Last week, City Desk ABQ reported that Albuquerque mayoral candidate Daniel Chavez had not disclosed to voters that he was facing battery charges for inappropriately touching a former staffer.
This weekend, a new poll found that he had earned just six percent of support.
Now the parking lot company owner says he’s had enough and is dropping out.
KRQE was the first to report that Chavez does not see a viable path forward after recent polling results.
In response to an email from City Desk, Chavez said, “I am dropping out of the race to be Albuquerque’s next mayor as I no longer see a viable path forward after the poll results from Sunday.”
Without a political résumé and as a Republican running in a traditionally liberal majority city, Chavez always faced an uphill challenge, but he quickly became a serious candidate when he loaned himself $100,000 last spring. Campaign finance reports show that the money went mostly to canvassers to collect thousands of qualifying signatures required to earn a spot on the ballot, which he did in July.
But finance reports analyzed by City Desk show that Chavez failed to raise any significant funds after qualifying. His report filed on Sept. 1 showed total new contributions of less than $15,000 and just $7,000 cash-on-hand going into the last two months of the campaign.
Last week, City Desk ABQ reported that Chavez had failed to disclose to voters that he was facing misdemeanor battery charges stemming from an encounter with a staffer in June. The staffer had accused him of inappropriately touching them following a campaign meeting. That story was picked up by the Albuquerque Journal and other outlets following City Desk‘s reporting. He is scheduled for trial in October.
On Sunday, a poll by Research and Polling Inc. for the Albuquerque Journal and others found Chavez had secured just six percent of the vote just three weeks before early voting begins.
Chavez’s name will still appear on ballots because the deadline to officially withdraw has passed.