Santa Fe City Council will explore relocating controversial obelisk – Santa Fe New Mexican, KUNM News
Santa Fe City Council members voted Wednesday for a resolution that explores if it’s feasible to rebuild and possibly move a controversial monument to a new location.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports the Soldiers’ Monument in Santa Fe Plaza was toppled by protestors four years ago on Indigenous Peoples Day. The initial resolution would have directed the city manager to relocate the monument if it was feasible.
But amendments changed that to require the city manager to report back to the council on the feasibility before taking any other actions. It includes a possible option of moving the monument to the Sant Fe National Cemetery.
The obelisk was erected in 1867 to honor Civil War Union soldiers but a plaque on it has spurred controversy because of the words “savage Indians.”
The Hispanic fraternal organization Union Protectiva de Santa Fe sued the city over the obelisk and the parties are waiting on a ruling after a trial last month.
The All Pueblo Council of Governors president sent a letter to councilors supporting moving the monument to the cemetery.
Santa Fe Archbishop John C. Wester called on the city to find a compromise in which Indigenous groups, veterans and others can feel respected. Union Protectiva President Virgil Vigil wrote in an email that the statement was “anti-Hispano and pro-Indian.”
A message from Elmer Maestas included in Vigil’s email criticized the pueblos for speaking out. It advises them to “stick to their Pueblo business and leave it to the real Santa Fe citizenry to rightly deal with Santa Fe.”
In final week of early voting, officials watch for election disinformation - Algernon D’Ammassa, Las Cruces Bulletin
“My name is Matthew Metro,” said a man in a video posted to the social media site X. But it wasn’t him.
The real Matthew Metro, a Hawaii resident, found that his name and biographical details, found online, had been used in a video that leveled incendiary accusations against Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, who once taught at a school Metro attended. The figure in the video was an impersonator who did much resemble or sound like the real man.
It is, however, the sort of attack that could become more effective as generative software rapidly develops the ability to convincingly mimic prominent figures or ordinary citizens through manipulated images and stolen information.
The year has seen voters receiving robocalls from a simulated President Joe Biden spreading false information; and a recent study by Utah Valley University found that half of survey participants failed to distinguish a figure in a “deepfake” video from footage of a real person, and sometimes found the counterfeit more trustworthy.
Dissembling and filtered photos are nothing new in political advertising, but the increased sophistication of faked material and the speed with which false information may be spread online has proven effective enough that election officials around the U.S. view it as a serious risk to election integrity.
In the final week before Election Day, New Mexico’s top elections officer said her office continued efforts begun earlier in 2024 to promote awareness of faked images, video and audio and how they might be used to manipulate voters.
Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, in an interview with the Las Cruces Bulletin, said software such as ChatGBT and other generative software, commonly referred to as “artificial intelligence” or “AI,” may have legitimate uses in a campaign operation in need of quickly-produced marketing materials.
This year, the state enacted a law requiring disclosure of digitally-manipulated media by political campaigns and candidates. The law, updating New Mexico’s Campaign Reporting Act, relies heavily on education and voluntary compliance. Although no agency is charged or equipped to monitor observance of the law, the Secretary of State or the State Ethics Commission would investigate reported violations. So far, Toulouse Oliver said she was unaware of any alleged breaches of the law – but also did not recall seeing any disclosures in election materials.
“Unfortunately, in this day and age, the content that we consume, primarily via social media, but also in digital ads, even on TV, text messages, voice mails, things like that, can be manipulated,” she said. “That manipulation, in and of itself, is not necessarily a bad thing. What we're concerned about is when it's done with malintent.”
CHECKING THINGS OUT
Earlier this year, the office launched a “Seeing is no longer believing” education campaign with tips on how to spot digitally generated images.
“We just want voters to, when they see something, pause and take a minute and and double-check whether it's real,” she said.
It is a discipline Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat elected to her second term in 2022, recently practiced herself, she recalled, when a friend texted her a video of former Vice President Mike Pence supposedly endorsing Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. The widely circulated video was deceptively edited, however, as unedited footage makes clear: Pence has not, in fact, endorsed Harris.
Toulouse Oliver said she searched online for articles by reputable news organizations and Pence’s own website.
“The human initial reaction is to want to believe something bad about the other guy or believe something good about your person, right? And it’s just so easy to have that cognitive bias, right?” she said. “I still want to make sure that I am not circulating incorrect information.”
She acknowledged the daunting prospect of asking individuals to adjust their online behavior in the interest of veracity.
“Unfortunately, there's a lot of conflation of feelings with facts that's been happening in the last several years, on both sides,” she said. “And it's work, right? It takes work to stop and go, ‘I wonder if this is actually correct, and I'm gonna go check other sources just to verify.’”
VOTING PROCESS IN 2024
As of Oct. 31, 528,713 New Mexicans had already turned in absentee ballots or voted in person. That’s 74 percent of the total ballots cast in the 2022 election, and 57 percent of total turnout in 2020, the last presidential election year, with early voting continuing through Saturday and Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
Toulouse Oliver said voting had proceeded smoothly overall and that she anticipated heavy turnout in the 2024 election, a year with a presidential election and other federal offices on the ballot as well as the entire New Mexico Legislature. She said there had not been extraordinary concerns about interactions with poll workers and the public, or with authorized election observers.
“Our county clerks have been doing phenomenal work. Our poll workers have been doing phenomenal work,” she said. “Voters have been having good experiences. We have had some lines, particularly on the first day of early voting and the first day of expanded early voting, but generally speaking, things are going well.”
As for the presidential contest between former President Donald Trump and current Vice President Kamala Harris, Toulouse Oliver said she anticipated New Mexico’s vote will likely be known “with significant confidence” soon after voting closes on Nov. 5, while other states may not have their election results ready until days after their polls close. That could fuel conspiracism and adverse actions following Election Day, she said - including in New Mexico.
“There does continue to be a deep and abiding distrust of the process amongst a certain small but local group of people,” she said. “They are already saying things online that are concerning, that could be considered harassment or threats towards myself and my team and our county teams; and I'm hoping that the security measures we put in place, which are substantial for this election process, are going to keep us all safe.”
She was also confident that the process of formalizing New Mexico’s election results was also secure.
In 2020, New Mexico was among a handful of states where, despite Democratic candidate Joe Biden winning the electoral vote, Republicans submitted an alternative slate of electors in support of Trump. No one in the group of New Mexico Republicans who signed the unauthorized electoral certificate and sent it to the National Archives was charged with a crime.
“We're going to ensure security of the Capitol building and of the electors,” Toulouse Oliver said. “We, as legally charged, are the ones in contact both with the National Archives, the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, to whom we send the certificates of ascertainment as well as the votes of the Electoral College.”
In the event of another effort to intervene in the election with a false instrument, Toulouse Oliver said, “Even if people try to do the wrong thing, with the system – it sort of bounces off, and only the actual votes of the actual electors will be the ones presented before Congress on Jan. 6.”
Donald Trump gambles with late-stage trips to Democratic New Mexico and Virginia - By Jonathan J. Cooper and Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
Donald Trump is traveling to New Mexico and Virginia in the campaign's final days, taking a risky detour from the seven battleground states to spend time in places where Republican presidential candidates have not won in decades.
The former president campaigned in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Thursday and was scheduled to visit Salem, Virginia, on Saturday.
The Trump team is projecting optimism based in part on early voting numbers and thinks he can be competitive against Democrat Kamala Harris in both states — New Mexico in particular, if he sweeps swing states Nevada and Arizona. That hope comes even though neither New Mexico nor Virginia has been carried by a GOP nominee for the White House since George W. Bush in 2004.
Over the past few months in particular, the battleground states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — have seen a constant stream of candidate visits, and residents have been bombarded with political ads on billboards, televisions and smartphones. In the past two weeks alone, presidential and vice presidential candidates have made 21 appearances in Pennsylvania, 17 in Michigan and 13 in North Carolina.
In the 43 other states, a candidate visit is an exciting novelty.
Trump retains fervent pockets of support even in states that vote overwhelmingly against him, and he can easily fill his rallies with enthusiastic supporters.
He has made other recent detours from the states most at play, holding rallies at Madison Square Garden in New York and in Coachella, California — states that are even more solidly Democratic than New Mexico and Virginia. Those events satisfied Trump's long-shot claims that he can win both states, but were also aimed at earning maximum media attention as his campaign seeks to reach voters who do not follow political news closely.
Trump also showed up in staunchly Republican Montana, and both Trump and Harris campaigned on the same day last week in Texas, which Democrats last won in 1976.
Those trips served other purposes, such as highlighting issues important in a state or supporting House or Senate candidates.
Trump said in Albuquerque that he could win the state as long as the election is fair, repeating falsehoods about rigged past elections.
"If we could bring God down from heaven, he could be the vote counter and we could win this," Trump said. He added he's visiting New Mexico because it's "good for my credentials" with Hispanic voters.
Trump's strategy carries risk.
After losing to Trump in 2016, Democrat Hillary Clinton was criticized for going to Arizona late in the campaign instead of spending time in Wisconsin, Michigan or Pennsylvania, states that ended up deciding that election. Arizona is now a battleground, but it wasn't considered particularly competitive eight years ago, when it voted for Trump by a 4-percentage point margin.
"I don't think there's any strategy," said Bob Shrum, a longtime Democratic political consultant who worked on numerous presidential campaigns and now leads Center for the Political Future at University of Southern California. "I think he insisted on doing it. It makes no sense."
NEW MEXICO STOP BRING TRUMP TO A BORDER STATE
The planned visit to Albuquerque brings Trump and his immigration stance to a border state with the nation's highest concentration of Latino voters, highlighting the campaign for Hispanic supporters.
About 44% of the voting-age population in New Mexico identifies as Hispanic. Many have centuries-old ties to Mexican and Spanish settlements, while the state has a smaller share of foreign-born residents than the national average.
At the same time, federal and local authorities in New Mexico are dealing with a surge in migrant deaths along the U.S. border with Mexico.
Trump's visit has implications for a congressional swing district stretching from Albuquerque to the border with Mexico. It's now held by a Democrat as Republicans look to hold onto their narrow House majority. Immigration has been a major issue in the race.
Also on the ballot, Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich is seeking a third term against Republican Nella Domenici. She is the daughter of the late Republican Sen. Pete Domenici, who served six terms, from 1973 to 2009 and was the last New Mexico Republican elected to the Senate.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. remains on the ballot in New Mexico, and roadside campaign signs for Kennedy popped up across the capital city of Santa Fe in late October, about two months after Kennedy's withdrawal from the race and endorsement of Trump.
New Mexico voters have twice rebuffed Trump at the polls, and Democrats hold every statewide elected position, all three U.S. House seats, two U.S. Senate seats and majorities in the state House and Senate.
"He just brings us back to what the U.S. needs to be," Leandra Dominguez of Albuquerque, 45, said before Trump spoke. "It's just fallen apart. We just need someone to save us."
VIRGINIA WAS ONCE A BATTLEGOUND
While Virginia was considered a battleground as recently as 2012, it has trended toward Democrats in the past decade, especially in the populous northern Virginia suburbs.
Trump lost the state to Clinton in 2016 and Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. This year, Democrats and their allies in the presidential race have spent nearly twice as much as Republicans on ads in Virginia, data show, though it pales in comparison to the spending in battleground states.
"We have a real chance," Trump said while phoning into a Richmond-area rally on Saturday.
Trump, while in Virginia, is likely to speak about Wednesday's Supreme Court ruling leaving in place a purge of voter registrations that the state says is aimed at stopping people who are not U.S. citizens from voting.
The high court, over the dissents of the three liberal justices, granted an emergency appeal from Virginia's Republican administration led by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Speaking to Fox News' Bret Baier on Wednesday night, Youngkin said from what he's seeing on the ground, "Virginia is far more competitive than any of the pundits would have believed."
He noted that two years after Biden won by 10 percentage points in 2020, he won as governor.
"Virginians are ready for strength back in the White House," he said.
Susan Swecker, chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Virginia, said Trump's scheduled visit to Salem on Saturday would only widen Harris' lead in the state.
"Kamala Harris will win Virginia convincingly, as he knows, and any visit from this deranged lunatic will only widen the margin," Swecker said.
___
Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in New York, Morgan Lee in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Olivia Diaz in Richmond, Virginia, contributed to this report. The story was updated to reflect that New Mexico has three U.S. House seats.
City identifies $5M Gateway West operator - By Damon Scott, City Desk ABQ
It looks like the long wait could soon be over.
After many months of searching, the city’s Health, Housing & Homelessness Department (HHH) has identified a nonprofit to oversee operations at the city’s Gateway West facility — Chicanos Por La Causa. Officials submitted a $5 million contract that will now be considered by the City Council.
The Finance & Government Operations Committee voted in a 5-0 motion Oct. 28 to forward the contract to the City Council for immediate action. The committee members included City Councilors Louie Sanchez, Dan Champine, Tammy Fiebelkorn, Dan Lewis and Klarissa Peña. Although an agenda hasn’t yet been released, it’s likely that the contract will be voted on at Monday’s City Council meeting.
If approved, Chicanos Por La Causa would take over operations at the former Westside Emergency Housing Center from Albuquerque Heading Home. The clock has been ticking, as Albuquerque Heading Home has been working under a $2.1 million emergency contract since July, which expires Dec. 31.
Chicanos Por La Causa would be responsible for the 24/7 operations of Gateway West, an overnight shelter for those experiencing homelessness with a capacity of 660. The facility regularly fills hundreds of beds nightly, with seasonal increases during the winter months.
It’s still unclear how or when Albuquerque Heading Home and Chicanos Por La Causa would begin a transition process if the contract is approved. HHH spokesperson Connor Woods said Wednesday that more information from the department would be forthcoming.
Chicanos Por La Causa works in six Southwest states — New Mexico, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada and Texas. According to its website, its focus areas are economic development, education, housing, advocacy and health and human services.
It operates more than 30 programs — including for those experiencing homelessness — and has approximately 2,000 employees. Alicia Nuñez was named its president and CEO in April.
It wasn’t immediately known if Chicanos Por La Causa has experience operating a facility like Gateway West.
The nonprofit has worked within New Mexico’s behavioral health purchasing collaborative supportive housing plan — an initiative that creates permanent supportive housing for those with behavioral health disorders and related disabilities. The program provides subsidized housing units for households with income limits and individuals with long-term mental or physical disabilities that require long-term supportive services.
East Mountains residents rail against proposed Diamond Tail Solar - By Hannah Grover, New Mexico Political Report
Residents of the East Mountains area outside of Albuquerque packed into the Vista Grande Community Center in Sandia Park on Tuesday evening to express opposition for a proposed solar farm with battery storage.
The Diamond Tail Solar Project would be built on private land that has been used for cattle ranching and filming movies. Before this can take place, the developer must get Sandoval County to change the zoning from rural residential and agriculture to a special use district. The Sandoval County Planning and Zoning Commission asked the developer—PCR U.S. Investments—to host a community meeting to educate nearby residents about the potential impacts and benefits.
PCR U.S. Investments is a subsidiary of an energy company based out of Argentina. According to its website, PCR dates back to 1921 when it was founded as an oil company. PCR states that it is the “second oldest company in the oil industry” and is actively extracting oil in parts of Argentina, Ecuador and Colombia. PCR later started producing cement in 1952. Then, in 2016, it began pursuing renewable energy.
The Diamond Tail Solar Project would be capable of producing 220 megawatts of electricity and its battery storage facility could store 110 megawatts of energy.
“This is not an innovative design,” Mariano Brandi, CEO of PCR U.S. Investments, said. “This is pretty standard nowadays on these projects, there’s 300 projects in New Mexico right now for renewable energy, and lots of them have storage facilities.”
Brandi said that the company has been working on the Diamond Tail Solar Project for two years. The project would be located off of New Mexico Highway 14. While it is in Sandoval County, the land is separated by mountains from the majority of the county and is near the county line with Santa Fe County.
Brandi said that the location was chosen based on its proximity to a new substation that the Public Service Company of New Mexico built. That will make it easy to tie into the grid and PCR is already working with PNM on interconnection.
PCR does not currently have a contract to sell power to PNM, but hopes to do so.
But getting there will be an uphill fight for PCR.
The community meeting quickly devolved into chaos with community members talking over each other and Brandi unable to answer questions without being interrupted multiple times.
State Rep. Stefani Lord, R-Sandia Park, was among the community members shouting questions and interrupting Brandi when he attempted to answer. She then left the meeting before Brandi had the chance to answer the questions she’d asked.
FIRE RISK
The main concern that community members have is the fire-prone nature of the East Mountains and what it would mean if a fire swept through the solar farm. Fire was the one area where community members said it is a “matter of life and death.”
Toward the end of the meeting, Brandi went over how PCR would prevent potential fires from the battery storage facility from spreading and how its design would limit the ability of wildfires to spread on the solar farm.
Brandi said that PCR has met with Sandoval County’s fire department and incorporated suggestions from the fire department.
Battery storage fires have received media attention in recent years. In May of this year, a fire broke out in the 250-megawatt Gateway Energy Storage Facility in Otay Mesa, California. The fire burned for two weeks and led to evacuations of nearby communities. Firefighters struggled to extinguish the blaze as nearby lithium-ion batteries overheated and caught fire, a phenomenon that is known as a thermal runaway chain reaction.
Then, in September, a fire at a facility near Escondido, California, also led to evacuations, though that fire was extinguished within a day.
And, in 2019, an explosion at a battery storage facility in Arizona injured eight firefighters.
At the same time, the number of battery storage facilities is increasing globally at a rapid rate and the number of incidents associated with these facilities is declining. From 2018 to 2023, the failure rate of battery storage facilities dropped by 97 percent. Not all battery failures result in fires, though some do.
Brandi said that the design for the storage facility at Diamond Tail would isolate any fire that started because of a battery failure in the unit where it occurred. Then the fire would essentially be allowed to burn itself out. This is fairly common for battery storage facilities.
The risk of fire starting from the batteries is only one of the fire-related concerns community members expressed. The East Mountains is an area where wildfires are a risk and community members expressed concerns that a fire could spread onto the Diamond Tail Solar Project, leading to toxic gasses being released into the air.
Brandi showed a design of the proposed battery storage facility and said there will be space for firetrucks to navigate. He said the battery storage facility will also be surrounded by a gravel buffer intended to prevent fire from approaching the batteries.
Vegetation management around the solar panels will also help curb the spread of fires, Brandi said.
PFAS CHEMICALS
One of the concerns Lord, the state representative, brought up was potential PFAS contamination of the aquifer due to the solar panels. She said that if PFAS from the solar panels leach into the soil, it could contaminate two aquifers.
“We can’t afford to lose any water,” Lord said.
While some of the solar panels manufactured today do use PFAS chemicals, there are alternatives that do not.
After Lord left, another community member asked if PCR would use solar panels that contain PFAS chemicals. Brandi said that PCR is looking at PFAS-free alternatives and that the solar panels will be manufactured in the United States. Using panels manufactured in the United States allows PCR to access higher tax incentives.
PFAS chemicals are also frequently used in battery storage projects, though some companies are working to find alternatives. For example, a solid state battery has a solid electrolyte that eliminates the need for PFAS-containing electrolytes.
Future regulations could require solar and battery storage developers to look for PFAS-free alternatives. Several advocacy groups plan to push legislation in the upcoming session that would ban the non-essential use of PFAS chemicals in New Mexico. PFAS chemicals are also found in common household products including upholstery, furniture, space heaters, cookware, and curling irons.
There are tens of thousands of PFAS chemicals, which can cause a variety of health problems including some types of cancer. They are also called forever chemicals because they don’t break down in the natural environment.
Already, PFAS chemicals have contaminated aquifers in New Mexico and have been found in surface waters like the Pecos River and the Rio Grande.
The state Oil Conservation Commission is considering banning the use of PFAS chemicals in oil and gas extraction.
SAN FELIPE PUEBLO
The land where the project could be located is the ancestral territory of the San Felipe Pueblo. Brandi said PCR met with Pueblo leaders and surveyed the land along with members of the Pueblo. He said the Pueblo has specified areas where setbacks are needed to protect cultural resources.
Brandi said PCR is committed to working with San Felipe Pueblo to protect any cultural resources on the property.
NEXT STEPS
Should the Sandoval County Planning and Zoning Commission approve the zone change on Nov. 12, the project will then go to the Sandoval County Commission for consideration. Should Sandoval County decline the special use permit, Brandi said PCR is not looking at any other sites in New Mexico.
PCR will also need to get a power purchase agreement and an energy storage agreement with PNM. These require approval from the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission to ensure such agreements do not negatively impact ratepayers.
Not all solar projects make it to fruition, which is something Brandi acknowledged during the community meeting.
PCR is hoping that the Diamond Tail Solar Project will be able to replace electricity that PNM currently gets from the Four Corners Power Plant in northwest New Mexico. The coal-fired power plant is slated to close in 2031, though it may close earlier.
PNM previously sought to leave the Four Corners Power Plant. When it filed that application with the state regulators, PNM sought securitization—a mechanism that essentially allows the utility to refinance past investments into the power plant using low-interest bonds. Should PNM seek securitization again it will be required to locate at least a portion of the replacement resources within the Central Consolidated School District in San Juan County.
When asked by NM Political Report if PCR would pursue a contract with another utility if it doesn’t get one with PNM, Brandi said that PNM is the most likely utility that will be involved with the Diamond Tail Solar Project.
The Diamond Tail Solar Project could begin construction as early as 2026.
BernCo housing bonds aimed at fighting housing shortage - By Rodd Cayton, City Desk ABQ
Bernalillo County officials have in recent years recognized a need for more housing. They have helped developers secure financial incentives to build and asked state legislators to invest in solutions to the housing shortage.
Now, they’re asking voters to approve $1.7 million in general obligation bonds for public housing projects.
Most of the money — $1 million — would go toward ongoing efforts to improve housing stock in the county. Those include acquiring property and planning, designing, upgrading, constructing, and remodeling housing units.
Those efforts are focused on assisting the county’s low-income, homeless, senior and disabled populations.
The remaining $700,000 is intended for improvements at the Seybold Village and El Centro housing complexes in the South Valley. The former was built in the 1970s and 1980s; the 21-unit complex serves low-income handicapped and disabled residents.
El Centro is a 54-unit gated community and has 140 residents and serves those 55 and older. Each complex is income adjusted, with rents based on residents’ adjusted incomes.
The bond money, county spokesperson Melissa Smith said, will cover some routine maintenance costs; the improvements include upgrades to flooring, countertops and cabinets, interior wall replacement, new painting and full bathroom rehabs.
Smith said the need for affordable housing is severe, as the Mid-Region Council of Governments predicts the area’s population aged 65 and older could reach 140,000 by 2040.
In addition to the bond package, county commissioners this year have approved resolutions seeking $100 million in capital outlay funding from the Legislature and supporting a $500 million funding request for Housing New Mexico, 10% to 20% of which would be earmarked for assisting local governments’ affordable housing efforts.
The package includes another question, seeking $2.5 million for county libraries.
Smith said the money will go toward expanding the materials collection at 19 library branches and needed capital improvements. She said the county is asking for another $2 million from state lawmakers in 2025 capital improvements at libraries.
The library system has more than 500,000 active members who visit in person or use the online platform, Smith said.
Bernalillo County has six bond questions on the general election ballot, seeking a total of about $40.5 million.
The other bond questions are for transportation, parks and recreation, storm drainage and utilities and public safety facilities, fleet, and county buildings.
Early voting is underway and same-day registration is available through Nov. 5.
Native voters could swing US elections, but they're asking politicians: What have you done for us? — Megan Janetsky, Rodrigo Abd, Associated Press
Felix Ashley's red Toyota sends a plume of dust billowing along the sloping hills and boulders he traverses hours every week to pump water – the same roadway voters walk miles every four years to cast their ballots in presidential elections.
Here on this forgotten swath of the Navajo Nation, the largest Native American reservation in the United States, hardship is embedded into day-to-day life.
Nearly a third of homes like Ashley's still don't have running water. Soaring unemployment and poverty has pushed young Navajos, including most of Ashley's children, to leave their sacred lands in search of jobs. Logistical and legal obstacles have long stood in the way of Arizona's 420,000 Native citizens casting their vote.
"People lose trust in the government and they don't – you don't – care to vote anymore. People don't get what they were promised," said 70-year-old Ashley, who plans to vote for Harris.
Yet it is Native voters like him who could be key to winning Arizona and some of the most contested swing states in November. In 2020, Arizona voted for a Democratic president for the first time in decades, with President Joe Biden winning the race by around 10,500 votes.
Native Americans – who make up 5.2% of Arizona– saw a surge in turnout, voting in large numbers for the Democratic Party, according to a data analysis by the Associated Press.
The victory turned the heads of politicians from both parties, who now flock to some of the most remote swaths of Arizona as they try to close razor thin margins. Democrats are hoping to repeat the feat, while Republicans see an opportunity to use Native voters' frustration with the economy as a chance to sweep up new votes.
Local fairs and flea markets are painted with blue and red campaign signs reading "Trump low prices" and others written in Native slang "Stoodis Harris" or "Let's do this Harris". Radio ads for both presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris ring out on the radio every 30 minutes in homes far from the reach of cellphone signals.
In the weeks leading up to the election, dozens of people who spoke to the AP expressed frustration with politicians in Washington, who they say rarely use their seat at the table to push for them.
At the same time, some voters face almost insurmountable obstacles to voting.
Some tribes have to travel up to 285 miles to cast their ballots, according to the Native American Rights Fund. Homes on the reservation don't have addresses needed to register to vote, and some older Navajos don't speak much English.
Compounding logistical hurdles is historic voter suppression. Native people were first recognized as U.S. citizens 100 years ago, but Arizona prevented them from voting until 1948, arguing they were "incompetent." Many states used English literacy tests to further block voters from casting ballots until the 1970s.
Since then, legal experts say a mix of voter dilution tactics and burdensome election laws have blocked the Native vote as recently as 2022, when the Republican-controlled state Legislature and governor passed a law requiring voters to provide proof of residency and an address for presidential voting.
The U.S. Supreme Court later struck down the measure, but Native communities have seen thousands of ballots thrown out in past elections due to similar statutes. Indigenous voters have their ballots rejected at higher rates than other demographics in the state, according to Arizona State University's Indian Legal Clinic.
Democrats have long claimed an advantage in number of votes on reservations like the Navajo Nation. They've boasted a heavy presence on Native lands, and in the final weeks of the election Harris, Biden and Walz all met with Native groups.
But they now face a strong campaign push by Republicans among Native voters in an attempt to peel off votes.
The Republican Party has opened its first campaign headquarters on the Navajo Nation, said Halee Dobbins, Arizona communications director of the Republican National Committee, and started to set up in local events.
"We're seeing a huge shift towards the Republican party given the issues that are top of mind for Native American voters – the economy, inflation, cost of living," Dobbins said.
In mid-October, Trump's campaign invited a group of Navajo supporters like 61-year-old Francine Bradley-Arthur to sit behind him during a rally, where Trump gave a shout out to a conservative tribal leader.
Bradley-Arthur, a former Democrat, said she began to campaign for Trump, in part, because she felt Native communities often didn't feel the payoff of longtime support for Democrats.
"We want to show that Native Americans support him," she said.
Meanwhile, Democratic Senate candidate Ruben Gallego went as far as to trek hours to a tribe at the bottom of a canyon in the weeks before the election, where he's locked in a tight race against Republican Kari Lake.
Gallego was met with skepticism from some like Dinolene Caska, a Havasupai tribal leader.
"For me, it's whoever is going to support Indigenous issues. It's not just Republicans or Democrats," Caska said. This year she planned to for Democrats because of their backing in the tribe's fights with a uranium mine over clean water.
For others Navajo, this is the year they are willing to try something new.
Just down the road from Ashley, 68-year-old goat herder Richard Begay blames Biden for inflation disproportionately affecting Native Americans because of the scarcity of jobs in their communities. The prices of gas and food for his animals have squeezed his pocketbook. He hopes Trump's push for deregulation could usher in new development and a better economy
"I remember gas was $1.60 here and when Biden came and went up over $3," he said. "We don't have the money to buy gas at outrageous prices. We pay more for less."
Legislative majorities giving one party all the power are in play in several states — John Hanna, David Lieb, Associated Press
After introducing herself at their front doors, Vanessa Vaughn West began her pitch to voters with a question: What issues are important to you? She heard frustration about rising local property taxes, a desire for smaller government and questions about affordable housing.
West is a Democrat making her second run for a Kansas House seat representing a western Kansas City neighborhood where Republicans have held sway since the construction of homes began in the late 1990s.
Despite that history, West's race against Republican state Rep. Angela Stiens is on the national Democratic Party's radar, as is the Kansas Legislature. Democrats need to gain just two seats in the 125-member House or three in the 40-member Senate to break a supermajority that has enabled Republicans to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's vetoes of measures restricting abortion providers and transgender rights.
A similar battle is playing out in North Carolina, where the flip of a single seat in either the House or Senate could cost Republicans a veto-proof majority that has repeatedly imposed its will over the objections of a Democratic governor. In Nevada, meanwhile, it's Democrats who stand to gain a veto-proof majority over a Republican governor, if they can pick up just one more state Senate seat without losing one in the Assembly.
Nationwide, more than 5,800 state legislative seats in 44 states are up election this year in the background of higher profile contests for president, Congress and governor. Groups aligned with Democrats and Republicans are expected to pour a couple hundred million dollars into the state legislative battles, focusing most intensely on states where control of a chamber is in play: Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
But they also are paying attention to some states where there is little doubt about which party will prevail, because there is still plenty at stake.
The Associated Press identified 14 states where a swing of just three or fewer seats could determine whether a party holds a supermajority, meaning a margin so dominant that a party is able to enact laws despite a governor's veto, convene special sessions or place constitutional amendments on the ballot without needing any support from lawmakers of an opposing party.
"Having a party in power is really important — the most import thing," said Wesley Hussey, a political science professor at California State University, Sacramento. But "having a supermajority can give you additional tools to enact policy."
GOP districts in Kansas draw Democrats' attention
In Kansas, Stiens was appointed to fill a House vacancy this spring in time to help override Kelly's veto of a bill requiring abortion providers to ask patients why they want to end their pregnancies and submit that data to the state health department. The law isn't being enforced amid legal challenges.
But West said the Legislature's continued push for restrictions on abortion providers is one reason she is running against Stiens, just two years after narrowly losing to Stiens' predecessor. West strongly supports abortion rights and residents in her home of Johnson County voted by nearly 69% in favor of abortion rights during a decisive 2022 statewide vote.
"This is why we need parity, right?" West said as she walked from home to home talking to prospective voters. "And this is why we need support for what I would call the voice of the people — making sure that when the people vote on things like that, that we as legislators reinforce those sentiments with our votes."
Though still leaning Republican and largely white, the Kansas City suburbs have become more racially diverse and friendlier to Democrats since former President Donald Trump's victory in 2016. But national Democrats also are targeting a portion of southwestern Topeka, a longtime Republican area where GOP state Rep. Jesse Borjon is seeking a third term against Democrat Jacquie Lightcap, a local school board member.
Campaigning door-to-door recently in a neighborhood of late-1980s homes with three-car garages, Borjon emphasized his support for public schools and tax cuts enacted this year. His vote for eliminating the state income tax on Social Security benefits resonated with Bob Schmidt, a retired computer company executive who chatted with Borjon about rising property taxes.
Regardless of party label, Schmidt said he wants a representative who will "maintain conservative values."
A change of one seat could affect North Carolina laws
North Carolina provides a clear example of how legislative supermajorities can affect laws.
When North Carolina state Rep. Tricia Cotham switched from the Democratic to Republican party in 2023, it gave Republicans the final seat they needed to obtain a veto-proof majority in both legislative chambers. Republicans quickly flexed their new powers to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of legislation barring most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Republicans have since enacted two dozen additional laws by overriding Cooper's vetoes, including ones weakening the governor's election oversight, restricting medical treatments and sports activities for transgender youths and limiting school lessons about gender identity in early grades.
"Republicans have been easily overriding his vetoes and basically putting their stamp on the state in terms of public policies," said Michael Bitzer, a political science professor at Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina.
Though Cooper is term-limited, Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein is leading in the race to replace him. That makes it critical for Republicans to retain a supermajority, "or else they have to deal with the governor," Bitzer said.
Supermajorities are at their highest point in decades
The number of states with legislative supermajorities is at its highest level since at least 1982, according to research by Saint Louis University political scientist Steven Rogers. Democrats hold nine veto-proof majorities. But Republicans hold 20, including in Nebraska, where the single-chamber Legislature is officially nonpartisan but two-thirds of members identify as Republicans.
Democrats need a gain of three or fewer seats this election to break Republican supermajorities in Florida, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska and North Carolina while a similar flip for Republicans could end Democratic supermajorities in Delaware and New York.
Meanwhile, a gain of three or fewer seats could create new supermajorities for Republicans in Iowa and South Carolina and for Democrats in Colorado, Connecticut, Nevada and New Mexico.
But gaining a supermajority is no guarantee legislative leaders will always get their way.
Democrats dominate in California. Yet Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed numerous bills, none of which have been overridden by the Democratic legislative supermajority. The legislature also has at times failed to achieve the two-thirds majority needed to pass tax increases.
In Missouri, where Republicans hold a supermajority, a conservative Senate faction has repeatedly clashed with GOP leadership. Ultimately, Republicans mired in tensions have failed to pass some of their own priority measures.
"Having a veto-proof majority can matter," said Ben Williams, associate director of elections and redistricting at the National Conference of State Legislatures. But "the larger a legislative majority gets, the more factions you get within that majority, and sometimes they don't necessarily agree."
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Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri.