New councilor, new municipal judge; mayoral runoff could be imminent
Folks crammed into the City Council Chambers after the polls closed March 3 to hear the unofficial results of the City of Gallup Regular Municipal Election.
Four positions were about to be decided: Dist. 2 Councilor, Dist. 4 Councilor, Municipal Judge, and the Mayor of Gallup.
Three of those elections delivered a clear winner, but a run-off will likely be required to determine the new mayor.
The canvass for the Municipal Officer Election is slated for March 10 before the McKinley County Board of Commissioners, according to City Clerk Alfred Abeita.
Abeita also said if a runoff election is necessary following the canvass, it will be held March 31. This date was established by the Council when they adopted the resolution for the March 3 election.
A resolution will be presented to the City Council during their March 10 meeting to affirm the date if it is necessary, along with the offices to be filled and candidates on the ballot.
DISTRICT 2 COUNCILOR
Newcomer Michael Schaaf defeated Allan Landavazo by a margin of 39 votes - 348 to 309.
Schaaf currently serves on the Gallup-McKinley County Schools Board of Education and said watching the results come in was exciting since it was close.
“I hope I can do a good job and represent my constituents well,” Schaaf said. “It was a good race.”
DISTRICT 4 COUNCILOR
Fran Palochak handily held off challenger Levi Saucedo with 440 votes to his 130 votes.
Palochak said Saucedo was the first person to congratulate her because the numbers he had apparently seen showed she had a substantial lead, which was reinforced as the results came in.
“I appreciate the voters being so gracious to vote for me and let me represent them for an additional four years,” she said. “It’s really for them that I serve. It’s not for me. It’s for the City of Gallup and my constituents.”
MUNICIPAL JUDGE
The three-way race for municipal judge was intense between competitors, Janell Griego and Earl Andrew Yearley. Ultimately, Griego pulled away with 1,509 votes to Yearley’s 1,215 votes.
The third candidate, current Mayor Jackie McKinney, brought up the rear with 653 votes.
MAYOR OF GALLUP
The most packed race of the election had five candidates, but it mostly boiled down to two.
Sammy Chioda led the pack with 1,347 votes while Louis Bonaguidi finished second with 987 votes.
As for the rest of the slate, Charles Van Drunen finished third with 721 votes, while Jayson Gomez pulled in 228 and Yolanda Ahasteen-Azua brought in 119 votes.
Despite finishing with the most votes, Chioda did not have the required 40 percent of the total ballots cast, which means a run-off election could occur on March 31, barring any changes to the vote tallies in the canvass.
Bonaguidi said while the early results showed he lagged behind Chioda, he was surprised by how he was able to close the gap as more precincts reported in.
“I feel pretty good about coming from behind,” he said. “Being down 10 percent [and coming back] isn’t too bad.”
Even with the run-off election now in play, Chioda thinks the results reaffirm Gallup residents are ready for change.
“When you have that kind of response with five people running, I consider it a moral victory,” he said. “However, now we have to clinch it and go back to work.”
Bonaguidi said he is also preparing for a runoff.
“It’s a whole new election,” Bonaguidi said. “It’s between [Sammy] and me. It’s a matter of letting people know what I’m like. I think it’ll be pretty even.”
Chioda praised the other candidates and the ideas they had, and stated people resonated with his ideas and the solutions he presented for facing problems in Gallup.
“Every person I spoke with, change was in the air,” Chioda said. “When I spoke with people about my perspectives and my vision for the future mayor, they responded to that in a positive way.”
This has Chioda encouraged going into the run-off election.
“If people want change in this community, they’re going to have to get out and vote,” Chioda said.
Bonaguidi also addressed the idea of Gallup residents being ready for change.
“Whether they’re ready for it or not, it’s going to happen,” Bonaguidi said. “With every new administration in there, there’s going to be changes.”
The current administration has served the City of Gallup for nine years, he added.
“It’s going to be up to us to get our personalities across to the people,” Bonaguidi said. “We’ve lost so much in the past ten, twelve years. In a lot of ways, we’ve gone backwards. My hopes are I’d like to see it back to what it was.”
Specifically, Bonaguidi recalled how Gallup was once a major regional shopping area, and he thinks it could regain that status with the right administration and decisions.
By Cody Begaye
Sun Correspondent
