Harry hits a high note
Mendoza takes mayor's race by almost 300 votes

Mayoral candidate Harry Mendoza sings "Lucille" with Laura and Tony Guillen while waiting for the final preliminary vote count at El Rancho Hotel on Tuesday night. Mendoza defeated Ralph Richards in Tuesday's run-off election. [Photo by Matt Hinshaw/Independent]

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — The "Congratulations" banner Harry Mendoza and his team strung out above the stage inside the banquet room of El Rancho Hotel proved a little premature three Tuesdays ago when the mayoral hopeful missed avoiding a runoff by less than one vote but not Tuesday night.

After all the votes were in Tuesday evening, and Mendoza finished just shy of 300 votes ahead of opponent Ralph Richards, it fit right in. As did the balloons, confetti, and a cake with a message that said it all: Congratulations Mayor Harry.

Between turns on the microphone, to belt out a few tunes with keyboard accompaniment above the happy chatter of a roomful of well-wishers, Mendoza stopped for photos, handshakes, and a few questions.

"We worked real hard," Mendoza said. "Everyone thought this was going to be a runaway race, but I didn't."

He could have been forgiven for believing the hype, having nearly doubled the 796 votes that went to Richards his closes competitor during the March 6 general election. But Richards managed to close the gap over the next three weeks, finishing with 1,593 votes Tuesday, just 298 behind Mendoza.

"I thought it was going to be even closer than that," Mendoza said.

Having run against a Richards before he defeated Ralph's mother, Sharon, for a seat on the City Council in the mid-80s by only 200 votes the experienced politician knew what to expect.

"They're tough campaigners," Mendoza said.

This time around, Richards actually bested Mendoza in half the city's four districts, taking both the east and south sides of town. Mendoza expected Richards to poll strong in those districts, and made a point to campaign extra hard in the other two.

But both men could agree that early voting made the difference. Of the 1,120 voters who cast early ballots 10 percent of the registered voters in Gallup and nearly a third of everyone who voted in the runoff Mendoza took 774.

"That was the key, right there," Mendoza said. "That was the race."

"No doubt about it," agreed Richards, who took in the news at City Hall. "Early voting did it."

Richards was still a little surprised by just how many early votes went to Mendoza though he also expected a close race.

"We knew we had an uphill battle," he said. "We went door to door in just about every community."

Though Richards didn't make it into office, he did, borrowing a line from a certain movie-star-turned-governor in California, make one promise: "No doubt about it, I'll be back."

Exactly how and when, though, whether as a council candidate in two years or a mayoral candidate again in four, he wouldn't say.

As for Mendoza, the new mayor-elect said he won't make any major decisions before having a one-on-one with each of his fellow councilors. But that's not to say there aren't a few things he wants to get done right away.

Despite his council-consensus-first talk, Mendoza does have a to-do list for his first 90 days, including hiring a personnel director and putting more cops on the street, probably by shifting them from the Gallup Police Department's administrative offices, which he believes are overstaffed. Mendoza didn't want to give away too much of his plans, though, before talking them through with his new councilors.

Trying to build consensus outside of an open meeting could get him in trouble with state law, which requires most council debate to take place in public and forbids such "rolling quorums."

In any case, Mendoza wanted to allay concerns that he would undo some of the last administration's decisions if elected. Though he conceded to not agreeing with them all, like the investment it made in a new trail system, he promised not to.

"I wouldn't have done them," he said. "I would have put the money to better use."

But now that the trails are a reality, he said, he even suggested expanding on them.

Mendoza and the new council will get to do all that and more soon enough. The city will be canvassing the runoff votes today and, assuming the official numbers don't change the outcome, swearing in its new mayor Thursday morning.