Two people have filed to challenge Yogash Kumar for a District 3 city council seat, while Linda Garcia of District 1 won’t face anyone – at least for now, according to data from the city clerk’s office.
The candidate field could grow since a write-in deadline is Jan. 24.
“The candidate deadline to file was Jan. 17,” Gallup City Clerk Al Abeita said. “There is still time for write-in candidates to file.”
A retired municipal legal employee, Garcia was elected in 2013 on a platform that included beautification, improving infrastructure and re-establishing neighborhood associations. Garcia’s neighborhood meetings are held frequently. Kumar is a hotelier with holdings in Gallup and Albuquerque. He was elected in 2013.
WHO’S RUNNING SO FAR?
Angela Chavez and Esco Chavez filed to run against Kumar.
“There are things that I want to focus on if I’m elected,” Angela Chavez said. Chavez owns and operates Angela’s Café which is located inside the Gallup Cultural Center. She’s originally from Michigan.
“We have to be more visible in the community and I want to hold more community meeting,” she said. “Of course I want to put an emphasis on infrastructure and things along those lines.”
Kumar previously ran on a platform that included economic development through tourism and infrastructure improvement. Kumar serves on the city’s lodgers tax committee and is a mainstay in local and state circles when it comes to tourism and marketing.
City of Gallup councilors serve four-year staggered terms and earn an annual salary of $15,000. Esco Chavez is a former city parks and recreation director who unsuccessfully ran for mayor a few years ago.
Esco Chavez was part of the grass roots group that spoke out numerous times at meetings about not closing the former Harold Runnels Swimming Complex on East Montoya Boulevard. That matter went all the way to the 11th Judicial District Court in McKinley County.
The election is March 14.
By Bernie Dotson
Sun Correspondent
