Paul Wymer sworn in as Rio Rancho mayor, ends decade-long era

Rio Rancho turned a page at City Hall when Paul Wymer was sworn in as mayor at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, beginning a four-year term that starts May 1 and closing the 12-year chapter of Gregg Hull’s tenure. The ceremony at 3200 Civic Center Circle marked the city’s first new mayor in more than a decade, a leadership change that lands at a time when Rio Rancho is still absorbing rapid growth, traffic pressure and development fights that have shaped local politics for years.

Wymer entered office after a runoff election made necessary because no candidate won a majority in the March 3 municipal election. New Mexico’s official results show Wymer with 10,394 votes to Alexandria Piland’s 6,096, a margin that gave him roughly 63% of the runoff vote. The size of the win helped settle a contest that had been split in the spring and delivered a clear mandate to City Hall.

The new mayor brings a long local résumé to the job. The city says Wymer and his wife, Terri, moved to Rio Rancho in the early 1980s and raised two children there, both of whom graduated from Rio Rancho Public Schools. Wymer has served on the City Council since March 2020 and was re-elected in March 2024. Before that, he spent six years on the city’s Planning and Zoning Board. The city also identifies him as a licensed architect in New Mexico and a Certified Planner through the American Institute of Certified Planners.

Wymer takes over a city that continues to swell in size and complexity. The U.S. Census Bureau counted 104,046 residents in 2020 and estimated 112,524 in 2024, an 8.1% increase in just four years. The mayor’s office is more than ceremonial in Rio Rancho: the city describes the mayor as the recognized ceremonial head who also presides over Governing Body meetings and holds legislative, administrative and executive authority. That puts Wymer at the center of the decisions residents will feel first, including growth approvals, street and utility demands, public safety spending and the pace of new development.

Hull’s exit also underscores the scale of the transition. First elected in April 2014 and re-elected in 2018 and 2022, he became Rio Rancho’s longest-serving mayor before leaving to run for governor. Wymer now inherits the expectations that come with a fast-growing city and the first major test of his leadership will come quickly: whether he can turn a runoff victory and a promise of continuity into steady management of the city’s next phase.