S.F. native, vet David Montoya announces campaign for City Council District 1 seat
David Montoya bills himself as a "happy warrior."
"I want to be able to be approachable, have people talk to me, come up with solutions I haven't thought of before ... and add value," Montoya, who is making a bid for a Santa Fe City Council District 1 seat, said in an interview Sunday.
"If you could make it better — if you could leave it better — then I think you've done your job," he added.
A Santa Fe native and Air Force veteran, Montoya joins Katherine Rivera, an unsuccessful council candidate in 2023, in the race to represent much of the city's downtown and wealthy east side in a district that historically has had some of the highest voter-turnout rates in the city.
Longtime City Councilor Signe Lindell announced last week she will not run for a fourth term in her District 1 seat. Councilor Carol Romero-Wirth of District 2 on Friday publicly stated her intention not to run again in the November municipal election.
The shakeup will make way for at least two newcomers on the council — a change Montoya said may signal a "new direction" for the city.
"There's an opportunity there to turn the page and really provide new leadership," he said.
A 15th-generation Santa Fean, Montoya, 54, graduated from St. Michael's High School before spending nearly seven years in the U.S. Air Force. He holds two master's degrees — a Master of Business Administration from Georgetown University and a Master of Science from Louisiana State University — and now works as a senior construction manager, primarily overseeing big government projects.
After years away, Montoya said he returned to Santa Fe with a couple of goals in mind.
"I wanted to do two things: I really wanted to get involved in the community, and I wanted to live in the same neighborhood that my grandparents grew up in and my dad grew up in," Montoya said.
Though his council bid marks his first time running for political office, Montoya has accomplished his goal of community involvement. He helps the Kiwanis Club of Santa Fe host its annual Zozobra burning and is an active member of the council behind Fiesta de Santa Fe. He's also a volunteer firefighter for Santa Fe County and a member of the Fraternal Order of the Eagles.
A former staffer for then-U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, Montoya also has been an active member of Democratic politics for much of his life. He's a current ward chair for the Democratic Party of Santa Fe County and a former party leader at the state level and in Sandoval County.
Despite his work with the Democratic Party, Montoya said he appreciates that Santa Fe City Council races are nonpartisan.
"That's what it's going to take," he said. "This is a town that, in so many ways, is divided — divided through culture, divided through newcomers versus old-comers and Democrats and Republicans. I just really think that, if we're going to be successful, we all have to do it together."
The two big issues on Montoya's mind: crime and housing.
City councilors' direct authority over Santa Fe police is limited, but the governing body does approve the city budget, has an advisory public safety committee and passes ordinances surrounding what does or doesn't count as a city offense.
Montoya encouraged police to identify the small subset of offenders responsible for the majority of crime and recommended a community policing-based approach. For instance, installing a police substation near the Interfaith Community Shelter on Cerrillos Road — which also falls in District 1 — could be a "good start," he said.
But crime in Santa Fe is connected to homelessness and lack of affordable housing, Montoya noted, with people who grew up in Santa Fe now unable to afford to live in town.
"Everybody that I went to high school with now lives in Rio Rancho, and they commute," he said.
He advocated for the city investing in workforce housing, pointing to Aspen, Colo., as a potential model. Montoya also called it a mistake for the council to vote to approve a "fee in lieu" option for its affordable housing program — which allows developers to pay a fee instead of building below-market-rate housing — at the city-owned midtown campus.
Montoya said the reason for his council bid is relatively simple: "I feel compelled," he said. It's what drove him to join the Air Force and volunteer with Zozobra and the Fiesta Council, he said.
"Your country needs you. Your community needs you. Your city needs you. Your neighborhood needs you," Montoya said. "Time to step it up."
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