Unpaid bills are dogging Trump's Halloween rally in Albuquerque, leaving the campaign scrambling for a venue

Former President Donald Trump had a hard time finding space for his Halloween rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as unpaid bills continued to plague his campaign.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reported that the campaign's original plans to use the Albuquerque Convention Center were scuttled, due in part to an unpaid bill of nearly $445,000 from a rally in 2019.

“If you don’t pay your bills, we simply won’t entertain you at city facilities, and that’s the way it should be,” Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller told the outlet.

Albuquerque is just one of many cities trying to recoup unpaid fees from Trump's campaign stops over the last decade. Communities in Texas and Pennsylvania are still looking for more than $750,000, according to an NBC News analysis released earlier this month.

In Albuquerque, scheduled maintenance was underway at the convention center that Trump planned to use. When the former president called, city officials made no effort to help Trump secure a second location.

“If you want to use a (city-owned) facility, you can’t owe the city any money,” the city’s mayor said. “If we consider the fact that we're half a million dollars short, we would do that for any candidate or anyone who wants to rent the convention center in general.”

Thursday's rally, just five days before an election widely expected to feature seven swing states, confused many. Trump lost New Mexico by nearly 11 points in 2020.