A televised mayoral debate next Wednesday will spotlight just four of six active candidates for mayor of Albuquerque, but Mayling Armijo is pushing to be included, arguing voters deserve to hear from all six contenders — including the race’s only woman — while more than a third of voters remain undecided.
The Oct. 15 debate — hosted by KOAT, the Albuquerque Journal and News Radio KKOB — will feature four candidates: Mayor Tim Keller, City Councilor Louie Sanchez, former U.S. Attorney Alex Uballez and former Sheriff Darren White. Armijo and retired Fire Chief Eddie Varela are left out, even as early voting began Oct. 7 and a recent poll shows 37% of voters undecided, sparking questions about media gatekeeping in local races.
“Albuquerque voters deserve to know they have a choice in this critical mayoral election,” Armijo told City Desk. “I am concerned with KOAT’s decision to exclude myself and Eddie Varela from the upcoming Mayoral Debate.”
KOAT President and General Manager Lori Waldon said the station used polls and campaign finance reports to set the debate lineup. “Based on those numbers, that’s how we determined who would be the finalists for the debate,” she said.
According to Waldon, the decision wasn’t about excluding candidates. “Once the polling was done and we looked at campaign numbers, we just determined who ended up on top,” she said.
In an email to Armijo, provided to CityDesk by Armijo, KOAT Assistant News Director Brian Halberstadt said the station narrowed the debate field to encourage the “most-productive debate” using data from the poll and campaign finance reports.
“After considering the relevant data, we are extending invitations to Tim Keller, Louie Sanchez, Alex Uballez and Darren White,” he said.
The challenge
Armijo’s campaign pushed back in the letter to KOAT, arguing she deserved a spot in the debate for both representation and fairness.
She also challenged KOAT’s fundraising criteria, saying her $93,000 in outside contributions — excluding self-loans — tops Sanchez’s $62,000. Her campaign also has 131 individual donors compared to Sanchez’s 111.
“Isn’t it important that voters in Albuquerque know that there are truly other choices on the ballot?” she wrote.
Halberstadt rejected her request the next day, saying the station had “already made our journalistic determination.”
The debate will feature only men, leaving Armijo out and women — about half of Albuquerque voters — without representation on stage.
“Without Mayling, over 50% of Albuquerque’s population (women) will have no voice on stage, excluding her is inequitable,” her campaign said in the email, noting Armijo is the only woman among six ballot-qualified candidates.
Albuquerque has never elected a woman mayor, and now its only female candidate won’t appear in the race’s biggest televised debate.
“This exclusion undermines the democratic process by limiting the voices available to the public, especially when the latest ABQ Journal poll reveals that 37% of voters remain undecided,” Armijo said in the statement.
Varela left off too
Like Armijo, Varela is also being left off the debate. He called the decision “insane and wrong” and said it was meant to help re-elect Keller.
According to Varela, he collected the second-highest number of petitions — 4,000 — but was still rejected. He questioned the polling used to narrow the field.
“The polls that were run are absolutely incorrect. They’re absolutely wrong,” he said.
“It’s like Kamala Harris — she was supposed to beat Trump by 5%, and he wiped her all over the place,” Varela said. “Whether you’re Democrat or Republican, you can’t buy into those polls at all. But the poll hurt me real bad. I’m supposed to be on a debate on KOAT TV on the 15th of all candidates, guess what? They dropped Mayling and me off the debate.”
What’s next
The KOAT Action 7 News Commitment 2025 Albuquerque Mayoral Debate will air on Wed., Oct. 15, at 7 p.m.
KOAT Anchor’s Doug Fernandez and Shelly Ribando will moderate, Albuquerque Journal’s Dan Boyd and KKOB-AM’s Bob Clark, will ask questions.
Waldon said KOAT will have a roundtable discussion with all the candidates following the debate, but didn’t say when.
For voting and election info: How and where to vote in the city election in 2025