NM delegation opposes Trump’s plan to increase Argentine beef imports - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
President Donald Trump’s plan to greatly increase the nation’s importation of beef from Argentina will hurt New Mexico’s cattle ranchers at an already difficult time, New Mexico’s three U.S. House members said in a letter this week to the federal Agriculture Department secretary.
The Trump administration recently announced the administration’s plan to quadruple the amount of Argentine beef it imports, an attempt to lower nationwide beef prices, according to Reuters. The news followed a $20 billion currency swap deal with Argentina that Democrats have blasted as a “bailout” of the country’s right-wing president.
U.S. Reps. Gabe Vasquez, Teresa Leger Fernández and Melanie Stansbury, all New Mexico Democrats, said Trump’s reported plan to increase Argentine beef exports from 20,000 metric tons to 80,000 metric tons will undercut New Mexico cattle ranchers on the cusp of their first good year in a long time.
“From years of drought to soaring input costs, New Mexico’s ranchers have barely turned a profit,” the delegation wrote in the Monday letter to Secretary Brooke Rollins. “This plan to flood the market with foreign beef will take money out of the pockets of New Mexico’s ranchers with questionable benefits to consumers.”
The letter cites a USDA analysis from August showing that New Mexico ranchers’ sale of about 1.3 million cattle and calves contributed $1.7 billion to the state economy in 2023, the most recent available data.
“Ranching is not just a job, it’s a way of life in our rural communities,” the lawmakers wrote. “New Mexico’s ranchers deserve a federal government that looks out for them rather than one that gives a handout to foreign producers.”
According to a USDA September price outlook, cattle prices reached record highs in August and September, with slaughter steers now selling for more than $240 per 100 lbs, a $54 increase over last year.
Another factor driving up beef prices is the halt of cattle imports from Mexico, roughly half of which come through New Mexico ports of entry. The border has been closed to Mexican cattle imports since July due to fears about a New World screwworm, a parasitic fly.
The lawmakers said Trump should halt any plans to increase Argentine beef imports and should instead go after “price gouging” in the meatpacking industry. They pointed to a recent $87.5 million settlement two of the nation’s largest meatpacking companies reached last month over accusations they inflated meat prices by restricting supply, Reuters reported.
The House members’ letter is the second rebuke from New Mexico’s congressional delegation. U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján, also Democrats, issued a similar statement Oct. 28.
Trump nominates former New Mexico lawmaker to lead Bureau of Land Management - By Matthew Brown and Morgan Lee, Associated Press
President Donald Trump nominated a former lawmaker from New Mexico on Wednesday to oversee the management of vast public lands that are playing a central role in Republican attempts to ramp up fossil fuel production.
The nominee for the Bureau of Land Management, former Rep. Steve Pearce of New Mexico, must be confirmed by the Senate. The agency manages a quarter-billion acres — about 10% of land in the U.S. It's also responsible for 700 million acres of underground minerals, including major reserves of oil, natural gas and coal.
The agency's policies have swung sharply as control of the White House has shifted between Republicans and Democrats.
Under Democratic President Joe Biden, former bureau Director Tracy Stone-Manning curbed oil drilling and coal mining on federal lands while expanding renewable power in a bid to curb climate change.
Trump and Republicans in Congress have moved quickly to unravel Biden's actions. In a matter of months they've opened millions of acres of public lands for mining and drilling and canceled land plans and conservation strategies that Biden's administration took years to formulate.
But some moves have fallen flat, including a proposal by Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee to sell more than 2 million acres of federal lands to states or other entities. In October, the largest government coal lease sale in more than a decade drew a dirt-cheap bid that was rejected.
A previous nominee to lead the agency, longtime oil and gas industry representative Kathleen Sgamma, withdrew in April following revelations that she criticized Trump in 2021 for inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Pearce is a former fighter pilot and Vietnam War veteran who led a successful oil-services company in New Mexico. He was first elected to the House in 2003 and served seven terms in a district spanning oil fields and vast tracts of public land under federal oversight.
Pearce had a conservative voting record and advocated for ranchers in New Mexico when parts of Lincoln National Forest were closed to protect the endangered New Mexico meadow jumping mouse.
He ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate against Democratic incumbent Tom Udall in 2008, and lost a bid for governor in 2018 to Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham.
Pearce later served as chair of the state Republican Party and was a strong supporter of Trump, who lost three times in New Mexico.
During Trump's first term, Pearce urged the U.S. Interior Department to reduce the size of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument outside Las Cruces, New Mexico, as part of a nationwide review of monument designations. He said a reduction would preserve traditional business enterprises on public lands. That earned him lasting ire from environmentalists who called Wednesday for his nomination to be rejected.
The Sierra Club said in a statement that Pearce was "an opponent of the landscapes and waters that generations of Americans have explored and treasured."
Livestock industry groups expressed support. The National Cattlemen's Beef Association and Public Lands Council said in a joint statement that Pearce "understands the important role that public lands play across the West."
"Pearce's experience makes him thoroughly qualified to lead the BLM and tackle the issues federal lands ranchers are facing," the groups said.
The land bureau went four years without a confirmed director during Trump's first term. The Republican president also moved its headquarters to Colorado before it was returned to Washington, D.C., under Biden.
The agency had about 9,250 employees at the start of the government shutdown on Oct. 1. That's down by roughly 800 employees since the start of Trump's term, following widespread layoffs and resignations driven by the administration's efforts to downsize the federal workforce.
Oil, gas and coal permitting has continued during the shutdown and most land bureau employees were exempted from furloughs.
___
Lee reported from Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Keller, White brace for runoff election showdown in Albuquerque mayoral race - Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
The polls had barely closed on Election Day before a new showdown started to come into focus.
After finishing atop a six-candidate field, incumbent Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and challenger Darren White wasted little time launching their first salvos in what’s expected to be a pugnacious runoff election.
A day after Election Day, White said his campaign was pleasantly surprised by unofficial election returns that showed him just 5 percentage points behind Keller — with 36% of votes cast for the incumbent and 31% for White.
“Two-thirds of the voters last night rejected an eight-year incumbent, and that’s because crime and homelessness are out of control,” White told the Journal.
He also said his campaign would be competitive with Keller when it comes to fundraising in the run-up to the Dec. 9 runoff election, even though the mayor will receive an additional $377,973 in public campaign finance funds this week after being the only candidate to qualify for the program this summer.
“We have received overwhelming support since last night, and we’re going to be on a campaign that will provide us with resources to go toe-to-toe with the mayor,” White said.
For his part, Keller likened the start of the runoff election to “halftime” of this year’s election cycle, saying he was ready for a strong second-half showing.
“Now it’s a two-person race, and the differences could not be more clear,” Keller said Wednesday. “Albuquerque cannot afford a Trump-aligned mayor who would take us backward across the board.”
His campaign manager also said Keller would draw a “sharp contrast” with White on issues including the city’s stance on immigration.
The five-week sprint to the runoff election was triggered under the city’s election code when no candidate surpassed the 50% vote threshold. Two Albuquerque City Council races will also be decided in next month’s runoff election.
Despite a sluggish start to early voting, nearly 135,000 votes were cast in this year’s Albuquerque mayoral race, according to unofficial election results, or about 37.1% of registered voters in the city. That surpassed the 32% turnout mark from the city’s last mayoral election in 2021.
Runoff election dynamics
The outcome of next month’s mayoral runoff election could hinge on which candidate wins the support of voters who cast their ballot for someone else.
Alex Uballez, who came in third in the race with about 19% of votes cast, urged his supporters on election night not to support White but stopped short of endorsing Keller.
Uballez and the mayor spoke on election night but had not had a follow-up conversation as of late Wednesday, an Uballez campaign spokesman said.
Longtime New Mexico political observer Brian Sanderoff said an Uballez endorsement of Keller could be politically significant, as Uballez received as much as 60% of the votes cast in one University of New Mexico voting precinct.
While it’s unlikely that Uballez supporters would back White, Sanderoff said it’s not a certainty that they would support Keller in the runoff election.
“The question is, will they vote?” said Sanderoff, who is the president of Albuquerque-based Research & Polling Inc.
If Keller is able to win the support of most Uballez voters, that could put him over the 50% threshold needed to claim victory next month, Sanderoff added.
After the two-term mayor spent much of the run-up to this week’s Election Day defending his record and accomplishments, Sanderoff said he expects Keller will take a more aggressive approach in the runoff election.
“We’re going to see a different political strategy from Keller, I’m sure, in the runoff,” Sanderoff said.
White seeking to maintain momentum
The path to a White victory in the runoff election could be trickier to map.
Even if White were to win over voters who backed one of the three other candidates running for mayor — Louie Sanchez, Mayling Armijo and Eddie Varela — and retain his own supporters, it would still leave him short of the 50% mark.
The former Bernalillo County sheriff and state Department of Public Safety chief said he planned to launch a new round of radio and television ads in the coming weeks.
“There was really no time to celebrate,” White said. “We enjoyed last night’s victory and we’ve been back at work since early this morning.”
He also said the higher-than-expected turnout could signal a desire for change among Albuquerque residents, while adding he was hopeful that turnout in the runoff election would also be strong.
“The future of our city is really on the ballot,” he said. “So we anticipate it will generate as much interest as it did yesterday.”
Voters reshape political power on APS board - Noah Alcala Bach, Albuquerque Journal
Voters reelected one incumbent and ousted another on the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education on Tuesday.
School Board President Danielle Gonzales lost her District 3 seat, earning 39% of the vote, according to early unofficial results reported as of 10:30 p.m. Her challenger, the Albuquerque Teachers Federation-endorsed Rebecca Betzen, earned 51% of the vote.
Teachers union-backed candidates now make up the majority of the board.
“Hopefully, we can support our teachers a little bit more than what we have done, because I know that listening to the board right now, several of them feel like they’re doing a really good job of supporting the teachers, but when I talk to the teachers, they don’t feel that way,” Betzen said.
Gonzales’ biggest ally on the board, fellow business community-backed member Courtney Jackson, a Republican, won her race, garnering 57% of the vote from her Northeast Heights constituents. Her challenger, union-backed Democrat Kristin Wood-Hegner, earned 43% of the vote.
“I am so grateful to all of the supporters who turned out, who voted, who rallied and got behind a campaign that was focused on students and on their outcomes,” Jackson said.
However, Jackson described the win as bittersweet because of Gonzales’ loss.
“I am certain that she will continue to fight for students and will continue to be an asset in other ways to our community,” Jackson said. “She is a true gift to Albuquerque and to New Mexico, and I am, I’m sad that she’s not going to be on the board.”
On the West Side, Joshua Martinez commandingly won his District 5 race with 68% of the vote, replacing business-backed Crystal Tapia-Romero, who announced she would not seek a second term and endorsed him back in May. He beat Brian Laurent Jr., who ran without the endorsement of either the chamber or the union and earned 32% of the vote.
“I’ve been involved on the West Side for a number of years, I’ve served in different capacities and different groups,” Martinez said. “My community knows me and trusts me, and (I’m) very appreciative of that, and again, just want to continue my service and serving our people.”
In District 6, where Josefina Domínguez was the only teachers union-backed candidate to prevail in 2021, the union hung on to the seat with candidate Warigia Bowman earning 61% of the vote. Her challenger, David Ams, earned 39% of the vote. Domínguez opted not to seek a second term.
“I’m very happy that we have a functioning majority on the board, and I’m looking forward to collaborating with my fellow board members,” Bowman said. “Let’s not exaggerate how powerful the board is, but I’m hoping we can get some traction on some key goals that we agree on.”
The other three board seats not up for reelection are occupied by Heather Benavidez in District 4 and Ronalda Tome-Warito in District 2. Both were backed by the teachers union and won their seats in 2023. District 1 board member Janelle Astorga also won her seat in that election cycle without endorsements from the chamber or teachers union, making her a swing voter.
“I congratulate Rebecca Betzen, Joshua Martinez, Margaret ‘Warigia’ Bowman and Courtney Jackson on their election to the Board of Education,” APS Superintendent Gabriella Blakey said in a statement. “I am eager to collaborate with them to improve outcomes for all our students. To all the candidates who ran, I extend my sincere gratitude for their dedication to public education and the passionate campaigns they ran.”
APS bond
Voters within APS boundaries also voted to approve a $350 million bond that looks to modernize the cooling units at 20 campuses, build a center that would serve special needs students on the West Side and builds a new facility to teach students careers in trade jobs like plumbing, welding and carpentry.
The bond passed with support from 75% of voters. In recent years, most bonds the district puts on the ballot have passed.
“We are incredibly grateful to voters for approving our General Obligation Bond,” Blakey wrote. “On behalf of our students and staff, I want to thank everyone who voted and everyone who helped us get the word out about what this important capital election means for our schools and our kids.”
CNM board
Running unopposed, Thomas Swisstack, the incumbent for the Central New Mexico Community College board, held on to his District 3 seat with 100% of the vote.
Fellow incumbent Nancy Baca won her race with 74% of the vote against challenger Ken Pascoe who earned 26% of the vote for the District 5 seat.
In District 7 incumbent Robert Schoenfelder also held on to his seat with his challenger Ronald Dauk earning 42% of the vote to Schoenfelder’s 58%.
And a fresh face will serve on the board for New Mexico’s largest community college, with Elizabeth Alarid earning 68% of the vote to replace outgoing District 1 representative Charles Ofelt. Randal Peters earned 32% of the vote.