thepeople, right?
I mean, it's it's that simple,right?

SPEAKER_11 (29:20):
Right.
It's let's talk a little bit umbefore we get to this.
I know you were in the journaluh today, I believe, or Tuesday,
you were in the Profiles.
Yeah, some profiles.
So we're gonna talk about that,but really quickly, and then
we'll get into Sanctuary Citystuff.
But you you approach theSanctuary City policy in that
ad.
What's your take on SanctuaryCity and what what is your
what's your strategy when itcomes to that?

SPEAKER_08 (29:40):
If you are in this country illegally and you are
charged with a crime, yourinformation should be turned
over to ICE and allow them tomake a decision.
Not us, it's their decisionafter they place uh they put a
detainer on the person.
So basically what that says isthat once they've finished
serving their Sentence, thenthey will make a determination

(30:04):
on whether the person should bedeported or not.
And that's left up to them.
But our responsibility is towork with them by providing them
the data.
This is not controversial.
It's public safety.
We have enough criminals,criminals of our own.
We don't need more.
And so yes, of course, TimKeller is he's running around

(30:25):
telling everybody, oh my God,fear ice.
They've created a tip line sothat, you know, if you're
concerned that ice is in yourneighborhood, I mean, that is
just literally again, it's lookover here, please, because I
don't want you to look on thestreets.

SPEAKER_11 (30:39):
Well, and what do you think about that?
I'd be a tip line to me saying,hey, can I call to find out if
ICE officers are coming into myneighborhood?
I feel like that's putting lawenforcement in danger.

SPEAKER_08 (30:47):
Of course it is.
And you're shielding criminals.
Right.
Because that's who they're goingafter.
But um, yeah, I've I've I'vethat's been my stance forever.
It's it's never changed, is isthat if you're here illegally,
you're charged with a crime,your information gets turned
over to ICE.
And, you know, there's only acouple of us in this race that
believe that.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 (31:07):
Okay.
So this is the perfect timethen, I think, to transition
into a little bit of one of youropponents, I think, who's worth
talking about in this respect,because I I think he's one of
the guys that people talk about.
And I think he's one of the guysthat Republicans have thought
maybe we may be able to votefor.
And that's Louis Sanchez.
Okay.
And so I I want to get your takefirst of all on him.

(31:29):
And he's I think there's veryfew people who have a chance to
really uh make this a race.
And I think that uh, you know,you're you're the only person
that can do that in in ouropinion.
So Louis Sanchez, we talk aboutsanctuary cities.
Uh, I recall on this show, andwe're going to play the clip
here, uh, that when this votewent down, it happened on, I

(31:50):
believe the vote went down June3rd-ish, 2024.
June 3rd, 2024.
Okay, what was that vote andwhere did Louis Sanchez come
down on this?

SPEAKER_08 (31:59):
It was an amendment that was offered uh by City
Council.
Yes, and city council, offeredby, I believe, Brooke Basson and
Renee Grau.
It would have amended theSanctuary City policy to say if
the person is charged with aviolent crime, human
trafficking, or drugtrafficking, then that

(32:19):
information should be turnedover from APD to ICE.
Let me say that again.
A violent crime, humantrafficking, or drug
trafficking.
That's all that it said.

SPEAKER_06 (32:32):
Super, super targeted.

SPEAKER_08 (32:33):
It's very simple.

SPEAKER_06 (32:34):
Yep.

SPEAKER_08 (32:34):
Not hard to understand.
And it failed.
It failed um on a 5-4 vote.

SPEAKER_06 (32:41):
Well, it did, but but I'm gonna need to see the
video then.
I'm gonna need to see the videothere.

SPEAKER_11 (32:46):
Let's play the video.
So let's play the video.

SPEAKER_06 (32:48):
Yeah.
And then let's just uh see howthis went down and and who voted
for it.

SPEAKER_03 (32:53):
I just think that we need to really, really take a
deeper look at this in a wholedifferent way.
And again, I don't want to beinvolved in in a bill that
really, really serves to divideour community more than it is
right now.

SPEAKER_09 (33:14):
So by the way, yes means a repeal.

SPEAKER_06 (33:20):
It means you want to get rid of the sanctuary city,
basically.
For those three, yes.

SPEAKER_09 (33:24):
Counselor Papercorn, no counselor, yes, Counselor
Penny.
No, Counselor Rogers, no,Counselor Sanchez.

SPEAKER_06 (33:38):
No there it is.

SPEAKER_09 (33:40):
Counselor Lewis, yes.

SPEAKER_06 (33:42):
That Dan Lewis made it five four, but but but well,
Dan Lewis gave it four.
All five Democrats, all fiveDemocrats voted against it.
Yeah, now here's the interestingthing.
Um so wait, he had a chance toend sanctuary cities.
He was a deciding guy.
He could have done it.

SPEAKER_08 (33:57):
He was the guy that was five, but with a very narrow
strike zone, an important strikezone, but narrow, and he voted
against it.
Now, you heard him say that hedidn't want to divide us.
Um and that's that's left-wingtalking points.
But when he was called out onit, uh since we've been in these
forums, the first thing he saidis that the bill didn't include
um the the the language asotherwise required by law.

(34:20):
I don't even know what the hellthat means, but uh it doesn't I
was like, what?
When he first said it.
Then he changed by the nextforum, and he said that he
didn't want to give that thatbill gave all the power to the
mayor, and that's what he's beensaying.
But if you he doesn't mentionany of that when he voted,
because now he realizes, man, Iwished I wouldn't have done

(34:41):
that.
Um but you know what?
That's you know, when somebody'sa tells you who they are,
believe them.
And we go back to that.
Um, Louie is in Louis's not aconservative and he's not a
moderate, he votes very liberal,and this is one example of
several.

SPEAKER_06 (34:57):
Okay, so then that gets back to this show.
So when this happened, this wasjust after uh the primary
elections in 2024.
And so we had politicalconsultant Jay McCleskey, who
who helped in our campaign.
So we bring him in regularly.
Darren, I know that we bring inyou regularly, we bring in him
regularly.
So we have it have him on uh aday after the primaries, right?

(35:21):
And we talked about alldifferent sorts of primary
stuff, but this voted justhappened.
And so we were like, well, waita minute, what did you think of
this?
And so this has a little bit ofextra stuff in it because uh
there was the Luis Sanchez whoran for the congressional seat,
right?
And then there's the LuisSanchez who who you're running
against, right?
And so there's a little, so thiswas just after the Luis Sanchez

(35:43):
who ran for the congressionalseat lost.
And then this Luis Sanchez wentand voted to keep sanctuary
cities.
So we have this kind ofroundabout discussion about all
the different impacts of that.
And the name Luis Sanchez forboth of them could have kind of
messed everything up.
So at least for the Luis Sanchezwho ran congressionally.
So let's just listen to this.
But you can hear Jay say duringthis thing that this vote, this

(36:04):
very vote we just played foryou, where he decided to keep
sanctuary cities, was a vote hewould deeply regret if he were
to ever run for mayor.

SPEAKER_11 (36:12):
So why?
So what happened at council?

SPEAKER_06 (36:14):
Like what Luis Sanchez voted against it.
Yeah.
I mean, and he's the swing boat.
And so again, this is the LouisSanchez that's on the city
council.

SPEAKER_04 (36:22):
Now the Louis Sanchez that just ran for uh
which incidentally, that howmuch did that impact like
election day voting when youhave a Luis Sanchez cast a
deciding vote to keep SanctuaryCity alive, and then Luis
Sanchez running for Congressgets beat.
That's an interesting point.
Yeah, no, it's a very funny.

SPEAKER_11 (36:38):
I wonder if Louis Sanchez is thinking that today.

SPEAKER_06 (36:40):
Which Louis Sanchez is.

SPEAKER_11 (36:42):
The one that's wicking up today that isn't a
isn't a candidate in the right.

SPEAKER_06 (36:45):
Right.
Well, no, it's it's possible,but this this shows you though,
this shows you how tough this isbecause you have a vote here,
which I don't understand why hemade this vote.
I have no idea.

SPEAKER_04 (36:53):
It doesn't make any sense.
I think he if there are words hewent or people talking about him
wanting to run for mayor, thisthis is a terrible vote.
Like you're Keller now.

SPEAKER_06 (37:00):
Oh, yeah, you are you're Tim Keller.
And and you see all the all theissues that we have with crime,
and he has at times stood up forthat, and then now does this.
And really, again, what whatwe're asking for here is and
what this vote asked for byGrout and by Brooke Basson was
look, let them work together tokeep this safer.
There it is.

SPEAKER_08 (37:21):
Yeah.
Well, it speaks for itself, andthat's why I said it's um uh I
believe when he cast that vote,it's what he believed.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_11 (37:32):
And is he trying to change his tune now?
Is that what you're saying?
Oh, absolutely.
Like he's out there saying thatno, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_08 (37:37):
Oh, he well, he changes his uh excuse all the
time.
Because, excuse me, he's tryingto get he's trying, he thinks
people think that he's aconservative and that he'll be
able to pull Republicans.
And as I said, we highlighted afew of his votes, and you know,
this is one.
Yeah, I mean, he was thedeciding vote on Sanctuary City,
he was the deciding vote onguaranteed basic income, which

(38:00):
is a socialist uh handout.
Um, and that was only in Marchof this year that he did that.
And basically what that billdoes, it allows the city now
provide$750 a month in in cashpayments to a couple of hundred
families.
And one of the things that wasdiscussed during that city

(38:21):
council hearing on that bill forguaranteed basic income, uh, Dan
Lewis asked, uh, will this moneygo to illegal immigrants?
And the city basically said,Yeah, that we don't track that,
so yeah.
And he still voted for it.
I will say that that vote,guaranteed basic income, is one

(38:42):
of the most liberal left-wingprogressive votes that the
council has made in a long madein a long time.
And Louis was the deciding yesvote for it.

SPEAKER_06 (38:51):
Yeah.
Well, and and this is one of thecases we always make too, and uh
you talk about the governor'srace, and there are some
Republicans who are trying tosay, oh, Sam Bregman could be
could be a good option here.
And let me tell you somethingthe same thing applies to both
of these guys, which is if youare a true conservative, there
are conservatives in theseraces, Darren's one, where it's
like we don't have to compromiseand get some warmed over guy who

(39:13):
who you're hoping might votewith you a few times and not
make it make it less bad.
I mean, the reality of thesituation is this vote and the
sanctuary city vote, especially,you know, the UBI vote too, uh
these things are are are exactlythe kind of stuff that destroy
cities.
They just are.
And so there's an opportunityhere to to change this

(39:33):
trajectory.
There are other people in therace though, too.
And there's been some look,there's been some real
controversy here on what's goingon because of the debate uh at
channel seven today that that'sgoing down here.
And by the way, you can watch ituh Wednesday night on channel
seven, or you can just go ontheir website starting Wednesday
night.
You're gonna be able to see thethe debate.

(39:54):
But two people that will not bein that debate are May Lingar
Mijo and Eddie Varella.
They are two of the people thatare not gonna be in this because
channel seven had to make acall.
So I I want to get your take onwhat you think of this and what
you think of them not being onthe stage with you guys
Wednesday evening.

SPEAKER_08 (40:13):
I I would have been fine with them being there.
Uh so all the forums that we'reat, uh well, the six of us show
up.
And yes, some of them are, youknow, one debate that we had or
forum that we had, we had 30seconds to describe what we
would do to fight crime.
Oh my gosh.
And you know, it makes you pullyour hair out a little bit.

SPEAKER_11 (40:31):
But uh you need to have a picture, Darren.
Like you colored a picture andyou're like, okay, here's a
picture and I'm gonna fixeverything.
There you go.
What else can you get out in 30seconds?

SPEAKER_08 (40:39):
I'm Darren White.
Here's my e here's my uhwebsite.
Go see it.
Um and so I get why they I getwhy they made the decision uh to
narrow the field so that we canhave a good, honest debate about
the issues that are affectingour city.
And so, but I also, as I said, II I get why they're upset.

(41:00):
I they they've been workinghard, but um they didn't, they
didn't really they channel sevensent us an email about three,
four days before the journalpoll came out, and they told us
they were gonna do this.
They said, Look, we can't haveyou all up here.
And there's just no way that itcan be a very informative
debate.

(41:20):
So we're gonna look at thejournal poll that comes out on
Sunday, and we're gonna look atthe money that you've raised.
And from there, we'll make adecision.
And that's how we got to uh uhthe four of us being up there
tomorrow.
Okay.

SPEAKER_06 (41:33):
Now, fundraising wise, let's talk about this
because I I have beendisappointed in the amount of
money raised in this race,period.
I've been disappointed that wehaven't seen better numbers for
everybody that isn't gettingpublic financing.
So tell me how difficult hasthat been?
Are you getting pushback?
What is the pushback on this?

(41:54):
So a couple of things.

SPEAKER_08 (41:55):
You'd think that a poll would help me, uh, like the
journal poll.
Yeah.
But it's almost been a littlebit uh counterproductive because
now everybody's telling me I'mjust gonna wait till the runoff.
Yeah, it's a good idea.
Every donor would love to wait.
Yeah, exactly.
So uh we filed our campaignfinance reports.
Um look, I have run a very leanoperation.

(42:20):
We have$150,000 uh left uh atthis particular point.
I'd like to raise a little bitmore.
Uh, you know, Louie is sittingon about 50 some thousand.
And so um I'm I'm I'm happy withwhere we're at.
Would I like to raise moremoney?
Absolutely.
Um, you know, first it waspeople didn't know, well, isn't
that election next year?

(42:41):
Like, no, those arecongressional races.
And so there's been a lot ofstumbling blocks, but um, we've
done very, very well with ourmailers.
Um, I I I've had hundreds andhundreds of contributions, uh,
but it's just been difficult toget people to open up.
Uh and now it's, you know, waittill the runoff.

SPEAKER_11 (43:00):
Right.
Well, it's hard because I thinkwhen you see those undecided
numbers being higher, I thinkthat that's number one, it's a
window of opportunity for themto learn about you, right?
Right.
Watch the debates, learn moreabout you, but still it's about
you need the money to get themessage to those same people,
right?
So it's it's a it's like this.
I I know how this operates.
I mean, we've we've walked thiswalk as well.

(43:21):
That when people say, we willsupport you once the primary,
you know, you make it throughthe primary.
Yeah.
I think any candidate that's runhas heard those words.

SPEAKER_08 (43:28):
So, what do you do as a campaign though?
So you're very careful about howyou spend your money.
Absolutely.
And so you you have to be verytargeted on who you're sending.
Uh, we've been doing mailers,we're on TV, and it's all very
targeted.
And that's one thing Jay isvery, very good at it.
I would argue he's one of thebest in the country at it.
And so we agree.

(43:49):
We um we have done a very, very,very good job of not just, you
know, you see some of thecandidates the way they're
spending money on billboards andall kinds of things.
Oh, billboards.

SPEAKER_06 (43:58):
Hey, look, billboards win elections.
Everybody knows that.
Well, they don't.

SPEAKER_11 (44:02):
The best part, Darren, is so we had people that
were like, why doesn't Mark havea billboard on I-25?
He needs a billboard on I-25.
And I'll never forget, Jay islike, two things don't win
elections signs and billboards.
Because people always wanted ourour yard sign, too.
And he's like, Yeah, those don'twin elections.
And it's like a running thingthat like has become a joke in
our family where we're like, no,but people want the signs, Jay.

(44:24):
We gotta get the signs.

SPEAKER_08 (44:25):
But you want to see your challengers with them,
though.
It's like you go out there andyou spend that money because
they're well, they'll work.
Yeah.
Um, you know, so again, you haveto be very um targeted and
sparing.
Uh spend the money where youneed to, but don't spend it on
things that aren't gonna turnout the vote.

unknown (44:42):
Right.

SPEAKER_08 (44:42):
Period.
Period.
Yeah, that's it.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 (44:45):
And so where do you think so?
Tell me, what do you do down thestretch when you don't have you
know millions of dollars to, orI I would argue, I I think
during the during the one monthrunoff, if you should you get
there, I I I would think, youknow, look, for for every
business owner in Albuquerque,you're crazy not to invest in

(45:06):
this race and and try to stakeyou guys with with$500,000 down
the stretch to run a realhardcore campaign through the
last three, four weeks.
But but what is your approachnow, knowing that you know
you're gonna reach out to thevoters you can, you'll do it
through mailers.
Mailers are interesting becausemailers tend to be read by older
voters.
Who votes in municipal electionsin an off year?

(45:27):
Older voters.
Like that, like that's just whathappens.
Like those are what the numbersare.
Everybody says no one reads themail anymore.
They do actually.

SPEAKER_05 (45:34):
Well, the beauty that we also have is yeah, you
know, when you were running,everybody was in the mail.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 (45:39):
Nobody's in the mail right now.
That's a good point.

SPEAKER_05 (45:42):
You're the only one.
Hey, we've got exactly yourmailer.

SPEAKER_06 (45:45):
That helps as well, for sure.
So, what are you doing then?
So, how do you maximize that asfar as getting as much of the
word out there as you possiblycan without spending hundreds of
thousands of dollars?

SPEAKER_08 (45:56):
You continue to raise money.
Look, I am Irish andsuperstitious, it kind of goes
hand in hand.
Um, but uh you never want to getahead of your skis.
But as we get closer, we have tohave a plan that if we're
fortunate enough to make it tothe runoff, that that we can we
we can't be sitting aroundputting it together the day
after.

SPEAKER_04 (46:15):
Right.

SPEAKER_08 (46:15):
It's got to be put into effect immediately.
So that's one of the things thatwe'll do is beforehand.
Um, we'll put some stufftogether to say, all right, if
we win uh or come in second,here's how we launch.
Uh, because it's a month, it'sfive weeks exactly.
And so uh we have to go out, wehave to raise a lot of money in
a short period of time.
I also think, interestinglyenough, I think that Keller, I

(46:37):
think he's sitting on his money.
Yeah, there's no question yes.
He's not, he's he's spending.

SPEAKER_06 (46:42):
He doesn't get extra uh when it goes to a runoff,
does he?

SPEAKER_05 (46:45):
Yes, yeah.
Oh, he does?
Yes.
What does he get?
Do you know?
I I can't remember what the ifthe the the number is, but it's
a couple of hundred probably.

SPEAKER_08 (46:52):
Oh my gosh.
Um, but I I've also been toldthat he can opt out at that
point and say I don't know.

SPEAKER_06 (46:57):
Raise a much right, raise it privately.

SPEAKER_08 (46:59):
So I I I I'm I'm not a hundred percent on this, but
it just seems to me like he'snot spending all of his money.

SPEAKER_06 (47:06):
Well, he's not, but I wonder the other thing too is
though, that why would he optout?
Because you you stay opted in toset up a pack and then run it
both ways.
Yeah.
But I I don't know.

SPEAKER_11 (47:15):
This is getting deep strategy, guys.

SPEAKER_06 (47:17):
I no, sorry.

SPEAKER_11 (47:18):
Yeah, our viewers might be falling asleep by this
time.

SPEAKER_06 (47:20):
You know, look, this is very exciting stuff.
It's always exciting.

SPEAKER_10 (47:23):
Yeah, I know you guys, you guys we can have this
whole conversation aboutstrategy and campaign and
fundraising, but no, and so ithow is this?

SPEAKER_06 (47:31):
Is this thing as we we're we're getting we'll wrap
it up here in just a second, buthow is this race different than
you thought it was gonna be?
Just that.

SPEAKER_08 (47:38):
Uh how difficult it has been to raise money.

SPEAKER_06 (47:41):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 (47:41):
Uh just how low information this thing still is
three weeks out.
Yeah, I mean, there's um there'sjust not a lot of information at
all.
And so I I think those are thetwo biggest things that have
surprised me.
Um, but it doesn't keep you fromyou, you just keep going for
three weeks.
I make calls every single day.
And I'm just gonna keep doingit.

(48:02):
Yeah.
And um, you know, while some ofit it takes some, you you know,
Mark, I don't have to tell youit's it takes numerous times.
You have to touch them five, sixtimes.

SPEAKER_11 (48:11):
Oh, it's seven.
Jay told me seven message pointsuntil the person gets the
information, right?
That's what he told me.
That's that's a magic number,apparently.
Okay.
Now, at this debate um happeningon Wednesday night.
Any concern there?
Are you fired up?
You've done a debate before, butthere takes that's a lot of
prep.
A lot of people don't know abouthow much prep goes into a
debate, and it's quite a bit.

(48:31):
Um, I know, at least for Mark,Mark prepared quite a bit.
I'm a I'm a debate high schooldebate teacher, not quite the
same as what you're gettingready to walk into.

SPEAKER_06 (48:38):
But Darren, I just went to Christy and said, What
do I have to do?
Yeah.
Christy's like, hey, let's justdo this.
Spell it out for us.

SPEAKER_11 (48:43):
He mocks me, but I went to college with a debate
scholarship.
It's not like I'm a rookie atthis stuff.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 (48:48):
Well, I guess you should be on our debate.
I mean, come on now, people.
Yeah, you prep.
I mean, I'm somebody that Ialways from the beginning, I've
taken time.
Um, you know what it is you wantto say.
Uh, but again, sometimes youhave 30 seconds to say it,
sometimes you have a minute.
And I'm a former radio talk showhost.
I'm used to having an hour totalk about things.

(49:08):
Yeah, and so you really have to,you have so much in your head.

unknown (49:12):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 (49:13):
And you know, it it's just like tomorrow, we get
60 seconds to answer a question.
And I think it's 30 secondfollow-up, but 60 seconds to get
to the meat and potatoes of anissue.
So for me, it is uh putting mythoughts together so that I can
get them out, obviouslyintelligently and coherently and

(49:34):
quickly.

SPEAKER_06 (49:35):
And the interesting thing about this though, uh,
which is that when you're in adebate with multiple people, you
have multiple things to andDarren, you had to respond to
this.
I don't expect you to, but butyou know, he's gonna be standing
up there.
Yes, you want to drill Keller tosome degree, but hello, you want
to drill Louie.
So if I'm Darren, Louie's uhLouie's knees are the first ones
I'm going for.
Okay.

(49:56):
I'm I I just absolutely becauseyou don't get to Keller.

SPEAKER_08 (50:01):
You need to do it with that's fantastic.
I think it's important that youlisten to everything everybody's
saying.
And I'm not afraid, and I'vedone this before in these
forums, is that somebody willsay something and I'll key on
it, I'll make a note of it, andand if I get a chance to bring
it up again, I will.
Oh, absolutely.
But if you bias says something,I don't care.

SPEAKER_06 (50:19):
Ubias can literally light himself on fire, and I'd
be like, all right, good enough,good enough, you move on.
And then so I I'm going afterone of those two guys, and
usually it's gonna be Louiebecause I got to get around him,
which you're I think you'realready around him, but still
that's the one guy.
I won't be alone though, becauseKeller goes after uh Louie.

SPEAKER_05 (50:37):
Well, that's true too.

SPEAKER_08 (50:39):
One of the most craziest things that happened in
this forum schedule that wehave.
We were at the FOP and we werekind of wrapping up, and and the
mayor was one of the last onesto go.
And um, he corrected somethingin his mind that I said.
Um, he tried to fact-check me, Ishould say.
Um, and then he stood, he lookedover at Lou and he said, Louie,

(51:02):
I I want to thank you becauselast year you voted to protect
our immigrant-friendly status.
The kiss of death.
And I literally went, Wow, thatjust happened.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, so he I he, yeah.

SPEAKER_11 (51:18):
And he's he'll he'll use that again probably in the
debate.

SPEAKER_08 (51:21):
And I was there was one debate I wasn't at that um,
you know, apparently he did thesame thing.

SPEAKER_11 (51:25):
Yeah, that's gonna be his go-to then.
Yeah, he'll probably do that.
I mean, you've had a little bitof lead up then with some of
these forums.
I mean, at least in kind ofnotes.

SPEAKER_08 (51:31):
We can answer the questions for each of them.
I you've heard so much of it.

SPEAKER_06 (51:34):
So well, it is different though.
The one thing is, because youhave a background in doing TV
reporting and then radio, thereis a difference when the camera
goes on and it's a tight moment,the oxygen comes out of the
room, even for people who haveexperience in doing it, it is a
different environment.

SPEAKER_11 (51:51):
It gets very it gets intense.

SPEAKER_08 (51:52):
And you know the whole thing is like uh when the
TV cameras are on, uh, it's youkeep talking no matter what.
The last thing in the world youwant.
Say something.
It may not be the smartest thingyou've ever said, but say
something.
Because if you just stand therewith blank air, you look like an
idiot.
Oh, it is so I get it.

SPEAKER_11 (52:08):
No, I it's I mean, when Mark did his, I was always
in the green room, um, watchingfrom the green room.
And I am a pacer, so I'll startpacing because I just get really
like nervous energy when you'relike, say this, say that.
Like you're like yelling at theTV like a football game, you
know, where you're like, don'tforget to say this, you know,
and you're you're fired up.
And so we wish you all the wordsof wisdom, and that your brain

(52:30):
is like sharp and rolling thingsout.
Because you can't go in therewith notes.
A lot of people think you go inthere with notes.
No, there's no notes allowed.
No notes allowed.
I think you get a piece of paperand a pen once you get to your
podium, right?
If that's the way I'm gonna doit.

SPEAKER_06 (52:43):
And I have my little strategy for that as well.
So yeah, everything.
So you get right in there, youknock down 56 notes, and then
you're good to go.

SPEAKER_11 (52:48):
And then you kind of can remember things.
But okay, so once again, let'stell people what's the best way?
People ask all the time, like,how do we make change here?
How do we make change here?
And the one thing I always tellpeople is work on a campaign.
Go volunteer for somebody, otherthan you know, other than just
showing up to vote, clearly,right?
That's number one.
Get behind.
If you've got 10 bucks, 20bucks, throw it at somebody that
that can use it and thenvolunteer for that for that

(53:10):
campaign.
Are you still looking forvolunteers?
Are you still looking for help?
Absolutely, yes.
I assume that you were.

SPEAKER_08 (53:15):
You you never stop.
Yeah, where can they give andgo?
So again, the the Darren Whitefor Mayor.com uh is the the
webpage.
And there's uh links in therethat you can sign up to become a
volunteer.
There's also a donation page ifyou'd like to help us.
Um, it's all greatlyappreciated, whether it's uh
your cash or sweat equity.
We love them both.
Yeah.
Uh because it's it's importantto us.

(53:36):
It's the it really is thebackbone of a campaign.
Having people help you, helpingpeople help you.
It's so important.

SPEAKER_11 (53:43):
It's huge.
And you've got some signs,right?

SPEAKER_08 (53:45):
Yes, we've got signs.

SPEAKER_11 (53:46):
You've got signs.
You've got them now.
So if you want to sign, peoplecan get those as well.
Correct?
Yes.
Okay.

SPEAKER_08 (53:50):
But no billboards.

SPEAKER_11 (53:51):
No billboards.
Okay.
Well, thanks, Darren, forjoining us.
We appreciate it.
Good luck.
Good luck in this race.
You guys, just a quick note,just remember that early voting
is Saturday.

SPEAKER_08 (53:59):
Start Saturday.

SPEAKER_11 (54:00):
Start Saturday, okay?
So you can do your early voting.
And then no, and November 4th isthe main three weeks from today.
The main thing.
Okay.
Thanks so much for tuning in.
Again, you guys like andsubscribe on our YouTube
channel.
And if you want to sign up foremail, just go to no doubt about
itpodcast.com.
We appreciate you spending sometime with us.
God bless.
Take care.

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(54:38):
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