About District 8 City Councilor Dan Champine
Email Councilor Dan Champine: [email protected]
Contact Policy Analyst Enrique Knell:
[email protected]
505-768-4622
Committee Appointments for 2024
- Finance & Government Operations Committee
- Land Use, Planning, & Zoning Committee
- Regional Transit District (RTD)
- Accountability in Government Oversight (AGO), Alternate
- Visit Albuquerque, Alternate
- NM Municipal League, Alternate
- Committee on Guidelines for Negotiations
Biography
Dan Champine grew up in Albuquerque and has lived in just about every part of the city at some point.
One of his favorite memories growing up was when he was finally old enough for his parents to drop him off with his friends at Uncle Cliffs (yes, back then it wasn’t just "Cliffs").
Freedom and Uncle Cliffs
“It was freedom,” he remembers. “We went on every ride and had a blast. Living in Southeast Albuquerque, I remember riding my bike to Winrock Theater to watch the first Batman movie.”
Dan says our kids today don’t always have that same freedom.
“The Albuquerque we live in today is not the same Albuquerque I grew up in, but it can be,” says Councilor Champine. “It’s part of why I ran for City Council. Our kids should have the freedom to ride bikes in and around our neighborhoods. Too often today families are scared to walk from their car to the grocery store. People have been victimized in their own driveways. We need to change this.”
Career in Law Enforcement
Dan served in the Albuquerque Police Department for 22 years. He was a patrol officer, a detective, and then finished his career patrolling from 1,500 feet in Albuquerque’s sky from a police helicopter. He was also selected by his fellow officers to represent them as Vice President of the Albuquerque Police Officers Association.
District 8
Daniel J Champine was elected to represent Albuquerque’s City Council District 8 in the November 2023 election.
Champine says he’s old enough to remember when Academy and Eubank just stopped, and there were only dirt roads and lots to the northeast of that intersection. Now, Champine represents just under 45,000 people who live in that northeast quadrant of the city, from San Antonio south to Menaul, and from Eubank/Wyoming east to where the city ends at the foot of the Sandias.
As City Councilor he wants to leave Albuquerque “better than I found it.”
“I served our city as a police officer,” he says. “Now I’m proud to serve this city and my neighbors as their voice on the Albuquerque City Council. It’s the same calling I had in law enforcement, but now I’ll have different tools and resources to improve our neighborhoods. This is my chance to continue giving back to the community that raised me.”
Since his retirement from law enforcement, Dan now operates a small business full-time in the home finance industry.
Dan is married and has a son.