Episode 237: How A Shoestring Campaign Forced A Runoff And What It Signals For Albuquerque’s Future

Midnight energy, raw numbers, and a city on edge. We sat down with strategist Jay McCleskey and fundraiser Jessica Perez as Albuquerque’s mayoral race officially headed to a runoff—Keller hovering in the mid-30s, Darren White just behind him, and a wave of voters signaling they’re ready for change on crime, homelessness, and basic accountability.

We unpack why incumbents hate runoffs and how a tight, repeatable message can beat a partisan registration gap. White’s case focuses on immediate public safety moves—new leadership at APD, rebuilding recruiting, and coordination with federal partners on those arrested for serious crimes—contrasted with years of technocratic promises that haven’t delivered. Jessica pulls back the curtain on the money: donor hesitation, fears of retaliation, and the post-election tipping point that turns skepticism into momentum. In a compressed calendar, efficient spending on digital, mail, and targeted TV becomes the campaign’s edge.

Zooming out, we map the national mood onto Albuquerque’s decision. From Virginia’s down-ballot shockwaves to New Jersey’s margins and New York’s ideological swing, voters wrestling with prices and safety are punishing the status quo. That backdrop explains why the incumbent can’t grow and why he’ll try to nationalize the runoff with partisan attacks. The counter is simple and local: visible safety, fewer encampments, cleaner corridors, and departments that answer to the public. City council results already suggest voters will reward that approach—especially when the message is clear and the campaign stays disciplined.

If you’re tired of speeches and ready for outcomes, this conversation lays out the path to a truly competitive runoff: keep it local, fund it fast, and repeat the plan until every voter can recite it. Subscribe, share this episode with a neighbor who’s undecided, and leave a review telling us the one change you want to see first.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_04 (00:10):
All right, everybody.
It has been a crazy electionnight.
Uh some surprises and someunexpected disappointments, I
think, too.

SPEAKER_01 (00:21):
Yeah.
The technical glitches on thison the studio.

SPEAKER_04 (00:24):
Yeah, Mark has already dropped uh the ball, uh
punching once again the show.
Uh we've already recorded thisonce.
We're gonna do it again.
We have guests today in thestudio, tonight, rather, at
midnight.
Okay, Cinderella.
We all turn into pumpkins hereshortly.
But we have, you know, you wantto do the introduction?

SPEAKER_01 (00:40):
Yeah, I can do that.
Jay McCleskey is a politicalconsultant.
He worked on our campaigns.
He is working on Darren White'scampaign, and he is a little
excited about coming out withDarren's results tonight.
Very good stuff.

SPEAKER_04 (00:52):
And you know who else is here?

SPEAKER_01 (00:54):
Yes.

SPEAKER_04 (00:54):
Long longtime listener.

SPEAKER_01 (00:56):
Longtime listener.

SPEAKER_04 (00:57):
First time guest.

SPEAKER_01 (00:58):
First time guest.

SPEAKER_04 (00:59):
Family member, basically.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01):
Family member.

SPEAKER_04 (01:02):
And world's greatest fundraiser, Jessica Perez.

SPEAKER_01 (01:05):
Jessica Perez.
We've bring Jessica.
Jessica, let's give her that.
Let's give her a round ofapplause.

SPEAKER_04 (01:09):
We've been trying to get you on the show for three
years.
So welcome, Jess.
We appreciate it.
Yeah, you're doing a great job.
You're doing a great job.

SPEAKER_05 (01:16):
It's a great to meet me.
Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 (01:22):
You're welcome.
Uh okay, so the reason we wantto have Jessica on is a couple
different things.
Uh Jay and Jess obviously aredeeply involved in the mayor's
race, which has come down to bevery, very close and it's going
to go to a runoff between TimKeller and Darren White.
It's what we've been saying fora long time, I think, but it
turned out very well for DarrenWhite.
I think there's a lot of reasonto be excited about this race.
If you're somebody inAlbuquerque who has just become

(01:44):
really frustrated with wherethings are, I think there's a
real opportunity with whathappened tonight.
So we're going to talk to Jayabout that.
We're going to talk to Jessicaas well about what it's like to
raise money for these races.
She did this work for us in astatewide race.
There is no message gettinganywhere without raising the
money to do it.
So that's why we want to talkabout some of what that means.
And then we're going to get intothe national races as well.

(02:05):
In New Jersey and in Virginia,there are some real concerns
there in New York.
There are real concerns there.
And it's something we've talkedabout with the Trump
administration for months.
And that is if you don't payattention to the economy, you
will rue the day that youdecided that, you know, you'd
stand up for an election becauseit's going to be an issue.
There's no question.
So we'll get into details onthat.
But obviously, we start here inAlbuquerque.

SPEAKER_04 (02:27):
Yeah, let's I mean, this was kind of a I mean, I
don't know.
Is it unexpected?
Or is this kind of where wethought?
I mean, I I don't want to bragyou guys, but I called these
numbers earlier this afternoon.
All right, I think that'sludicrous.
But here are the numbers.
I did.
Did I not call these numbersearlier today?
I really did.

SPEAKER_01 (02:41):
We don't have the absolute updated numbers, but
these are close to where thingsare gonna end up.
Keller around 36%, Darren Whitearound 31%.
So Darren outperformspartisanship, meaning it's not
just Republicans voting for him.
He got at least six pointsabove.
Even if every single Republicanvoted for him, he still performs
six points above that, whichevery single Republican didn't

(03:02):
vote for him.
So so those numbers areencouraging.
So this is really a pretty closerace.
Keller at 36, White at 31, Ubiasat 18, Luis Sanchez ended up at
seven.
He was burned down to the groundpretty much.
And you can thank the guy in theblack shirt sitting at the table
with us for that one.
But we'll get into details onthat in a second.
And then Mailing Armijo, 5%,Eddie Varella, 2%, and of course

(03:23):
Daniel Chavez went out prettyearly.

SPEAKER_02 (03:25):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (03:25):
So first of all, Jay, you gotta be excited with
these numbers.

SPEAKER_02 (03:28):
I think these are fantastic numbers.
I mean, it was Keller, any racewith an incumbent is in a
re-election race, is about theincumbent.
And so the fact that Keller hadbasically 65% of the public of
voters voting against him andsaying they want change is a
loud message.
And for Darren to come up as bigas he did at 31%, given our

(03:50):
shoestring budget we wererunning on and what we were as
far as our ability to advertiseis big.
And it sends a message thatpeople are gravitating towards
him and towards that message.
And so we're really encouragedgoing in into the runoff.
And obviously it's gonna be achallenge.
It's an incumbent mayor.
He's gonna lean on the partisanadvantage he thinks he has.
But I think what we're seeingtonight is voters across party

(04:11):
lines are saying we want change.

SPEAKER_04 (04:13):
Right.
And you, you know, you explaineda little bit of this to me
earlier, but Keller spent what,two to one?

SPEAKER_02 (04:18):
Is that worth saying at least two to one, three to
one against Darren on this, andhe still is not able to move
that number.
And Mark, you guys released apoll earlier, and Keller
basically finished where thatwas, and it just tells you he's
not able to move that number,and that's the challenge for
incumbents.
It's why incumbents do not likerunoffs, because by definition,
when you're in a runoff, thatmeans a majority of voters

(04:40):
already voted against you.
And the election is always aboutthe incumbent.

SPEAKER_04 (04:43):
Well, and I think again, Darren's had very clear
messages, at least every time Ihave talked to him, he's been
very clear, and we he's we he'sbeen on the show a handful of
times as well.
He wants to clean up our crimeissue, he wants to replace Chief
Medina, which is critical, andbringing in recruiting other
officers, and he wants to reallycrack down on our homelessness
issue, right?
And he have and have rolesolutions for those things.

(05:05):
Then you have Keller, who Iwatched tonight, okay, you guys
probably did too, but watchingKeller get on live television
tonight, he is just like,listen, you guys, this is about
Albuquerque solutions, and I'mgonna find us some Albuquerque
solutions.
That's what I'm here for.
And I'm like, that's what you'vebeen supposed to be doing for
the last eight years, guy.
So what is he hiding back?

SPEAKER_02 (05:26):
Like well, it's just funny to me because this is a
mayor who can't run on results,and so that he's scrambling
around trying to talk aboutthings, but he can't run on
results because he has failed.
He's had eight years of eightyears to do this and he's
failed.
And I think that's why he'sthat's why you saw the results
you did tonight.
That's why he struggled whenhe's trying to like come up with

(05:47):
a speech to give voters a reasonwhy they should vote for him.
And he's trying to run for anunprecedented third consecutive
term.
So he's had eight years and he'spromising the same thing if you
listen to him.
Yeah, he thinks he's has all theanswers, and you see his ads,
he's like, No one knows howgreat I am.
No one will tell you how great Iam.

SPEAKER_04 (06:05):
The media are lying.
I'm like, what?
The media are your best friendright now.
So I don't understand that.

SPEAKER_01 (06:09):
Yeah, and and when you look, I mean, and this is we
talk about it all the time onthis show.
If you have the cleanestmessage, it's so much easier in
politics.
When you're the person lefttrying to explain, if you have
to have the last word, you arelosing.
It's that simple.
And that's why Darren's messagebeing so simple as it is, there
is a massive opportunity here.

(06:30):
I also think there's a massivecommunication gap between
anybody who has served eightyears in office and now it is
trying to learn you what youneed to know about him.
Because the with every passingyear, he gets further from the
voters, believe it or not.
Well, and I think that ends upbeing something that is
devastating because you startsounding like a technocrat.

(06:53):
And when you start sounding likea technocrat, you don't sound
like a voter and you surelydon't sound like you understand
a voter.

SPEAKER_04 (06:59):
Well, no, I I think his message has been very clear,
Mark.
We talked about this on the showin speci like right after the
debate.
He said in that debate, ifyou're looking at the mayor or
your leadership to fix theproblems, you're looking at the
wrong place.
I mean, basically, he's tellingpeople that they've, you know,
you're a business owner anddowntown's a mess.
Well, you got to pay for yourown security, you got to clean
up after the homeless, you gottaclean up the drugs.
This is all on you.
Like, don't look to me to fixthis.

(07:19):
I mean, he said it on thedebate.

SPEAKER_02 (07:21):
And what's amazing is when he was first elected
mayor, he said it's the mayor'sresponsibility to fight crime.
Right.
So this guy will say it's notthe same guy.

SPEAKER_01 (07:29):
He's not the same guy, he's a totally different
person.
Those two don't even know eachother anymore.
Why?
Because he had none of thebaggage and he's walking around
with the baggage.
And eventually, if enough peoplegive you the stink eye and
enough people actually call youon your garbage, which I
guarantee you, he's had ithappen.
Heck, Ava did it to him to hisface.
Right?
She really got in his face andshe said, What are you doing

(07:50):
with Sanctuary Cities?
And he was willing to lie tothose kids.
Yeah.
And though it is amazing.
So, but again, all of this isgreat.
And but and you guys got into asituation where you raised, I
don't know,$250,000 maybe$300,000 total in this race.
It was hard to do.

SPEAKER_03 (08:05):
Well, and you talk about our message and how clean
our message was, and you guystalk about these debates, but
who watches these?

unknown (08:10):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (08:11):
Well, no, no, no.
I mean, the fact that we wereable, I mean, we have a great
message and we have a greatplatform, and we had barely any
money to get it out there.
The only way you get yourmessage out there is if you have
the funds to be able to educate.
And the numbers tonight showlike what we were able to do
with the little amount of moneythat we had was huge.

SPEAKER_01 (08:30):
No, that is huge.
So let's talk about that.
I want to talk about fundraisingfor a second.
We'll get into some funnierstories here in a minute, but
but I want to talk aboutfundraising and the difference
between fundraising inAlbuquerque and fundraising
across other parts of the state.
When you start a statewidecampaign, if you run one, the
first place you go issoutheastern New Mexico because
there is a different mentalitydown there.

(08:50):
People down there sit down withyou and say, What do you need to
do?
What do you need from me?
And they jump right in.
They do.
And then up here in Albuquerque,there are some great supporters
and people that want change.
And they believe it or not, theycome across the political aisle.
You'd be surprised at some ofthe people that'll give you
money, right?
But it's much more difficulthere.
You guys had trouble raisingmoney.
What's the plan here and what'sthe pitch that you make to a

(09:13):
donor in Albuquerque who says,Darren did better than I
thought.
There's a crack door open here.
What are you gonna tell him,Jess?
Right.

SPEAKER_03 (09:19):
Well, I mean, it was extremely difficult to raise
money these last couple ofmonths.
I mean, you're running againstan incumbent, which is usually
heavily favored.
They knew that he had publicfinancing, a huge amount of
money.
And then you have these businessowners that are already
struggling.
They're already struggling to todo business in Albuquerque, do
security, pay all these otherthings that this mayor has

(09:40):
burdened these business ownerswith.
So to tell them, hey, you have achance, write us a check.
Yeah, you know, they didn't feellike we really had a chance.
And so it was a huge struggle toget people to believe in us and
um invest in the campaign.
And so I think we we have a hugeopportunity to say we have a
real shot.

SPEAKER_01 (09:57):
All right.
So then I live in I live inCarlsbad and I say, okay, I live
in Carlsbad.
I don't live in Albuquerque.
Why are you coming to meet?
I assume you're gonna do astatewide campaign for money,
right?
Absolutely.
I would, right?
Okay, why?

SPEAKER_03 (10:09):
Because because if we can change Albuquerque and
get a Republican in here, it'sgonna benefit us hugely coming
into next year.
What RJ Berry.

SPEAKER_02 (10:18):
Yeah, I mean, the last time you first got rose,
Albuquerque's 90% of the stateout of the Albuquerque media
market.
The last time we elected aRepublican mayor, the very next
year we elected a Republicangovernor, Republican statewide
office holders.
So it all matters.
It all fits into this, inaddition to the policy changes
that you can do that reallybenefit the entire state.

SPEAKER_04 (10:38):
Like one thing that obviously Darren's been very key
on is he said, I'm gonna endsanctuary cities, right?
So in the sanctuary city here ofAlbuquerque, which to me is
huge, right?
Especially when we havecriminals that we've been
talking about on our show thatare here illegally, uh, you
know, they're running akidnapping ring here, right?

SPEAKER_02 (10:55):
I mean, think about it.
The FBI set the record for theirbiggest fentanyl bust.
Where was it?
Albuquerque.
A couple years later, the DEAsaid the biggest fentanyl bust
in their history, and where wasit centered out of Albuquerque.

SPEAKER_01 (11:04):
We're trafficking people from Mexico to
Albuquerque, kidnapping them,and then having them to be
bought out of a flop house.
But think about why.

SPEAKER_02 (11:12):
Because if you're if you get arrested in Albuquerque,
you're probably back on thestreets within a day.
Right.

SPEAKER_04 (11:17):
And if you're here illegally from a different
country, nobody's gonna know.

SPEAKER_02 (11:20):
And you're still gonna be released back out on
the streets in a day.

SPEAKER_04 (11:22):
Right.
And I I think again, thosemessage points of Keller has
said, I'm not gonna work withICE.
I that this is not my plan, thisis not my strategy.
Darren White, polar oppositewhen it comes to that, and says
he will work with all federalagencies.
And this is very clear.

SPEAKER_02 (11:37):
If someone gets arrested for a crime, ICE will
be able to check them as theyget booked into the jail.
Right.
So that's who this is affecting.
So if someone gets arrested fora burglary or a robbery and
they're here illegally, they'renot gonna get released back out
on the streets.
Or the then the example youtalked about on the show, where
you have a man arrested forstrangling and beating his wife,
threatening to kill the kid.

(11:58):
He gets arrested, and if ifDarren White was mayor, he would
have been held by ice.
He wouldn't have been let out ofjail.
Instead, this guy was let out ofjail, and who does and a month
later he commits a murder.
Right.
Like that these policies matter.

SPEAKER_01 (12:10):
Yeah.
Okay, let's let's do a quickthing here.
I just want to make sure that wewe were at the uh Darren White
event when he kind of got thefirst round of votes in, and it
was all it was all the early andabsentee stuff.
So, really, that's a hugeindicator of where you are.
As soon as those numbers cameout, it was obvious it was
Darren White and it was it wasMayor Keller, and everybody else
was a ways behind.

(12:31):
So here's just a few just acouple seconds of Darren's
comments when he realized thathe was gonna end up in the
runoff.

SPEAKER_06 (12:39):
So here's what here's what we want you to do.
Uh, there's obviously still away to go.
Uh 80,000 votes have been cast,uh, and it's pretty clear how
this is gonna end up.
Oh, yeah.
We're gonna have a runoff, but Ialso want to leave it with this,
too.
That uh Mayor Keller, who hasserved for eight years, is only

(13:01):
at 38%.
And so that is telling you thatthe majority of 35 people now
change for their city.
And that's what this campaignhas been all about.
It's been about change, it'sabout providing a better quality

(13:22):
of life for everyone who livesin our city.
So we're very, very excited.
We're gonna ask you to stay.

SPEAKER_01 (13:28):
Um Okay, a couple quick things you you take from
that.
First of all, Darren does areally good job.
I think he did a good job whenhe was on this show.
I think he does a good job ingeneral of staying on message.
That's not an easy thing for acandidate always to do, but he
does it, I think, really well.
Number two, it's easy to stay onmessage when your message is
that simple.
And that's why the the winner inpolitics invariably is the
person who has the cleanest,tightest message, and the

(13:50):
easiest message to process.
Because voters, and Jay, this isone of your favorite lines.
Voters have this antiquatedthought that elections are about
them, right?
And so, and they do.
And they think, is my lifebetter off than it was eight
years ago?
And there are very few peoplewho can say yes to to that
answer as far as how they livetheir life in the city that that
they choose to live, which isAlbuquerque.

SPEAKER_04 (14:12):
So even Jess, I mean, I always talk about when
you come up here, you're like,you find this because you don't
live in Albuquerque.
So when you come up here, youyou feel how unsafe it is
compared to other parts of thestate.
Right.
Yeah, I have a 24-hour rule.

SPEAKER_03 (14:23):
I only stay here for 24 hours.

SPEAKER_04 (14:24):
Oh wow.
Okay, okay.
Only 24 hours.
Okay, that's kind offrightening.
Um, well, another thing too, itthat's interesting that I heard
Darren say tonight when he wasasked by one of the news
operations that were theretonight, they said, Would you be
willing to do another debateagainst Keller for this runoff?
And he said, You bet, becausethere is no time like the

(14:45):
present to talk about what Iplan to do and how much
different it is from what Kellerhas been doing.
So I thought that was prettyclear too.

SPEAKER_02 (14:53):
So do you anticipate Oh, I would expect there'll be
as many debates, will agree toas many debates as he wants to
do.
And I don't think I mean you sawit today.
He's not gonna want to be doinga whole lot, he's gonna want to
use his IE and his dark money torun a he's gonna run a very
negative, very partisan campaignto so he doesn't have to run on
issues or his record.

(15:13):
Those are the two things hedoesn't want to deal with.

SPEAKER_01 (15:15):
And there couldn't be a bigger difference between
standing on a debate stage withfour or five candidates and
standing one-on-one.
There's a totally different youSo you're saying you you don't
think Keller's going to debate.
Well, I'm not saying uh he mayor may not may or may not, but
the point being you won't do ita lot.
I can guarantee you that.
And I think what you find if ifyou're a guy like Keller is you
don't want to be in thatone-on-one because there's
nowhere to escape to, right?

(15:36):
You don't have the ability towait for Louie to get himself
tied up in a word salad whereyou get 30 seconds of reprieve
and then you go on to Mae Ling,who God only knows what she's
talking about, and then youknow, Eddie Varella can go
wandering off somewhere.
So you you just you get a breakin those situations and you
don't get that when you'reone-on-one.
But one thing that I think isinteresting about the numbers,
though, that we see tonight.

(15:57):
I want to go through these onemore time.
So Darren's numbers are at 31.
But if I'm looking at thesenumbers, Jay, and I see this and
I go, Keller, I think he'sincredibly soft on his numbers.
But one thing I look at is righton this line here, right where
you have Keller, just below him,is Ubias.
Okay, Ubias is at 18%.
Ubias is running left of Keller.
So you would think Ubias' votersare Keller's voters, basically,

(16:19):
who abandoned him after a veryrough eight years.
So the question I would ask you,Jay, is if you look at those
numbers and you add it up, theway for Keller to get to 50 is
through Ubias.
So why how in the world are yougonna make a case for the voters
that are left of Keller to comesupport Darren?

SPEAKER_02 (16:35):
Well, what what I would say, and I'd agree with
you if it was an open seat.
If this was an open seat, butit's an it's an incumbent
running.
And so what you really have isthose who want to re-elect the
incumbent and those who wantchange.
And so while those probably aremore progressive voters, they're
those are voters who wantchange.
And what you're seeing withDarren today is trying to unite

(16:57):
change-minded voters, and that'swhy that it's always a challenge
for an incumbent when they endup in a runoff.
They don't want to get in therebecause they know elections are
about them and they've alreadyhad a big majority of voters
vote against them.
And so I think what you'll seeis a lot of those voters are
gonna go over to Darren becausea couple things.
Darren's running where he'ssaying he's gonna run for one

(17:18):
term.
He talked tonight about having abipartisan cabinet come
together.
He's talking about unitingchange-minded voters and
addressing these issues thatmatter, crime and homelessness.
And that's why Mayor Keller isnot gonna want to talk about any
of that.
And his way to do it is to run anegative campaign, make it as
partisan as he can to try toappeal to those voters.
He does have an advantagebecause of the partisanship of

(17:39):
the city.
We know that.

SPEAKER_01 (17:40):
But answer this then, though.
If you see, so we know if I'mKeller, I run against Trump.
I don't run against Darren.
Right.
Right?
So, okay, so what's your what'syour counter to Keller running
against Trump versus runningagainst Darren?

SPEAKER_02 (17:51):
Our counter is Jessica Petis.
Yes, needs to raise money.
And we just that's where ourchallenge is the campaign.
And it's a challenge for anyonewho wants to see change in
Albuquerque.
We have to come together on thisbecause we have to not we can't
let him get away with that.
We have to take the message ofchange in his record in the
crime and homelessness and makethis election local about what
it's really about and not lethim bury us with negative ads.

(18:16):
Like you said, he'll try tomorph Darren into Trump.
He'll try to make this aboutanything but what is happening
in Albuquerque.
And that's why it's incumbentupon us to unite people, to
raise the money necessary and tocommunicate our message.

SPEAKER_01 (18:28):
Jessica, what about the money necessary?
So you you guys talked about howtough it was to get through this
stage of the campaign.
You were grinding it out.

SPEAKER_03 (18:35):
Number one, especially against an incumbent
mayor that has been proven toretaliate against donors that
give against him.

unknown (18:42):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (18:42):
I mean, we we fought that.

SPEAKER_01 (18:44):
So, what does that mean?
By the way, most voters and mostpeople who listen to this
podcast don't even know whatthat's all about.
So, and some of us who have hadit happen, yeah, uh understand
it.
So, so what do you what do youmean?
Like when you sit down withpeople, what do you sometimes
hear?
Not specifics, but what do yousometimes hear from people about
this stuff where if I give toyou, here's what may happen.

SPEAKER_03 (19:02):
Yeah, no, that that either have businesses that have
to do with the city or acontract that could be affected
that they they won't givebecause they know that the
Democrats always retaliateagainst them.

SPEAKER_05 (19:12):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (19:12):
That if they are gonna give to their opponent,
they will get retaliated againsta business owner that's probably
already struggling and then isgonna lose something from that,
right?
Um, so that's a real thing thatKeller's been known to do that
the people in Albuquerque thathave businesses here are very
worried about.
Um, and so our job is to go outthere and show, hey, we have a

(19:33):
real chance, will you pleaseinvest in us?
And is there a tipping?

SPEAKER_01 (19:36):
Do you have you noticed in campaigns that
there's a tipping point?
When you see that there's this,there's this point, people are
scared like that, right?
But when they feel like, wait aminute, we got a shot.
And then all of a sudden you hita tipping point and it blows up
and you go, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 (19:48):
Just the momentum of tonight to go into tomorrow to
say we have a real shot.
I think that the the donors andthe voters here are saying,
like, this is this is real.
We actually do have a chance tofight back.
There's a lot of voter fatiguesaying, you know, are we really
gonna, are we gonna win a race?
Are we gonna push back?
Yes, Keller's awful, but youknow, he continues to clearly
still win, right?
Um, and so I think that thatthat that's on us to make sure

(20:11):
that we do.
Also, I mean, what did he saytonight, Jay?
I'm coming after you, Darren.
Right, right.
And it's like, it's not a few.

SPEAKER_01 (20:16):
Wait, Keller said Keller said the the the the
metal mayor, the tough guy?
Right.

SPEAKER_03 (20:21):
What did he say?
Yeah, yeah, coming after Darren.
And Darren's response to thatwas like, it's not me, it's all
of us that are pushing back.
And that's what we have toignite and get the funds to push
back against this narrative andto push back against uh against
his radical left policy.

SPEAKER_02 (20:37):
Right, and he's just a little bully.
And I think it does hit thattipping point.
Let me give you an example, it'snot even a donor.
But Alex Ubayez got a tour ofthe West Side Shelter.
Yeah, and if you guys rememberthis in doing the debate, and
the person who agreed to givehim the this is a mayoral
candidate, they should be ableto get tours of this.
They're running on the issues,the better they understand the
issues, the better.
She gave she agreed, she gavehim a tour of the West Side

(20:57):
shelter, and Keller fired him,yeah, fired her, and admitted it
in a debate.
Yeah, it was a crazy moment.
It's unbelievable.
And he paid the price for it,and so you're seeing that
because he got exposed, andthat's why you see the change
number as big as it is tonight.
Because the because Alex stoodup to the bully and and showed
him for who exposed him for whohe was.

SPEAKER_04 (21:18):
Well, I think that's what's so frustrating is that
there are real bullies that areout there running, and we know
about it personally, and it'swhy we gotta get very strong
opinions about who should berunning and who you know, who
you should be, you know, whenpeople ask us who to vote for,
we tell them because we're like,we kind of know the inside
baseball game on a lot of thesepeople.
And you want somebody that'sgood has good character and will
fight for the people and notit's not in it for themselves.

(21:39):
So, Jess, back to the fact thatI've heard this a thousand times
from Jay, that you want to hitsomebody with the message for
the candidate at least seventimes.
Am I right, Jay?
Is this right?
Is this about what you're doing?

SPEAKER_01 (21:49):
If you have the money.

SPEAKER_04 (21:50):
If you if you go once sometimes once or zero.

SPEAKER_01 (21:53):
Sometimes zero.

SPEAKER_05 (21:54):
Sometimes a flag in the air when they see it.

SPEAKER_04 (21:57):
Yeah, if somebody gets it, right?
But what do you what's arealistic fundraising number for
you?
Like, what are you gonna try toraise?
Because this, again, we haven'teven said the date yet.
The runoff is actually onDecember 9th.

SPEAKER_03 (22:06):
So that's not that far away.
Right.
And we really honestly have lessthan three weeks to raise a
significant amount of money andpush back against what Keller's
gonna have, which is anunlimited ore chest.
Um, and so I think we need toraise at least a million dollars
to be able to get our messageout there.

SPEAKER_04 (22:20):
Okay, you kind of talked to Brandon.

SPEAKER_01 (22:23):
A million dollars.
A million dollars, yeah.
Yeah, so we know.
I mean, that money, Jay, goesinto it goes into digital ads,
it goes into mailers, it goesinto television, it goes into
touching voters in any waypossible to try to litigate the
case.
You can't litigate the case,you're not gonna beat him.

SPEAKER_02 (22:38):
No, and I think I think donors can see with the
campaign we just ran with verylittle with a shoestring budget,
we're very efficient with it.
You guys are laughing tonightbecause what we had our uh
salsa.

SPEAKER_01 (22:49):
Jay is the cheapest, just in case you ever end up at
a at a post-election party withJay.
It's it's gonna be like Cheetosand Kool-Aid and Cheetos.
If you're lucky, there were noCheetos tonight.
No, but that's the thing,though.
That's that, and I will saythis.
And by the way, we talk aboutDeb Holland hemorrhaging money,
okay?
She's raised almost$7 millionand has$2 million left.

(23:11):
When you don't keep an eye onyour campaign and you don't
bring people in to help you runthat campaign that care about
every last dollar, that showshow you're going to govern.
Right.
And you've seen it with Keller,you're seeing it with Deb
Holland, and you see it withDarren because they're on a
shoestring budget.
So if you give good people,smart people, the additional
funds they need to do the job,they'll do it.
And I'm not sure what thisopening is.

SPEAKER_02 (23:31):
It doesn't matter how much you raise, it matters
how much you spend convincingand communicating with voters.
So if you waste all this moneyon overhead, it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_04 (23:42):
Right.
There's no fancy signs, Jay.
There's no fancy signs, there'sno fancy parties, right?
That's not what what uh acandidate's about.
It doesn't win you an election.

SPEAKER_02 (23:50):
It's about convincing voters, it's about
making the case.

SPEAKER_03 (23:52):
That's right.
So but guy, what do you thinkabout raising a million dollars?
You know how hard that is.

SPEAKER_01 (23:56):
Yeah, and and I think it's gonna be, I I think
it's gonna be hard to do.
Um, but I think I think this isthe shot to me.

SPEAKER_03 (24:04):
Right.

SPEAKER_01 (24:04):
I mean, it is the shot.
And so what ends up happening,you can kind of explain this.
So what ends up happening thoughis when Jessica, she first of
all, she is relentless, and whatshe does each day is.

SPEAKER_04 (24:15):
I miss Jessica, I'm just telling you what she hands
you, loved it.

SPEAKER_01 (24:18):
She hands you a list of 25 to 30 people, and you just
start going down that list,making phone calls.
And and you hate it because youknow, uh most of the people
aren't there.
So you got to follow back upwith them, call, call, call,
call.
Well, yeah, they're there.
They're absolutely sending youto voicemail.
But but here's one thing thatyou do notice at this point in
the juncture.

(24:38):
Let's just treat this like it isthe primary, the end of the
primary, because that's what itfeels like, right?
Right, right.
And so, and so for it's a muchmore compressed time frame.
But you you gain this extramomentum when you win the
primary or when you get into therunoff if you're Darren.
Right.
Because there is that crestingsituation, especially here when
you look at the actual numbers,and then you've got to grind it
out.
But but Jess, I think that thething for you guys, which is

(24:59):
gonna be critical, is not onlygetting the people Albuquerque
to to do this, you're gonna needsome, I think, a couple of big
events in Albuquerque withpeople that that can get big
groups of people together.
I think small dollar would behelpful.
Right.
Uh we're gonna need all of it.
You're gonna need all of it, andthen you're gonna have to
expand, it's gonna have to be astatewide thing, right?
I mean, seriously, if you're inFarmington or you're in Carlsbad

(25:20):
or you're in Hobbes, like thisrace matters.
And I think that is one thingwhere you've run all those
statewide campaigns.
That's gonna be critical, Iwould think.

SPEAKER_03 (25:26):
Right, absolutely.
Yeah, we're gonna have to betalking and touching everybody
we can to see if we can get asmuch support as possible because
we can't just rely onAlbuquerque, and it's gonna be,
it will benefit the whole entirestate, not just Albuquerque.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_04 (25:40):
Well, let's talk about some of the other races,
Mark, because obviously wetalked about pushback, right?
People were saying, listen, wedon't want Keller anymore.
Two people that are fightingagainst Keller on a daily basis
in city council is Dan Lewis andRenee Grout.
They both uh re- uh won theirseats again, so they both run
re-election, which was greatnews, I feel like.
And I I mean, I have to say too,before we talk about them, and

(26:00):
Courtney Jackson for on theschool board.
I'm so excited that she was ableto be re-elected as well.
So let's talk a little bit aboutcity council and what we're
seeing here.

SPEAKER_01 (26:08):
Just re-dan's numbers are good, doesn't go to
a runoff 53-47.
Obviously, with only two of themin the race, you don't.
So that part's helpful.
But this, this, there was sometalk about this race being a bit
closer, could be a concern.
Some of the early numbers, Jay,early vote and some of the
absentee stuff.
You kind of look at it and go,eh, there's some real Democrat
advantages.
And they didn't end up bearingout.

SPEAKER_02 (26:29):
Yeah, and I also I was obviously working for Dan
and Renee, and it wasconcerning.
The Democrats outspent Dan.
Athena Allen outspent him two toone.
She spent over$100,000, and theyhammered him.
There were more Democrats thatvoted in that election than
Republicans, but Dan has done afantastic job on the city
council.
And so he was able to appeal toDemocrats, to independents, and

(26:53):
to Republicans.
And these two races, I think,make a statement in this sense.
A lot of times you see votersreally upset.
It's a quote, a change election,and they they're throwing all
the incumbents out.
They re-elected two incumbentsby substantial margins, and
Renee Garout in a Democratdistrict, another Democrat
district, Dan Lewis, and theywere and both and they
re-elected them, and then they65% of them voted against Tim

(27:17):
Keller.
So it tells you that changemessage is focused very squarely
on Tim Keller because they thepeople, the counselors who have
pushed back on Keller wererewarded and re-elected in
Democratic districts, both ofthem.
Yeah, that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 (27:30):
And I think that sends a message.
Now that's big.
And so, and by the way, the onlyother counselor who had no
issues was was Feichelborn,obviously, because she didn't
have an opponent, right?
Really.
I mean, all things considered,she didn't.
However, there are a couple morerunoffs that are going to be
part of the mayor's election aswell.
And that's gonna be districtthree.
We won't spend a lot of time onthis.
I don't know.
I mean, Christa Pena, she'scurrently on the council, she's

(27:53):
she's scraping.
I mean, she is scraping againstTeresa Garcia.
So we'll see what ends uphappening with that.
Do we know anything about Idon't know a whole great deal
about this situation?
All right, good.
All right, let's move on then.
All right, I have no idea.
But it's and then Taus ends upuh ahead in this uh district
one.
Uh, but again, that's a prettyclose battle.

(28:14):
So who knows how how that stuffends up playing out.
But at the end of the day, Ithink you make a really good
point about what's going on onthe council and that it pays off
to stand up for people and justbe the person for for logic.
And Dan Lewis especially remindsme of that.
Renee Grout is has such a greatfeel for I think communicating
with people.

SPEAKER_02 (28:32):
She's she's very small business owner, yeah,
really smart, really commonsense, smart, and does a
fantastic job of just trying tobe responsive and to do what's
right for the district.
Yeah.
And I so I think both of them umreally deserve the re-election
and they got it.

SPEAKER_04 (28:47):
Well, they're also just like common sense, right?
And they're very easy toapproach, to talk to.
You can tell that they get theythey're in the same boat you
are.
They're not like, hey, I'm uphere.

SPEAKER_02 (28:56):
It's exactly what Mark was talking about.
Yeah.
About about when when electedofficials are candidates,
understand voters and they don'tget disconnected.
Yeah, stay close to them.
Right.

SPEAKER_04 (29:04):
Like, uh, okay.
So let's let's move on to somenational stories, okay?
Um, so congratulations obviouslyto Darren.
We'll be pushing for him here onthe show as well.
Again, December 9th is thatrunoff.
And if you'd like to supportDarren, tell us.

SPEAKER_02 (29:18):
Go to Darren WhiteFromMayor.com.
Can contribute there.
I mean, that one is Jessicasaying it's gonna be important
that we get in as much as we canearly because Tim Keller's
gonna, the mayor Keller's gonnatry to bury us with negative ads
right out of the gate.
He's gonna try to, you know,discourage people from
supporting uh Darren, and it'sall a trick to get him to be the
first mayor ever re-elected tothree consecutive terms, which

(29:39):
is amusing to me because he'sattending No King's rallies at
the same time he's winning athird consecutive building.

SPEAKER_01 (29:45):
And most people just would wouldn't have the gall to
run for this truly.
They would just be like, Look, Ihave enough self awareness to
realize that I've lit the houseon fire.
I probably should get out of thehouse.
But this guy is like, show mewhere the match is.

SPEAKER_04 (29:58):
But I'm sorry to keep going back to that, but
that's His speech tonight when Isaw it's it's the lack of
self-awareness.
That's to me when I watch it,I'm like, it's weird.
It's like yeah, there's thisdisconnect between what reality
is happening for all of us herein Albuquerque and then what
he's what comes out of hismouth.

SPEAKER_01 (30:13):
Yeah, no, I agreed.
It's crazy, he's crazy.
Okay, yeah, and you mentionedthe national.
So let's get to some nationalstuff, just talk some broader
politics because it is gonnamatter.
I mean, national politics isgonna matter in this race, too.
But I want to talk about well,we'll start with New York City.

SPEAKER_04 (30:27):
Yeah, this one I am this one's.

SPEAKER_01 (30:29):
This is the headline, by the way.

SPEAKER_04 (30:30):
This is the hardest.

SPEAKER_01 (30:31):
The red apple from the New York Post.

SPEAKER_04 (30:33):
Yeah, New York Post says on your marks, get set Zo.
Socialist mom Domini wins racefor mayor, the red apple.
This is hard for me to even talkabout, quite frankly.
I I'm just I'm shocked that wehave a socialist anti-Semitic
guy as the mayor of New YorkCity.

(30:54):
Like, how did this guy getelected, you guys?

SPEAKER_01 (30:56):
I I so let me make a case and then you guys can tell
me if you think it's crazy.
I think the economy is part ofthis, and I think they're I
think New York City right now,first of all, it's not the New
York City from 20 years ago.
It's not the same place.
But at the same time, I thinkyou also have a sense to some
degree in this country ofhopelessness where people are

(31:16):
turning to, and in some waysthey've turned to Trump, you
know, because the the theelectorate has flipped in in a
lot of ways, and a lot oflow-income voters look at look
at Trump and say, I can identifywith him.
He speaks my language in a in avery unique way.
And I think Mandani, whatworries me about a guy like him
is people feel like they want tobreak the system in any way
possible because they feel likethe system doesn't work for them

(31:38):
anymore.
And so when you go and look athim, he is so not only
inexperienced, never runanything.
Anything not only that, but butsome of how extreme he is in his
beliefs and how misguided he isin his in his you know core
tenets, not only socialism, butreally, you know, some of the
personal stuff and the peoplehe's backed are scarier than his

(32:01):
policies, quite frankly.
But I think people are willingto overlook that because I think
they're right now they are lostin New York City and and they
don't know where to turn for foran answer.

SPEAKER_02 (32:11):
Well, I think unfortunately, too, you can make
socialism sound really good andin in versus what it happens in
practice.
And unfortunately, there's a lotof, you know, especially the far
left of the Democratic Party hasbecome believers in socialism.
And that's disappointing.
You saw it here in Albuquerquewith Mayor Keller starting a
guaranteed basic income program,and and it just does not work.

(32:34):
We know it doesn't work in inpractice, we know how bad it is,
but he's basically making allthese promises, and everyone
gets everything free.
And like Mark, you're talkingabout with the economy and
people hurting like that, andhe's gonna say, Oh, you'll get
everything for free, we'll dothis, we'll do that.
And he's making all thesepromises.
And I think you get, you know,unfortunately, he was able to
convince people.
And you also have to realizethere was not a strong opponent

(32:57):
for for him.
You know, he's dealing withCuomo and Cuomo's.

SPEAKER_04 (33:00):
It is unbelievable the people they put up against
him.
I think what's interesting isall these promises, again, his
promises remind me in a lot ofways of like the kid that run
for student council, right?
The student body president,where he's gonna give you free
pizza on Fridays and you canwear jeans and shorts whenever
you want.
It's all these promises, likeI'm gonna offer really low
affordable housing.
The reality check on that from afinancial model doesn't work.

(33:23):
So that that's what he's gonnahave to scrape that back.
I'm telling you right now, like,I he's not gonna be able to keep
that up.
So that's what's gonna beinteresting.
And then you have enough, what'sfascinating to me is you have
enough people that are in theUnited States that lived in
communist and socialist count,you know, countries who have
said, Wake up, New York, whatare you doing?
Like this didn't work.
This is why we're here now.

(33:44):
It's because it didn't work forus when we were growing up.

SPEAKER_02 (33:46):
I mean, one of the more like amusing, telling
things that I remember was whenPresident Trump wins election
and the mainstream media wasshocked that he won the
Venezuelan vote, the VenezuelanAmerican vote.
And he's like, they're like, howwould he do that?
He's so strong on immigration.
Because they get what thesocialism is, that's why they're
here.

(34:06):
And if you talk to what it'sfrom Cuba or from Venezuela or
other, that they know thisdoesn't work.
You look, just look what JoeBiden did right when he took
office and decided everyone getsthe thing for free, send out
checks, spent all that money inwhat happened with inflation and
the economy.
Unfortunately, a lot of peopledon't understand that.
A lot of people don't understandthat Venezuela, 20 some years

(34:28):
ago, was the wealthiest countryin Latin America, and Hugo
Chavez gets elected, brings insocialism, and it's the disaster
it is today, and it happensfast.
Yeah.
And unfortunately, it happensreally fast.
And that's the my concern forNew York.

SPEAKER_04 (34:41):
Yeah, and I mean, a lot of people even talk about
his whole, like his whole planfor this government-funded or
government-run grocery store,right?
Where basically then you havepeople that have actually lived
in countries with government-rungrocery stores.

SPEAKER_05 (34:51):
Cuba.

SPEAKER_04 (34:52):
And they're saying, uh, yes, what was on the shelf?
Like vinegar and like a coupleof basic things.
Like, because after a while,then there's nothing there,
right?
So be careful what you wish for,be careful what you vote for.

SPEAKER_01 (35:02):
But I think you're missing, I agree.
You're you're lecturing thesepeople that it's gonna fail.
I agree with that.
Okay, but that but that doesn'tget to the point of why they
made the vote in the firstplace.
There's so many of them who feellike there is no hope in the
current system in which we live.
And I'm just telling you that ifwe don't have an answer for
that, and if there isn't ananswer for bringing prices down
and making the American dreamaffordable and attainable for

(35:25):
more people, get ready.
Because you ain't seen nothingyet.
There's gonna be more Mandanis.
I agree with you on that.

SPEAKER_04 (35:31):
That's frightening.
Okay, let's move to Virginia.
This one wasn't as shocking forus.
They, at least the governor'srace in Virginia, not as
shocking, I don't think.

SPEAKER_01 (35:38):
I think it was uh this was I'm sorry, but Winsome
Sears ran a horrendous campaign.
I mean, and when you go getclocked by 15 points in in a
race like this, this was badnews.
I mean, she she did not run agood race.
Obviously, though, there aresome issues, you know, when we
talk about the economy andthings like that.
But you guys, your thoughts onthis?

SPEAKER_02 (35:59):
Yeah, I mean, I think that's a huge problem.
You have when the top of theticket that happens, a lot of
candidates down the ballot haveno chance.
And that's what I guess you lookat.
I'm sure you'll talk about theattorney general's race.
Yeah, and you're like, how doesthat happen?
Well, it happens because youcan't lose the top of the ticket
by 15 points.
Yeah, or you're gonna lose.

SPEAKER_01 (36:17):
Yeah, and there's let's look at that.
So let's just look at thesenumbers.
Just so you know, likeSpamberger got 1.906 million,
right?
And Sears got 1.409.
Okay.
Then you go look at exactly whatyou're talking about, Jay, the
uh attorney general's race, andyou see Meares actually outran
the top of the ticket, which isis not easy to do.
No, right?
You've done it, and you know howhard that is.

(36:39):
Yeah, it's tough, right?
And then you know, so this guy,Jay Jones, this is the guy that
threatened the you know speakerof the house, speaker of the
house, former speaker of thehouse.
And threatened his case.
What's what makes what scares meabout this though?
Yes, this was a closer race.
It was less than half the gap,right?
But what scares me about this isdo words matter anymore?
Like, does it matter anymore?
Do you can you say anything?

(37:00):
Because again, this guy, JayJones, didn't lose a single
endorsement.
What didn't lose anyway?

SPEAKER_04 (37:04):
And I think what's so shocking is he's gonna be the
top lawman in the state ofVirginia, and yet he's saying he
he's saying, I want to murderand have uh the the children of
the speaker of the house, and Iwant them to bleed out in the
arms of their mother.
And then this is gonna be thetop lawman.

SPEAKER_02 (37:20):
Well, it's it's stunning, and it shows, you
know, there's only so much swingvote available, and when the top
of the ticket loses like that,it's a problem.
And it's it's you bring up thepoint, it's disconcerting.
This is the top lawman.
Oh, you look at was it lastcycle with when um this the
sheriff's race and and PaulPachico was running in it and
loses to a guy who who's thecurrent sheriff, Sheriff Allen,

(37:43):
who adm got fired from the statepolice after admitting to lying
in a police report, admitting tolying to the judge in a trial,
and this guy's now the sheriff.

SPEAKER_05 (37:52):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (37:52):
And it's because voters, whether they hear all
that information, or you justget, you know, there's only so
much swing vote available.

SPEAKER_04 (37:59):
Yeah, I I mean I feel bad for you.
Imagine how bad Glenn Youncanfeels right now.
Like that's gotta be roughtonight, Frank.
Well, I okay.
Like Glenn Youncan knew JayJones, you think that one
doesn't hurt that doesn't breakhis heart a bit?

SPEAKER_01 (38:13):
Yeah, I'm sure it does.
But I I mean I mean he knew Iguarantee you, and I don't know
this from a personalconversation with him, but I
guarantee you he knew this racewas over six months ago.

SPEAKER_02 (38:22):
Right.
And it's and it hurtsRepublicans because the the
Republican attorney general wholost that is a great up and
coming candidate.

SPEAKER_01 (38:30):
He's a Cuban American, he's a very strong
don't be surprised if he's thenominee for Republicans to run
for governor before you.

SPEAKER_04 (38:37):
That's true.
That's a good point.
Okay, let's move on to NewJersey.

SPEAKER_01 (38:40):
Uh Jackie Chitz, baby.
I thought Jackie Chitz had ashot.
I mean, I was hoping.
I know Chitterelli just.
I talked to a pollster I knowtonight, okay?
And uh she said, she saidChitterelli never had a shot and
he got clocked.
13 points.

SPEAKER_02 (38:57):
Did you guys see this coming?
I'm not that surprised.
I mean, it's disappointing, butyou got to remember what New
Jersey is.
It's a very democratic state atthe end of the day.
And it's but Trump got withinsix.

SPEAKER_01 (39:09):
Trump didn't do how bad Biden was, right?
So that but I this is the redlight I want to talk about
because this is a blinking redlight to me.
And uh, in fact, our pollsterfriend said the same thing.
You want to blame this onsomething, you gotta blame it on
the economy, you gotta blame iton the fact that prices are
still too high, and that'swhat's killing people right now.
So if you're a Republican andyou know that you have a

(39:30):
Republican in the White House,they control the House and they
control the Senate, that that'swhere the blame fell over the
past 24 hours when you startseeing these results.

SPEAKER_02 (39:37):
Right.
And these, I mean, and this isone year in, you know, and so
Republicans are getting a lotdone, but they're gonna have to
be real aggressive incommunicating what's happening
and and how they're getting itdone.
And it's always it's just achallenge in these blue states
or in blue cities, like we'retalking about.

SPEAKER_04 (39:52):
Yeah, it's it's again kind of shocking.
All right, we have a fun one wewant to share with you, Jay.
We're not sure you get to seethis one.
Uh, so we're gonna bring thisone up.
This is the the mayor of EagleNest, um, New Mexico.

SPEAKER_01 (40:04):
We got Fox Gwynn.
Uh you guys Fox Gwynn pulls thisout with 14 votes.

SPEAKER_04 (40:09):
There was 14 votes to eight votes for the Eagle
Nest.
And we love Eagle Nest.
So uh we're we're we like it upthere a lot.
But I just was like, oh mygoodness.
I was like, wait, eight votes oreight percent, Mark?
And you're like, no, that'seight votes.

SPEAKER_01 (40:26):
That was Chrissy Lund, she got eight votes.
Uh Fox Gwynn, though.
I mean, pulling in 64% of thevote with 14 votes.

SPEAKER_02 (40:32):
I always think it's bad when you see a kid.
I always think it's bad and youhave a candidate and they end up
with one vote, and you realizelike they exposed everyone as a
liar who told them they votedfor them when they know it they
only got their own vote.

SPEAKER_04 (40:45):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
That's totally true.

SPEAKER_01 (40:47):
So so then I I guess some of this here and we'll wrap
fairly quickly, but where do youguys think we're at then?
I I think in general in thiscountry.
Trump's approval numbers areunderwater.
It's that's pretty clear.
And so you have a lot of peoplewho I know for a fact, and I've
gotten calls from them andeverything else, who are looking

(41:08):
at other races in the state nextyear.
And so they see what happens,you know, in the New Jersey and
Virginia races, and then you seewhat happens in races in New
Mexico.
What can you glean from tonightfrom candidates who say, I may
want to run for U.S.
Senate, I may want to run forgovernor, I may want to run for,
you know, whatever, House, youknow, whatever it is.

(41:31):
Would you tell them aftertonight you should more
seriously consider it?
Or do you look at tonight andsay, uh no, stay away from it?
Or would you say jury's stillout until we know what happens
in Albuquerque?

SPEAKER_02 (41:43):
Well, I think jury's always always still out, but I
would think you're looking atit's a midterm year.
And so it's always going to be achallenge for the the incumbent
party.
So we know that.
So you have to run really strongcampaigns.
You have to try to localize themas much as you can.
And you we've we've seen thatin, you know, you look go back

(42:04):
to like Heather Wilson's raceswhere they were tough times
where we'd lose the house andshe'd hold on to her seat
because she was really goodabout raising a lot of money and
running really strong campaigns,very localized campaigns, very
much about her and her opponent,and to stay out of any kind of
the what was going on with thenational environment.
And that's how she we lost thehouse in 06, for example, and

(42:25):
she held her seat here, youknow.
And so, like, I think if you'relooking at it, you gotta
understand what you're whatyou're up against.
It's you know, Darren ran greattonight, and he's in a really
strong position.
He understands it's Albuquerque,you know, it's a it's a partisan
difference in the vote.

SPEAKER_01 (42:41):
What was it?

SPEAKER_02 (42:41):
I think it was like 5529, something like that.
I mean, it's a big it was a biggap, and that's where it shows.
And I think Keller is so cockybecause of that, but what you
saw tonight was voters arewilling to cross on uh to when
they want change like that andput it together, but you have to
make it localized, and you'llsee this.
Mark my words, Keller's gonnatry to make this a national
election because whatever he cando to hide his own record,

(43:04):
right?
And so candidates looking at it,you have to, you know, it's
always a challenge, but it canbe done.
Like as you've as you've seen insome of these races, Heather
Wilson being a great example.
It's a tough New Mexico won'tridiculous seat, and she, I
think that yours like 300 won bylike 367 votes or something like
that.
It can be done, but you reallyhave to run a strong campaign.

(43:25):
And and and be like you say,Mark, you gotta be realistic
about what you're you know, thechallenges you're facing and
address them.

SPEAKER_03 (43:32):
It's a grind.
I mean, it's a grind.

SPEAKER_01 (43:34):
So then tomorrow morning, what do you have Darren
doing?

SPEAKER_03 (43:36):
Well, the whole time I'm like, holy crap, we just
like we gotta raise like sixthousand dollars every minute.
You know, you guys are wastingmy time right now.

SPEAKER_01 (43:42):
Oh, we are wasting time, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (43:43):
No, no doubt.

SPEAKER_03 (43:44):
Yeah, we don't pay, we don't pay.
Please go to Darren White foryour.com let's put up on the
screen.
Yeah, it's like we gotta wegotta roll.

SPEAKER_01 (43:51):
So what so what were you doing with them?
You have a list for themtomorrow morning?

SPEAKER_03 (43:54):
Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 (43:55):
And will it be a statewide list?
You'll just start.

SPEAKER_03 (43:57):
Yeah, I yeah, for sure.
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 (43:59):
And he's got he had people that supported him before
and they'll go right back tothem because they can give
again.

SPEAKER_03 (44:03):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (44:04):
What are the limits?

SPEAKER_02 (44:05):
It's how much?
6,000?
6,000 per person per entity.
And you can give businesses cangive too?
Businesses can give as long asthey're not don't they don't
have a contract with the city.
So you could, you know, if acouple and they have a business,
they could give 18.

SPEAKER_01 (44:18):
Yeah, got it.

SPEAKER_03 (44:20):
Jess, I I dismiss having Jess around to boss
around my own.
I know I gotta keep you guys onpoint.
So we're talking about NewJersey and New York.
I'm like, hey, we gotta get NewMexico.
We gotta get out of here.
Like, hello.
There is it.
Bring it on in, guy.
There is it.

SPEAKER_01 (44:31):
Given that you live in Rudo, so and you're used to
the wild, I will end with this.
Yes.
This is our latest uh trail camvideo.
Okay, see this guy?
I'll just hit it and I'll comevisiting across just yeah,
another bobcat.
He's constantly coming throughthis guy.
And I've seen him multipletimes.
When is Christy gonna let youadopt him?

SPEAKER_04 (44:51):
Oh, never.
We don't need we don't need abobcat.
We don't need a raccoon or amountain lion or a bear.

SPEAKER_01 (44:58):
Let me tell you something.
We've got some we've got a tonof mountain lions, bears.
We have not I have not seen araccoon on the trail camps, I
will say that.

SPEAKER_04 (45:05):
I know that to disappoint Jay.

SPEAKER_02 (45:07):
Did you remember that bear I showed you from the
bear and raccoon were hangingout together?

SPEAKER_01 (45:11):
Yeah, yeah, you between town and Durango, you
have some grift nappy lookingbears.

SPEAKER_04 (45:15):
Yeah, your bears are a little grisly up in Durango.
Yeah, we've got bears too.
I don't know which ones I wantto be around.
Oh, you want to be around thebig fat ones because they're
well fed.
They're done.

SPEAKER_01 (45:25):
His his mangy bears.
I'm gonna send a picture so youcan put them up.
Uh bear friendly.
I'm down to my last meal.
I don't know where this thing'sgoing to be.

SPEAKER_04 (45:36):
Don't go anywhere next to it.
It's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 (45:37):
But all right, so now we know that's our little
election special.
Uh, we appreciate you joiningus.
Uh, we're gonna continue to moveforward.
We'll have another show comingup, Christy.
Yeah, are we doing that exactly?

SPEAKER_04 (45:47):
Well, uh, that's a good question, Mark.
Um, when are we doing our nextshow?
It will be later this week, I'lltell you that much.
I think he'll record it.
Uh well, let's hope so.
No, I think it's a goodquestion.

SPEAKER_01 (45:56):
I mean, I think um I mean, what time is it?
It's it's like almost 11.
It's 11:30.
No, we'll have Ella punch it.
Ella's a much better puncherthan me.

SPEAKER_04 (46:03):
Yeah, this isn't there's no doubt about that.
Okay.
Well, thanks you guys so muchfor joining us.
We appreciate it.
We appreciate our guests today,Jess and Jess and Jay.
We'll have Jess on again just torip on Mark at some point when
you when you have time.
But you're busy right now.

SPEAKER_01 (46:16):
See, we got game day, Jess.
When Jess looks at you, she'sall serious and she looks at
you.
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (46:20):
Well, she's got a job for like 24 hours or
something.
She's she's gotta she's gonnaget like a nap.

SPEAKER_01 (46:25):
Yeah.
And then she's gotta get to workagain.
She's gotta get to work.

SPEAKER_04 (46:27):
She's gotta get to work tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 (46:28):
Yeah, and so for those of you who know Jess, and
I know there are people on thispodcast who do, she's gonna be
on the other end of the phone inabout five hours.

SPEAKER_04 (46:35):
Yeah, so take her call.
Take her call tomorrow, ladiesand gentlemen.
Thanks for spending time withus.
Make sure that you like andsubscribe on our shows, and we
appreciate all your support.
And if you'd like to sign up foremail, go to knowoubt about
itpodcast.com and sign up forour emails.
Thanks, you guys.
God bless, and have a greatnight.

SPEAKER_00 (46:51):
You've been listening to the No Doubt About
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(47:11):
The No Doubt About It Podcast isa choose adventure media
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See you next time on No DoubtAbout It.
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