Rather than accurately address the surging problems in Albuquerque, in his re-election bid, Democrat Mayor Tim Keller continuously strives to divert attention away from himself using the “admit nothing, deny everything, make counter-accusations” strategy. While also seeking to maintain his far-left base, the main target of Keller’s counter-accusation strategy is a man 1,800 miles away.

Keller needs to understand he is not running against U.S. President Donald Trump. He is running against six other candidates, each one of them having a better understanding of Albuquerque’s problems than Keller himself .

The fact that three of the candidates have extensive and impressive New Mexico criminal justice careers sends a strong message. All three recognize the need to rebuild order out of existing chaos. Albuquerque was once a safe place to raise families and build businesses. In the past seven and a half years of Keller at the city’s helm, those opportunities have taken a disastrous turn for the worse.

The most indisputable source of this reality is the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) statistical report completed one year ago this month: Albuquerque murders are over three times the national average based on population, violent crimes just under four times, property crimes over two times, and vehicle thefts over three times. This FBI report resulted in American Thinker declaring Albuquerque to be The most dangerous city in the most dangerous state - American Thinker.

If the 2025 report shows the slightest improvement in those hideous numbers, Keller will further continue his claim that the crime problem is getting better. In example, should it ever come out that Albuquerque’s annual per capita murder rate is at 200% of what it was in 2014, Keller will claim that is an improvement over the 210% increase that is currently documented.

Two murders that occurred this summer resulted from (1) an argument over a parking space  and (2) premeditated murder when an Uber driver answered the transport call. The person who murdered the Uber driver smiled in his booking photo while telling the police he just wanted to kill someone and found the victim to be a "likable person." 

Then comes the illegal immigration problem, which is a direct result of Keller’s official proclamation that Albuquerque is an “Immigrant Friendly City” - a double speak version of “Sanctuary City.” Because of this, Albuquerque has become the warehouse and redistribution center for Mexican cartels sending their drugs up Interstate 25 for further shipments on Interstates 40, 70, and 80. Last April’s U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s 2.7 million fentanyl-pill bust DEA Seizes Record-Setting Number of Fentanyl Pills in Albuquerque, New Mexico is being played by Mayor Keller as a single statistic as he continues to claim Albuquerque’s crime is going down.

The crime problem has become undeniable to everyone except Mayor Keller. When one of the three criminal justice candidates for mayor, Darren White, was on the streets of Albuquerque filming a campaign video, a thief tried to intimidate White and the crew into either surrendering the camera or being subjected to violence. This Darwin-Awards-candidate thief had no idea he was trying to intimidate and steal from the former county sheriff and head of New Mexico State Police.

Keller’s policies do not just have a trickle-down effect on Albuquerque. Keller’s policies create a massive waterfall. Businesses are especially impacted by the homeless problem . Property owners are continually having a losing battle with sanitation and health problems .

Meanwhile, keeping his head in the sand, Keller did not even respond to a New Mexico Business Coalition questionnaire. 2025 Albuquerque Mayoral Candidates - New Mexico Business Coalition. In fairness to Keller, this was a relatively smart move. Keller knows any of his claims of success as mayor will be discredited with provable facts provided by his opponents. It’s become pretty bad when in response to a Business Coalition questionnaire, the city mayor exercises his right to remain silent.

Keller needs to understand two lessons from local history. First, in 1981 voters of Albuquerque were angered that the city had been overrun by tumbleweeds because of then-Democrat-Mayor David Rusk’s budget cuts. Before Rusk’s inept decision, the problem was alleviated by a single truck crew burning the tumbleweeds in place during early growth through the spring and summer. Voter anger resulted in Rusk being soundly defeated in the November election so he could go away, as the song says, “drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds.” Rusk had created a situation reminiscent of classic western movies directed by John Ford.

Advance forty-four years and because of the massive problems that have engulfed the city on Tim Keller’s watch, voters are going to this November’s polls as Albuquerque is like a modern-day movie directed by Quentin Tarantino.

Second lesson is that not since 1972 when former Albuquerque City Commission Chairman (a position later redesignated as mayor) Republican Pete Domenici was elected to the U.S. Senate has anyone who served as Albuquerque’s top official advanced to a more senior government position. Just because Tim Keller is in a dead-end position doesn’t mean he has to take the city down with him.