Two Seats Contested in Las Vegas City Elections

Two years ago Las Vegas city government was shaken when the Mayor, Tonita Gurule-Giron, was forced to resign when she was indicted by the NM Attorney General on corruption charges.  She was subsequently convicted of receiving kickbacks from her then-boyfriend, after pressuring city employees to award his city construction contracts.  She was given an 18-month sentence of probation.

Three of the four city council seats in Las Vegas are open this year.  Wards 1 and 3 will be contested; In Ward 4 the inclumbent, David Romero is running unopposed.

In Ward 1 incumbent David Ulibarri is running for re-election, and is opposed by Francisco Apodaca, Rolando Medrano, and Doris Gallegos.  Apodaca works as STEM director at Luna College; Medrano is the owner of Northeastern Land Appraisals in Las Vegas, and Gallegos is a retired city employee.

In Ward 3 the incumbent, Elaine Rodriguez, a department head at Highlands University, was appointed to the office when Joseph Baca, who had been elected to the position, resigned unexpectedly in 2020.  She is running for the spot, but will be opposed by Barbara Perea Casey, perhaps the best-known politician outside of San Miguel County, having served as Superintendent of West Las Vegas Schools and as a state legislator from House District 38 in Roswell from 1983-1995.  She also served on the city council from Ward 3 from 2016-2020, when she ran unsuccessfully for Mayor.