The Fallacies of Tim Keller’s Election Strategies
by Wes Martin
December 1, 2025

Early voting in Albuquerque’s December 9th run-off election is now underway between the two top candidates from November’s mayoral election. Recognizing that sixty-four percent of the 130,000 voters disagreed with his policies concerning crime, sanctuary city, and the surging homeless population, Mayor Tim Keller is working hard to shift attention away from his past eight years of managing a continually failing administration.

Keller’s strategies for winning the run-off election against Darren White are very basic. First is applying the adage of “admit nothing, deny everything, and make counter-accusations.” This strategy is not so much against White, but rather directed at former Albuquerque Inspector General Melissa Santistevan who worked for Keller.

As noted by a November 25th KOAT News report, Santistevan is suing Keller and his administration for terminating her employment while blocking release of her investigative fraud, waste, and abuse reports which were completed over a year ago Former Albuquerque inspector general sues city and mayor. As reported by KOAT, even City Council President Brook Bassan has stated, "I think it's really important that we do everything we can to release them to the public before the election." Keller has kept those reports from the voters throughout the entire election cycle and is not about to release them in the final few days. That begs the questions, “What is he hiding?” and “Why is he waiting until after the election to deal with the fallout?”

The second strategy is “When an argument cannot be won on valid points or merits, then apply slander. His inability to win an argument, or this election, on valid points and merit was exposed in the October 22nd and November 24th televised debates. Keller admits that the streets of Albuquerque are not safe and the homeless problem has gotten worse during his past two terms as mayor.

The main target of the slander strategy is White, a former Bernalillo County Sheriff, former Director of New Mexico Public Safety, and an 82nd Airborne Division combat veteran. The slander is a combination of flat out lies and half-truths. There’s little difference between the two. As American founding father Benjamin Franklin stated, “A half-truth is often a great lie.”

Keller’s third strategy is trying to create fear among Albuquerque voters by dragging President Trump’s name into every conversation possible. Failing to realize that Trump is not running for mayor of Albuquerque, Keller continually contradicts himself. At every opportunity, Keller claims that statistically crime has gone down this year in Albuquerque. Meanwhile he refuses to acknowledge that recent actions of the United States Border Patrol and other federal agencies have had anything to do with the improved statistics. Likewise, Keller refuses to acknowledge that even with minor improvements in statistics, Albuquerque still has crime rates two to three times higher than the national average in every measured category. Albuquerque scores have placed it as the sixth most dangerous city in America.

Keller’s renaming the “War Zone” as the “International Zone” doesn’t make the long stretch of east Central Avenue any safer. Instead, this politically correct renaming backfires. It’s an unspoken admission that the most serious cause of the crime problem is directly associated with Keller’s “Sanctuary City” policies that have allowed Mexican drug cartels to flourish within the city.

Also backfiring is Keller’s boastful comment, “If you commit a crime, we will arrest you.” Using the word “we” is nothing more than stolen valor. Unlike former-Sheriff White, Mayor Keller has never made an arrest in his life.

The fourth strategy is to either get people to vote against White or not vote at all. That comes from having sixty-four percent of Albuquerque voters making it clear they want a leader, not a misguiding manager, in the mayor’s office.

Rather than Keller who boasts about working against federal law-enforcement operations, Albuquerque needs a leader with credentials who can de-escalate tension and work to protect hard working, law-abiding immigrants dedicated to becoming productive American citizens. Despite Keller’s slander, that is exactly what White is intent on accomplishing.

On their way to the polls, Albuquerque voters should take a drive down east Central Avenue, formerly Route 66. The very district that once thrived while supporting Americans traveling east and west has become one of the most crime-infested areas in the entire nation. Stores are now protected by iron bars on windows and doors, or just completely boarded up from having gone out of business. Drug sales and prostitution have now surged as the district’s two most active entrepreneurial operations.

Once having taken that drive down Central Avenue on the way to the ballot box, Albuquerque voters will realize that another four years of Tim Keller as mayor is untenable. The choice is really simple: to vote for another four years of Keller degression or to again make the city a safe place to raise families, support existing businesses, encourage industrial growth, and create a positive future for the next generation.

©2024 Wes Martin