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Katherine Martinez is already hearing the question.

Her answer, before you ask, is "No." She is not Mayor Martin Chavez's puppet candidate for Albuquerque City Council District 2, she says.

"I like answering this question. I really am tired of seeing it all over the place, 'the mayor's candidate,' " says Martinez, who has received Chavez's endorsement. "I decided to run on my own."

It's a question that's difficult not to ask when you consider the circumstances.

Her opponent in the Oct. 2 race for the North Valley seat is incumbent council President Debbie O'Malley, who has been in a public sparring match with Chavez over everything from public policy to bad manners.

Chavez, meanwhile, has made no secret of his adversarial relationship with O'Malley, and this evening will headline a fund-raising event for Martinez.

"It's pretty well known that Councilor O'Malley has opposed virtually everything I've tried to do in my administration," Chavez, a resident of District 2, said on Aug. 21. "I'm supporting (Martinez). This is my councilor. I have a vote and a voice, and I intend to exercise both."

In the middle of all this is Martinez, the government affairs director for the Home Builders Association of Central New Mexico, waving her flag of independence while O'Malley and Chavez duke it out.

It was an uphill fight even before Chavez got involved.

Martinez, a North Carolina native, has never run for elected office before. She has lived in the district for less than a year, and in the city for only five. And her work for the home-building industry — itself a political force with ties to Chavez — includes lobbying the same elected officials she's working to join.

To all of these criticisms, she offers answers.

On her political experience, she cites a résumé that includes working as a paralegal for a large Washington law firm; as a government affairs director for the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce; and as a volunteer appointee to groups such as Chavez's Green Ribbon Task Force, which is working on environmentally friendly building codes.

Martinez, 34, has experience internationally, having been raised in Saudi Arabia because of her father's job as an engineer in the oil industry.

On her ties to the home builders, she said she realizes she will be criticized for raising money from the industry. "But I work for them, and they're my friends," she said. "I don't think it's strange that they want to give me money."

On her time in the district, she said she's grown to love Albuquerque since moving to the West Side five years ago with her husband, Julian Martinez, a North Valley native. And some of the issues she has worked on professionally, such as affordable housing, should resonate with North Valley voters, she said.

"The Martinez family, as a good example, has been here for a very long time. They took me in with open arms and don't judge me for not being from here," Martinez said. "You can look at a few of those councilors that haven't been here very long, aren't Hispanic, but feel very passionately about the city."

O'Malley, meanwhile, is a North Valley native who, in one term, has risen to the ranks of council president, leading a council majority that twice overrode mayoral vetoes in June.

She enters the race confident, despite the mayor's choice to publicly back her opponent.

"I'm very pleased when I get out and talk to folks and they stop me at the store. For the most part, people are very pleased with my work. They say, 'Thank you for working hard in the district.' That's the message I'm getting," O'Malley said.

"The bottom line is, I was born here, and I love my community. I love this city, and I just have a passion for it. That's what motivates me the most."

Part of that passion fuels her spats with Chavez; O'Malley sees it as her role to protect the neighborhood when she believes mayoral politics are overtaking the public good.

"I'll be honest. The mayor pushes my buttons a lot because I just don't like bullies," O'Malley said. "Nobody likes bullies, and I feel sometimes like he acts like one."

Chavez, in turn, has lent his name to the Martinez fund-raiser tonight, which is being hosted in Corrales by custom home builder Steve Nakamura. Though Chavez's name tops the event's invitation in large type, Martinez said the mayor is merely a high-profile invitee.

Chavez —who raised a city record $1.2 million in his 2005 re-election bid — said he otherwise isn't using his formidable fund-raising abilities in an effort to oust O'Malley.

"I've allowed them to use my name. I won't be out there knocking on doors or that type of activism," Chavez said. "(Martinez) certainly has my vote. She's welcome to use my name."

Even if he were to help Martinez raise money, the city's public financing program —in its first year — is engineered to balance out any advantage.

O'Malley, a publicly financed candidate, is allowed to spend $31,520 — $1 for every registered voter in her district. Martinez, who failed to qualify for public financing, has no financial limits. But if she were to out-raise O'Malley, the city's program would give the incumbent matching money as long as the city's campaign fund isn't depleted.

At least one political observer believes Chavez's influence on the race won't make a difference.

"The mayor, over the years, has tried to influence council elections with little success. You can count on a couple of fingers any success he's had," said Joe Monahan, author of the New Mexico political blog "joemonahan.com." "The Albuquerque electorate is traditionally resistant to a mayor expanding his power beyond where it's supposed to be, which is City Hall."

And having the support of the mayor — especially in the midst of an intense political showdown — could backfire, Monahan said.

"Having that support is definitely a double-edged sword, particularly for an unknown candidate like Martinez, who doesn't have a real public identity," Monahan said. "It certainly is a risk in the election if she doesn't establish her own independence."

And Martinez said she's working to do just that, going door-to-door through the district promoting an agenda of issues such as affordable housing and pledging to work collaboratively to improve the city.

In the meantime, she said she's honored to have the mayor's support, even if it means answering that question.

"Certainly there is that perception out there that I have to fight against," Martinez said. "The only option I have is to prove myself as an individual and, more importantly, as a leader."