First time in history NM gets female-majority Legislature - Albuquerque Journal, KUNM News
After this week's election, for the first time ever, New Mexico's Legislature will be made up of a majority of women.
The Albuquerque Journal reports that based on unofficial election results, women will hold 60 of the 112 seats in the Legislature come January.
Senate Majority Floor Leader Peter Wirth pointed out in a statement to the Journal that all Democratic Senate incumbents won their races and the chamber got six new women.
One is Angel Charley, who is Native American from Laguna and Zuni Pueblos and the Navajo Nation. She was the only senator who flipped a district from red to blue. She has been the director of the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women, and told the Journal New Mexico is a great place for leading and championing change.
Only one seat flipped in the House of Representatives, where Democratic incumbent Tara Jaramillo lost her reelection bid to Republican Rebecca Dow in District 38. Dow previously held the seat but had stepped down to run for governor, without success.
Female lawmakers will make up 44 of the 70 members in the state House of Representatives and 16 of the 42 seats in the Senate.
46 of the women are Democrats and 14 are Republicans
Entering this year's election cycle the only other state in which women made up a majority of the Legislature was Nevada.
Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument in New Mexico is set to reopen - Associated Press
The Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument in New Mexico, which has been closed since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is reopening later this month.
The Bureau of Land Management and the Cochiti Pueblo tribe announced the Nov. 21 reopening plan Thursday.
The tribe will be taking on day-to-day operations of the monument, a popular geologic hiking spot located midway between Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
BLM and Cochiti Pueblo jointly agreed to maintain the closure after pandemic restrictions were lifted in order to renegotiate operations of the monument.
The monument was created in 2001 with a provision that it would be managed by the BLM in close cooperation with Cochiti Pueblo.
The agreement comes as the federal government looks for more opportunities to work with tribes to co-manage public lands and to incorporate Indigenous knowledge into planning and management of these spaces.
Democrats retain hold on New Mexico despite shifting support for Republicans - By Susan Montoya Bryan, Christopher L. Keller and Morgan Lee, Associated Press
Democrats in New Mexico maintained political control over the state with the reelection of U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich and Congressman Gabe Vasquez in a House swing district, but support for President-elect Donald Trump expanded as Republicans captured more legislative seats, reflecting a shift of voter sentiments.
Democratic presidential candidates have won seven of the last eight general elections in New Mexico, but results from Tuesday's election show that the state followed similar gains made by Trump nationwide.
Trump — who lost New Mexico by about 8 percentage points in 2016 and nearly 11 percentage points in 2020 — cut into that deficit, and did so in historically Democratic counties as well as Republican strongholds, according to unofficial results from The Associated Press.
"That is a breakthrough for the Republicans at the presidential level," said New Mexico-based political columnist Joe Monahan as ballots were being tallied. "Where did those votes come from?"
With about 98% of the vote counted in New Mexico, the former president gained support in all but three of New Mexico's 33 counties in Tuesday's election when compared to 2020. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, received a majority of Tuesday's votes in 13 New Mexico counties.
Trump traveled to New Mexico on Oct. 31 to hold a rally in the campaign's final days, taking a risky detour from the seven battleground states to court Latino voters. New Mexico has the highest percentage of Latino voters in the nation. Harris didn't visit the state after her nomination for president.
Isaiah Blas, 25, waited in line for hours last month to see Trump in Albuquerque. He pointed to the sea of people in red "Make America Great Again" hats around him, saying it was a sign that the trajectory of politics could change in the state.
"I think a lot of New Mexicans are getting tired of these Democrats saying that they're going to do it and they don't do anything for New Mexicans," Blas said, pointing to the state's persistent and dismal rankings nationwide for crime rates and educational outcomes. "We're just sick of it because we have Democrat after Democrat after Democrat. Are we getting better? No."
The shift toward voting for Trump played out in Democratic-dominated cities along the Rio Grande corridor including Doña Ana, Santa Fe and Bernalillo counties.
At the same time, Republican legislative candidates picked up at least one seat in the state House and two in the state Senate — staving off the possibility of a Democratic supermajority.
Democrats lost control of a newly redistricted state Senate seat to a Republican candidate who backed Trump's failed efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Sandoval County Commissioner Jay Block of Rio Rancho won that seat after 2022, when he voted twice against certifying local election results while stoking doubts about election integrity.
Meanwhile in southwestern New Mexico, Republican Gabriel Ramos of Silver City won a Senate seat vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Siah Correa Hemphill.
Ramos previously held the seat as a Democrat and was ousted in the 2020 primary after voting against a bill to repeal a 1969 New Mexico law that criminalized abortion. The bill later passed, ensuring statewide access to abortion after the Supreme Court in 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade.
Additionally, Republican Rebecca Dow of Truth or Consequences unseated a Democrat to return to the state House after unsuccessfully seeking the Republican nomination for governor in 2018.
One state House and one state Senate race were too tight to call — the state's only undecided legislative races.
Democrats still control every statewide office in New Mexico, all three U.S. House seats and the state Supreme Court.
And unofficial results from the AP showed Heinrich winning by roughly 10 percentage points over Republican Nella Domenici, the daughter of longtime U.S. Sen. Pete V. Domenici — in her first bid for public office.
Vasquez won reelection in New Mexico's swing district along the U.S.-Mexico border, in a close-fought rematch against Republican Yvette Herrell, who he ousted in 2022.
Herrell waged her fourth consecutive campaign for Congress in the majority-Latino district that stretches from the border to Albuquerque.
Vasquez, a former Las Cruces city councilor, invoked his knowledge of the border region and its economy as the U.S.-born son of immigrants from Mexico.
After winning Tuesday night, he vowed to serve local constituents "no matter how they voted," in a celebratory statement in English and Spanish.
"We can do it, we did it and now, we return to work. Long live the Second District," Vasquez wrote in Spanish.
Widespread power outages as winter storm sweep over New Mexico - Bryce Dix, KUNM News
Over 45,000 customers are now affected by overnight power outages as a powerful winter storm brings bouts of rain and possibly historic snowfall to major portions of New Mexico.
As of 7:45 a.m. Thursday morning, the Public Service Company of New Mexico’s power outage map listed 397 individual outages ranging from Los Lunas up the Rio Grande Valley to Santa Fe. Totals have been ticking up all morning.
The National Weather Service is predicting more snow on Thursday that could carry well through the end of the week on Friday – with the potential for major to extreme travel impacts.
Forecasters say I-25 from Las Vegas to Raton Pass will likely experience the worst impacts from this storm.
Republicans gain 1 state House seat and 1 Senate seat, but Dems still have big majority - By Source New Mexico
Republicans flipped three seats in the New Mexico Legislature, according to the latest voting tallies Wednesday from the Secretary of State’s Office, but the majority in both chambers still belongs to Democrats.
In the Senate, Republicans Jay Block and Gabriel Ramos won open seats that previously belonged to Democrats. Democrats also won a previously Republican seat once held by Sen. Joshua Sanchez, who will be replaced by Sen. Angel Charley.
The Election day results mean a net gain of one seat in the Senate, bringing the new party breakdown 26 Democrats and 16 Republicans when the Legislature convenes early next year.
Block won Senate District 12, which Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino represented before he retired and the Albuquerque-area seat was heavily redrawn in redistricting in 2021. Ramos won District 28, which covers parts of Silver City, Lordsburg and Deming. Sen. Correa Hemphill, a Democrat, used to represent that area but stepped down after the June primary.
In the House, Democrat Rep. Tara Jaramillo lost her race to Republican Rebecca Dow. That means there will be 44 Democrats to 26 Republicans in the House.
This year, there were 10 contested Senate races and 32 contested House races. The rest were uncontested.
NOTEWORTHY RACES
State Senate District 9
A contentious race for a Senate district near Albuquerque came to an end late Tuesday night, with Democrat Cindy Nava earning 55% of the vote and beating Republican Audrey Trujillo, who got 45%.
Nava will become one of the only beneficiaries of the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals to be elected to office. The former Biden administration official’s parents brought her to the United States when she was 7, and she’s since become a United States citizen.
Before running for the District 9 seat, Trujillo unsuccessfully ran Secretary of State in 2022. She falsely claimed back then that former President Donald Trump won New Mexico during his failed 2020 presidential bid. In fact, the former President lost New Mexico by about 100,000 votes.
Heading into Tuesday, Nava greatly outraised her opponent. As of the latest campaign filing reports, Nava raised about $277,000, and Trujillo raised a little more than $65,000.
Senate District 9 is mostly located in Sandoval County, with part of it in Bernalillo County. It is bounded by Algodones to the north, Sandia Pueblo to the south, Placitas to the east and part of Rio Rancho to the west.
Trujillo and Nava both threw their hats in the District 9 race after Sen. Brenda McKenna, a Democrat, stepped down after one term.
State Senate District 12
Republican Jay Block defeated Democrat Phillip Ramirez with 53%% of the vote, according to preliminary results from the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office.
Senate District 12 includes the western part of Rio Rancho, an Albuquerque suburb.
Block in June won the Republican nomination over Candance Gould.
From his seat on the Sandoval County Commission, Block voted against certifying the 2022 primary election results.
Incumbent Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino (D-Albuquerque), who was elected before the district was redrawn in 2021, did not run for reelection.
Ramirez in 2021 ran for Albuquerque City Council.
State Senate District 28
Republican Gabriel Ramos garnered 56% of the vote and defeated Democratic candidate Chris Ponce, with 44%, in a bid for the bootheel District 28.
The bootheel district which includes Hidalgo, Grant and Luna Counties was held by former Democratic Sen. Siah Correa Hemphill. Ponce, a Grant County commissioner, was nominated by the Democratic party after Correa Hemphill announced her withdrawal from the race in May.
Ramos, formerly a Democrat, was appointed to the vacant seat in 2019. Ramos was one of five Democrats breaking with the party to vote in 2020 against removing a decades-old defunct law limiting abortion. Ramos was ousted in the 2020 Democratic primary by Correa Hemphill, who made abortion rights a central part of her campaign.
State Representative District 11
Despite a rare challenge, the speaker of the state House of Representatives has kept his seat and gavel after Tuesday’s election.
Rep. Javier Martínez (D-Albuquerque) moved 75% of voters, beating Republican Bart Kinney III who kept just 25%.
Martínez was the only member of Democratic leadership in the state House and Senate to face a contested general election this cycle. He’s amassed more than $430,000 in contributions since being elected to the House, much of which he’s donated to other campaigns for incumbent Democrats. That’s compared with Kinney’s roughly $30,000.
Kinney, an insurance agent and broker, focused his campaign on addressing crime and protecting Second Amendment rights.
Martínez was elected to the state House in 2014 and became House Speaker in 2021.
He’ll preside over the House for what promises to be a unique, 60-day legislative session early next year, in which the Legislature might have an acrimonious fight with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham over crime and related issues.
The Legislature this summer declined to take up a slate of measures the governor supported as she sought to get tougher on crime, including strengthening criminal penalties and making it easier for police to arrest those with mental health issues and drug addictions.
State Representative District 22
One of the state House’s most prominent supporters of former President Donald Trump kept her House seat representing mountain towns outside of Albuquerque.
Rep. Stefani Lord, a Republican, has been in the state House since 2021 and earned 56% of the vote. She faced two general-election opponents, one a Democrat and one independent.
Democrat Fred Ponzlov accused Lord of engaging “in political stunt after political stunt to get press coverage, instead of working to improve life within her district.” He cited her effort to impeach the governor and eliminate background checks for almost all gun purchases.
Lord attended Trump’s rally in Albuquerque last week and claimed on national television that the president had a shot at winning New Mexico this year, even though Vice President Kamala Harris has consistently led here by 7-8 percentage points.
Zachary Withers, an independent candidate, describes himself as a farmer in the East Mountains who wanted to focus his campaign on food sovereignty, the efficient use of water resources, helping small businesses and reducing bureaucracy.
State House District 36
Democrat Nathan Small will keep his seat in the New Mexico House of Representatives after beating Republican challenger Kimberly Skaggs for the second time. Small earned 52% of the vote compared to Skaggs’ 48%.
The race for House District 36 involved some of the highest spending of any state legislative race this year. Small spent just over $196,000 this campaign, the most of any state legislator, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. Skaggs was the fifth highest spender at about $142,700 this election.
Skaggs previously ran for Senate District 36 against Jeff Steinborn in 2020 and lost. She has run against Small twice, first in 2022 and now in 20224, losing both general elections.
Small has represented much of rural Doña Ana County since 2017. His district also includes the Picacho area of Las Cruces and the Village of Doña Ana. With this win, Small will also continue his role as chair of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee this upcoming legislative session and vice chair of the Interim Legislative Finance Committee.
State House District 38
Rebecca Dow will once again represent House District 38 after defeating Democratic incumbent Tara Jaramillo with 52% of the vote.
Dow previously represented the district from 2017 through the end of 2022. Jaramillo succeeded Dow as representative in 2023 after Dow chose not seek reelection and instead ran as a Republican candidate for New Mexico governor. She was defeated in the 2022 June primary by Mark Ronchetti.
Jaramillo and Dow were the top two campaign finance earners this election cycle, with Jaramillo raising about $159,200 and Dow raising about $154,400. Dow was the fourth highest campaign spender in the state legislature elections this year spending about $149,500.
The makeup of the district has changed a lot since Dow left office. Previously, the district included most of Truth or Consequences and Silver City. Redistricting in 2023 moved Silver City into a new district. House District 38 now encompasses portions of northern Las Cruces and stretches north to Hatch, Truth or Consequences and a portion of Socorro.
State Representative District 53
Democrat Sarah Silva will be the next state representative for District 53, according to the preliminary results available Wednesday afternoon.
But it’s still very close: Silva was up by 129 votes of 9,429 counted so far. Elections officials said they’d finish counting Doña Ana County’s absentee ballots by 6 p.m. Wednesday.
The margin separating Silva and her Republican opponent Elizabeth Winterrowd amounts to 1.3% of the votes counted. An automatic recount occurs if that margin falls below 1%.
As it stands now, Silva has 51% of the vote and has 49%.
The race for portions of Eastern Las Cruces, Doña Ana County and Chaparral in Otero County is one that state GOP leaders said they wanted to focus on flipping. Winterrowd is a special education teacher from Organ.
Silva, a community organizer and coach, was picked by the Democratic party to replace candidate Jon Hill on the ballot after his withdrawal from the race in August. He died shortly after endorsing Silva to replace him. Hill had ousted incumbent Rep. Willie Madrid (D-Chaparral) in the June primary.
Reminder: APS Snow days are a thing of the past - Rodd Cayton, City Desk ABQ
With the National Weather Service predicting snow for Thursday — and possibly Wednesday and Friday as well — Albuquerque Public Schools is reminding families that class is still in session when the weather’s nasty.
The district in 2023-24 replaced snow days with “asynchronous learning days,” and that policy continues this school year.
That means that instead of playing in the snow or discovering soap operas, APS students will be expected to complete lessons at home on days schools are closed due to inclement weather.
APS employees, except for teachers and education paraprofessionals, will be expected to report to work as soon as safely possible, according to a district news release. Teachers and educational assistants may work from home or at their schools on those days.
Asynchronous learning days could see teachers:
- Create and post assignments for students to complete on their own via Google Classroom or another platform.
- Maintain office hours online to support students with assignments, or offer tutoring.
- Use other instructional practices to ensure students are learning.
APS says students who don’t have access to digital devices or the internet will be given additional time to complete assignments in class when they return.
“When inclement weather hits, our top priority is making sure students and staff are safe,” district spokesperson Martin Salazar said. “But right behind safety is ensuring continuity in student learning. That’s where asynchronous learning comes in. It gives students the ability to continue their lessons at their own pace at home with support from their teachers.”
He said the process helps students stay on track academically, and avoids having to add days to the calendar at the end of the school year.
APS says asynchronous learning will not be used when weather causes a delayed start.
Some asynchronous learning days are planned without respect to weather. Those include high school testing days, parent/teacher conferences and graduation days.
Voters give ABQ City Council more say in terminating police, fire chiefs - By Elizabeth McCall, City Desk ABQ
The Albuquerque City Council will have more say in terminating a police or fire chief after voters passed an amendment to change the city’s charter.
Voters also approved a city charter amendment to create a process for filling vacancies on a three-member committee that resolves disputes between the mayor and the council.
According to unofficial results from the Bernalillo County Clerk’s Office, voters approved both ballot questions by 62% as of 10:30 p.m. Wednesday.
“Passing these amendments to our charter shows an overwhelming desire for a more accountable mayor and police chief,” Council President Dan Lewis said.
The amendment allows the council to fire a police or fire chief without cause on a 7-2 vote. Police and fire chiefs would have an employment agreement with the city, which the mayor could terminate with cause. The council, however, would be able to fire a chief without cause.
Councilor Louie Sanchez, a frequent critic of the Albuquerque Police Department and Chief Harold Medina said he thinks both amendments “give extra checks and balances.”
“I think it’s important that we, as city councilors, have an opportunity to weigh in in reference to the police chief and the fire chief,” Sanchez said. “If we have a police chief or a fire chief that’s not doing their job, we should be able to act on those issues, because it’s an issue of public safety.”
SEPARATION OF POWERS AMENDMENT
The second charter amendment on the ballot will set a process to ensure vacancies on a committee that resolves disputes between the mayor and council are filled in a timely manner.
The amendment requires the mayor to appoint one member of the intragovernmental conference committee 30 days before the preceding appointee’s term expires or immediately after the appointee resigns. The city charter already requires the council to appoint another member. Those two members are required to appoint a third member to serve as the chair.
According to the amendment, “if either the mayor or City Council fails to name a replacement committee member within 60 days of vacancy, the other body shall make the appointment.”