Jan. 5—Jockeying for power is a collision sport in Santa Fe.
Lawmakers at the state Capitol usually grab the headlines in January, but this year they have to share the spotlight with city politicians.
JoAnne Vigil Coppler, who finished second in Santa Fe’s mayoral election in 2021, will run again this fall. She told me in a text message she plans to formally announce her candidacy this week.
Vigil Coppler might not be the only candidate making a comeback.
Ron Trujillo, second-place finisher in the 2018 race for mayor, said he will decide by the end of January whether to run. Trujillo said Vigil Coppler’s entry in the race won’t influence his decision.
Vigil Coppler, 70, and Trujillo, 56, both lost to Mayor Alan Webber, a man they criticize as an inept administrator. They say basic services such as police protection, road maintenance and upkeep of parks deteriorated under Webber.
Many residents share the views of Trujillo and Vigil Coppler, though complainers don’t necessarily bother to vote.
Webber, 76, has not said whether he will seek a third term. My guess is he will not run again, enabling him to devote the year to public relations. Routine work such as completing financial audits on schedule will be hailed as wondrous advances.
Should Webber try for another term, he might benefit from what’s shaping up as a large field of challengers. In addition to Vigil Coppler, three other candidates for mayor already have emerged.
Webber spent a record $507,000 in his 2021 campaign, and he still has a base of benefactors to draw from. A multitude of challengers might split the votes of residents who want a change at City Hall.
In recent cycles, mayoral elections in Santa Fe have been met with apathy. That also benefits Webber. He lives on the southeast side of town, where turnout is highest.
Trujillo said low participation hurt him in the 2018 election. A three-term city councilor at the time, he carried his own district by only 33 votes over Webber.
A total of 20,614 people voted in the five-way race for mayor in 2018. Turnout was almost as high the previous year for a special election in which the only issue was whether to raise taxes on sugary drinks. The sugar tax lost in a landslide.
If Trujillo runs, he said one challenge would be expanding his name recognition. Ongoing battles with Webber over historical monuments occasionally kept Trujillo in the news since he was a councilor.
Webber in 2020 unilaterally ordered the removal of a statue of conquistador Don Diego de Vargas from Cathedral Park. Webber said the statue would be stored in a secure city building.
Trujillo documented that the statue instead was left in the courtyard of a business. Webber blamed one of his department heads for the foulup, an explanation Trujillo did not accept. The statue in 2024 was placed in the New Mexico History Museum.
Vigil Coppler’s loss to Webber in 2021 came in a three-way election with anemic turnout. Webber topped Vigil Coppler 55% to 35% in a race that drew 18,161 voters. Turnout was higher in Santa Fe’s 1994 mayoral election, when the city had 23,000 fewer residents.
It didn’t take the second coming of Jimmy the Greek to predict Webber would win in 2021. He had more than three times as much money as Vigil Coppler.
A more significant issue was Vigil Coppler did not offer a detailed plan for improving city operations. Criticizing Webber’s failures wasn’t enough to persuade voters to make a change, especially because he had ample resources to go on the attack.
Trujillo backed Vigil Coppler in 2021. They might be opponents this year.
With Santa Fe’s silly system of ranked-choice voting, candidates often are afraid to criticize the opposition. They don’t want to offend someone and risk losing second-place and third-place votes. Politicians become homogeneous, predictable and dull.
This year might be different. Whether Webber runs or retires, he will wear a bull’s-eye in the mayoral campaign. Candidates have a harvest of truthful material to work with, beginning with Webber twice choosing unqualified political insiders as city manager.
Negative campaigning, though, will only take city politicians so far. If there’s a breakout candidate, it will be someone with particulars on everything from hiring capable administrators to getting the police department fully staffed to fixing pothole-filled streets that haven’t been serviced in years.
Being mayor is a dirty job. A lot of people want it or claim they do. Santa Fe, city in a tailspin, needs an organizer, a workaholic and someone who doesn’t listen to the same 10 or 15 people all the time.
I’m not sure any mayoral candidate will meet those qualifications. An even bigger question mark is whether people fired up today about a regime change will bother voting in November.
Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnewmexican.com or 505-986-3080.