Embattled McKinley DA steps down before NM Supreme Court removal hearings
—Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
Bernadine Martin, the embattled district attorney for McKinley County, announced her resignation Thursday, just days before the state Supreme Court was slated to consider a petition by Attorney General Raúl Torrez to remove her from office.
The Supreme Court accepted a settlement between the New Mexico Department of Justice and Martin, according to court filings Thursday afternoon, and dismissed the case.
Torrez filed the petition in August, which alleged an investigation had revealed that Martin’s office had failed to prepare prosecutions or subpoena witnesses; violated state procurement laws; inappropriately relied on contract attorneys; and fostered a hostile work environment. Torrez also alleged Martin illegally continued to work in a private law practice while serving as DA.
In a statement announcing her resignation obtained by Source NM, Martin thanked voters for their support and also defended her record. “Over the years, we moved thousands of cases through the criminal justice system that benefitted victims, the public and defendants,” she wrote,” adding that she was “most proud of the reduction of the DWI rate.”
She also blamed Lujan Grisham for the removal proceedings, noting that the governor had made the complaint “despite the fact that the Governor has never spoken with Martin.”
Torrez’s original petition cited a request from the governor to remove Martin from office.
Martin did not respond to a call, texts or several emails seeking further comment. The NMDOJ also did not immediately return requests for comment Thursday.
Michael Coleman, the director of communications for the governor’s office, told Source NM in a statement that Lujan Grisham would appoint a replacement.
“The governor believes Ms. Martin did the right thing and that it’s time to put this behind us and move on,” Coleman told Source NM.
Martin also took aim at state Sen. George Muñoz (D-Gallup) for the Legislature’s decision to strip funding from her office and give it to the neighboring district attorney in San Juan County.
Muñoz told Source NM in a phone call Thursday that the Legislature’s decision to strip the funding from the Gallup office was due to years of warnings from “other DAs, courts and public defenders,” and said he’d make the choice again.
“I take a lot of hits because of what I did, but at the end of the day, I know what I did was right,” he said.
The 2026 budget, which lawmakers approved and sent to Lujan Grisham, included a measure to release the funds for the McKinley County district attorney’s office from the San Juan office’s control after a ruling by the Supreme Court regarding Martin’s removal.
In the call with Source NM, San Juan District Attorney Jack Fortner, whose office retains financial control of the Gallup office, said he was only made aware of Martin’s resignation Thursday.
“Hopefully the governor will be able to appoint someone and eventually we can transfer all the funding back to McKinley County,” Fortner told Source NM. “I’m just glad that has come to a resolution.”
$8M plan to raise rails at Gorge Bridge still a go as Cabinet secretary steps down
—John Miller, Albuquerque Journal
The New Mexico Department of Transportation says it remains steadfast in fulfilling a historic commitment by its former Cabinet secretary to build higher railings at the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, the site of numerous suicides over the years.
"The resignation of Cabinet Secretary (Ricky) Serna does not delay or alter the plan to raise the rails at the Gorge Bridge," Kristine Bustos-Mihelcic, NMDOT communications director, told the Journal in response to an inquiry about the future of the project following Serna's resignation, which took effect Friday. "The project is currently in the design phase, and funding is allocated in our operational budget. This remains a priority for NMDOT."
The department's announcement that the multimillion-dollar renovation will move forward was coupled with confirmation that the new railings and related renovations will cost $8 million, in alignment with details Serna revealed at a rally at the bridge in December.
Before the 30-day legislative session wrapped up Thursday, lawmakers included $5 million for the project in House Bill 2, the General Appropriation Act, and NMDOT subsequently identified an additional $3 million in its fiscal year 2027 budget to complete construction as planned.
"The project is ongoing and making progress," Bustos-Mihelcic said. "Staff is working toward completing the design by July 2026. Once design is complete, the project will be let, a contractor will be awarded, and then construction can begin."
Serna announced on Dec. 12 that the state would respond to years of advocacy for higher railings at the bridge at the Community Rally for Accountability, one of two gatherings held last year near the 60-year-old structure following a string of seven suicides there in 2025, including three in September alone.
In response to last year's spike in suicides, which included the death of a local teenager in September, NMDOT closed the bridge to foot traffic until the higher railings could be installed.
"A higher rail can interrupt a moment," Serna told a crowd of local residents, politicians and sheriff's deputies, who had recovered the body of the seventh person to die at the bridge the day before. "A conversation can interrupt a spiral. Compassion can interrupt despair, and a connection can truly save a life."
Serna said NMDOT commissioned an engineering study last fall that called for higher, curved railings and the replacement of the bridge's current sidewalks with "lightweight concrete" to help support the new railings' added weight.
The project is listed as part of the department's Statewide Transportation Improvement Program.
The initiative adds the Gorge Bridge to a growing list of high bridges across the U.S. that have undertaken renovations in recent years to mitigate the risk of suicide, which remains a significant concern across New Mexico compared to many other states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
NM residents take control of state meeting’s public comment to oppose PNM private equity acquisition
—Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
Albuquerque filmmaker Luis Peña Alvarez spoke before the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission on Feb. 26, 2026, as part of a small crowd voicing opposition to the proposed private equity acquisition of PNM’s parent company. (Joshua Bowling/Source NM)
A small crowd attended Thursday morning’s New Mexico Public Regulation Commission meeting to oppose a proposed private equity takeover of the state’s largest electric provider — a topic that wasn’t on the agenda.
Blackstone Infrastructure, a private equity firm, and TXNM Energy Inc, PNM’s parent company, jointly announced acquisition plans last May. The companies at the time asked PRC commissioners to sign off on the $11.5 billion deal, which would give ownership of TXNM to a Blackstone subsidiary. Their application cited a need to “provide the financial resources necessary to thrive in a rapidly changing energy environment.”
Several residents who attended in-person at the Roundhouse and virtually by Zoom used the open comment period of the meeting to tell PRC commissioners to kill the deal when the time comes to vote.
“New Mexico’s resources have been drained enough and its people should not pay the price for the capital gains of another industry,” Albuquerque filmmaker Luis Peña Alvarez told commissioners.
Priscilla Del Aguila, an Albuquerque teacher who attended virtually, told the commission that “private equity companies are looking out for their pocketbooks and not the people.” Blackstone, she told commissioners, “is not welcome in New Mexico, and our voices have been very clear.”
Recent public comment meetings about the proposed acquisition, which have included stiff community pushback, have run for hours. Commissioners on Thursday said that formal hearings on the matter will begin May 4.
Pat Thomas, a New Mexico attorney, told commissioners they ought to strike the deal down because a $400 million stock sale between TXNM and a Blackstone affiliate “plainly” broke the law.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez last week sounded the same alarm. His New Mexico Department of Justice filed a brief supporting a motion from Prosperity Works, an Albuquerque nonprofit with a focus on anti-poverty initiatives, which alleged shareholders were informed the stocks would be converted into cash in such a manner that required oversight under the state Public Utilities Act, which charges the PRC with overseeing stock sales.
A Blackstone spokesperson disputed that at the time.
“Under their interpretation, even the purchase of a single share of utility stock without any control rights by anyone affiliated with a utility would require preemptive Commission approval – an outcome inconsistent with the statute’s language and unsupported by decades of Commission practice,” spokesperson Paula Chirhart wrote in an email to Source NM Friday.
National Science Foundation to proceed with demolition and site restoration at Sacramento Peak Observatory at Sunspot
—news release, U.S. National Science Foundation
A solar observatory in Southern New Mexico is being shut down.
The U.S. National Science Foundation announced this week that the Sunspot Solar Observatory is going to be closed and the building demolished. Officially known as the Sacramento Peak Observatory, the facility is located in the unincorporated community of Sunspot, about 18 miles south of Cloudcroft.
In January this year, the observatory was closed after liquid mercury was found in the telescope building.
The observatory is located on public land in Lincoln National Forest, which is managed by the U.S. Forest Service. The Forest Service requested that the National Science Foundation remove all mercury and remediate the site. Federal officials in charge of the observatory say that after assessing costs and risks, the best choice would be to close the observatory.
The Dunn Solar Telescope in use at Sunspot was originally constructed by the U.S. Air Force in 1969.
The Air Force transferred ownership of the facility to the National Science Foundation in 1976. In 2017, the observatory was taken over by a consortium led by New Mexico State University. The telescope has been in limited operation since 2019.
Owners of former Zorro Ranch ordered to stop construction due to lack of permits
—Santa Fe New Mexican
In Santa Fe County, at the former ranch of convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein, state and county officials have ordered a pause on construction on the property.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that a new front gate at the ranch’s entrance sits unfinished. Officials say the new owners of the formerly-named Zorro Ranch failed to obtain the required permits.
Texas businessman and former state Sen. Don Huffines and his family purchased the property in 2023 under an anonymous holding company. They renamed it San Rafael Ranch.
Huffines is a Republican running for Texas comptroller. He said earlier this month he plans to develop a Christian retreat at the ranch.
However, the New Mexican reports state and county officials told the owners to stop construction at the site in January. The New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department issued an order to halt work Jan. 16, and the county issued one Jan. 28.
New Mexico state agency to hold public hearing on proposed uranium mine
—Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
The New Mexico office charged with permitting what would be the state’s first new uranium mine in decades has agreed to hold a public hearing after receiving more than 200 letters in opposition.
Laramide Resources, Inc. announced a major milestone in mid-January for its years-long effort to build La Jara Mesa uranium mine about 10 miles north of Grants. After the state’s Mining and Minerals Division deemed the company’s 72-page mining plan “administratively complete,” officials opened a public comment period that ended last week.
The division received more than 200 letters, all of which expressed opposition to the mine, according to a Source NM review of the letters the division published online Thursday.
According to the plan, the mine, once built, will produce 12 to 15 truckloads a day of uranium ore to be processed at an unspecified offsite mill. The operation could run in New Mexico for up to 20 years, the company says.
Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department Public Information Officer Sidney Hill said the department received “dozens” of hearing requests in addition to the comments, and has committed to holding a hearing.
But the hearing won’t happen until Laramide responds to questions the division has regarding the company’s mining plan. The division expects to send questions to the company before June, Hill said, though he said he couldn’t estimate when a hearing would be scheduled.
The proposed site is near Mount Taylor, which is one of four mountains sacred to the Navajo people and other local pueblos. Tribes and pueblos in the early 2000s successfully convinced the state to designate the mountain and outlying areas a “traditional cultural property” in an effort to protect it from mining.
Dozens of the letters also recounted harms uranium mining has caused Indigenous communities. Alicia Gallegos, an organizer for the Pueblo Action Alliance, told Source that in addition to running an online campaign, she collected several dozen hand-written letters.
“I think it’s important to have these public hearings, so that the folks who would be pushing this project forward are seeing the faces of the people who are impacted,” she said.
Leona Morgan, a Diné anti-nuclear advocate, wrote in her letter that the state should hold multiple public hearings along a potential uranium transport route in the Navajo Nation, because the only operating uranium mill is in Northern Arizona.
“This means the transport may go through Navajo Nation,” she wrote. “As such, the Navajo public must be informed and afforded the opportunity to give public comments.”
Josh Leftwich, vice president of operations and strategic development for Laramide, told Source NM in an email Thursday that the company “respects” the division’s decision to hold a hearing. He also said that the company “recognizes that mining projects can generate strong viewpoints.”
“However, regulatory decisions are ultimately based on technical standards, environmental protections, and compliance with established law,” he said. “Our focus remains on following the science, complying with the rules, and working constructively within the regulatory framework established by the State of New Mexico and federal agencies.”
Both the state and the federal government have to approve the mine through parallel permitting applications, though the federal government has signaled it intends to fast track approvals. Still, the division previously promised a “robust permitting process” that can diverge from the federal process if needed.
Former Santa Fe Opera conductor linked to Epstein - Gillian Barkhurst, Albuquerque Journal
Numerous emails link the former chief conductor of the Santa Fe Opera to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to files recently released by the U.S. Department of Justice.
In emails, world-renowned French composer Frédéric Chaslin mocked the #MeToo movement, commented on Epstein’s “many pretty assistants” and arranged a meeting for the now-disgraced financier with a young woman while he visited Paris.
“I found a great girl for your next stay in Paris,” Chaslin wrote in a 2013 email. “Student in philosophy. 21. Looks a little like Roman Polanski's current wife.”
In a statement posted on social media, Chaslin denied that he arranged a sexual encounter and said that the woman was to be Epstein’s translator.
“This phrase could be interpreted in many different ways, but we are now in a moment where this overinterpretation has driven a divorce of reality,” Chaslin wrote in French.
Chaslin also stated that as a French speaker, he did not understand the implications of his description in English.
Although Chaslin said he knew nothing about Epstein's sex crimes, the pair met two years after Epstein was convicted on child prostitution charges in Florida in 2008. Epstein served nights in jail for 13 months and was released in July 2009, approximately a year before he met Chaslin.
Chaslin’s name appears nearly 400 times in the Epstein files, although many of the documents are duplicates.
After the Epstein files were released, the French government announced it would investigate French citizens implicated in emails and other documents.
Epstein also appears to be connected to current Santa Fe Opera Board of Directors member Peter Frank.
In a 2014 email, sent to both Chaslin and Epstein, Frank writes that “all is terrific in Santa Fe, a very successful musical summer for us here.”
Frank then asks to meet the pair in Paris.
Current Santa Fe Opera Board of Directors member Irwin Sugarman and past member Dan Perry were also sent the email, though there is no documentation of any reply.
"The Santa Fe Opera does not comment on individual personnel matters," a spokesperson for the Opera said in a statement Wednesday. "We maintain longstanding policies prohibiting harassment and inappropriate conduct and provide clear reporting channels for artists and staff."
The Santa Fe Opera did not answer questions about whether officials knew about allegations of sexual misconduct by Chaslin, nor if they planned to investigate after he appeared in the files.
As for the board members, the officials said Wednesday "we do not have any additional information to provide."
In 2010, Chaslin was awarded a three-year contract with the Santa Fe Opera.
Once in Santa Fe, Chaslin met Epstein and later visited the now-infamous Zorro Ranch in Santa Fe County, Chaslin said in a statement.
New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard has called on state and federal authorities to investigate the anonymous but thus far unsubstantiated claims that two children were sexually assaulted and buried at the property.
Epstein also visited Chaslin at least once at the Santa Fe Opera, reportedly entering the backstage area and sitting in the front row for a performance of Puccini's Tosca, according to emails.
In 2012, a year before his contract was up, Chaslin abruptly abandoned his position, left the country, and began work in Jerusalem.
Then-Opera General Director Charles Mackay said that Chaslin left to “focus on composing,” according to past Journal reporting.
A 2017 email conversation between Chaslin and Epstein suggests another reason for his sudden departure.
“Hope you're fine,” Chaslin wrote in October 2017. “While the world is getting crazy at chasing men. I had a similar situation (in) Santa Fe. I feel for my fellow male species.”
Epstein replied that women would “say anything” to get their picture in the newspaper “with total disregard for the damage they cause.”
That conversation refers to the #MeToo movement, when a wave of women in and outside of Hollywood accused film producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment, coercion and rape in October 2017.
“Harvey (Weinstein) has 50 women who say they just escaped his grasp,” Epstein wrote. “You and I know that the only reason he would use the same routine over and over was that in the majority it worked. No one admitting their role.”
In that email chain, Epstein went on to criticize the attire of Rose McGowan, an actress who alleged that Weinstein raped her in a hotel room and was an early advocate for the #MeToo movement.
“Look at the Oscar dress of Rose McGowan, the one accusing him of rape,” Epstein wrote.
Chaslin responded, writing, “That is an excellent point!!!!”
A history of allegations
It's unclear if his departure was tied in any way to the situation he references in Santa Fe.
Chaslin did not mention these messages in his official response to the French press and the Santa Fe Opera did not say whether Chaslin was ever formally investigated by the company.
Still, Chaslin faces at least one other allegation, according to French media.
After the files were released, opera singer Amelia Feuer filed an official complaint with the French government alleging that the conductor had sexually harassed her over text messages in 2016 and offered her work and notoriety in exchange for sexual favors.
Feuer said in interviews and online that she felt empowered to speak up nearly 10 years later because of the bravery of Epstein survivors.
“Seeing so many people refusing to tolerate abuse and choosing to speak up reminds me how powerful our community can be and it gives me a bit of hope,” Feuer wrote in a Feb. 8 social media post.
New Mexico joins multistate lawsuit over federal rollbacks to children’s vaccines - Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
The New Mexico Department of Justice announced on Wednesday it had joined multistate litigation challenging federal health officials’ reduction of the number of vaccines recommended for children.
The complaint, filed in U.S. federal district court in San Francisco, seeks to overturn the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Jan. 5 memo stripping universal recommendations for doctors to issue vaccines on six childhood diseases: rotavirus, meningococcal disease, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The memo built on the agency’s 2025 recommendation requiring patients younger than 65 to have an underlying condition to be eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine.
The complaint, which directly names U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Acting CDC Director Jayanta Bhattacharya, alleges Kennedy’s abrupt firing and replacement of all 17 members of the CDC’s expert panel for vaccines violated federal laws.
The complaint also alleges the changes to the vaccine schedule were not based on new circumstances or science, and that the CDC “ignored the clear risk to public health posed by downgrading routine vaccinations without notice or public comment.”
The lawsuit requests the court void Kennedy’s appointments to a vaccine panel and reverse the CDC’s childhood vaccine schedule recommendations.
NMDOJ officials cited the reliability and safety of vaccines in a news release Wednesday, noting that CDC researchers in 2024 estimated childhood immunizations prevented about 1.1 million deaths between 1994 and 2023, reduced illnesses by 508 million cases and prevented 32 million hospitalizations.
“For decades, our nation’s vaccine policies have been guided by rigorous science and medical expertise, helping eliminate diseases that once devastated families, ”Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in a statement. “By bypassing federal law and undermining established vaccine recommendations, this administration is putting children at unnecessary risk. Public health decisions must be driven by evidence — not ideology.”
Attorneys general from Arizona and California are leading the litigation. New Mexico joins 12 other states supporting the complaint: Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
At least 17 states, including New Mexico, opted to buck the new federal guidelines, as state health officials announced in January they will maintain the full childhood vaccination recommendations.
During the most recent legislative session, lawmakers passed House Bill 156, which if signed, would grant New Mexico permanent control over its vaccine recommendations after the state adopted a temporary measure in 2025. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has until March 11 to sign or veto the bill.
New Mexico Department of Health officials said HB156 secures the ability to purchase childhood vaccines and require their coverage by insurance in a Feb. 19 news release.
“We are thankful to the Legislature in ensuring access to vaccines for New Mexicans who want to keep themselves and their loved ones safe,” said NMDOH Secretary Gina DeBlassie in a statement.
Former NM Congressman Pearce faces questions about public lands views as he seeks federal post - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
Former Republican New Mexico Congressman Steve Pearce faced multiple rounds of questions about his public lands record Wednesday during his first U.S. Senate committee confirmation hearing for director of the federal Bureau of Lands Management.
If the Senate confirms him, Pearce, who represented the state’s 2nd Congressional District from 2011 to 2019, would oversee 245 million acres of public lands, including for recreation, cattle grazing and extraction of oil and natural gas.
President Donald Trump nominated Pearce for the post in November, drawing swift condemnation from environmental groups that pointed to his record in Congress, including his co-sponsoring of bills undermining the Antiquities Act, which allows the president to designate national monuments, and opening national forests to industry.
Senators on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, where U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) is the ranking member, held a roughly two-hour hearing Wednesday to question three of Trump’s nominees. Most of their attention centered on Pearce, who founded an oilfield services company in Hobbs before getting into politics and serving as the state’s Republican party chair until late 2024.
The other nominees who faced questions Wednesday are Kyle Haustveit, seeking to become the Energy Department undersecretary, and David LaCerte, seeking reappointment to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The committee won’t vote on the nominees for at least a week. After that, Pearce will face a confirmation hearing before the full Senate.
In his opening statement, Pearce drew on his experience as a Vietnam veteran and time in Congress, and recounted fighting for constituents who sought federal approval or dollars to graze their cattle nearby or clear sediment from the Blue Hole recreational spring in Santa Rosa.
“If confirmed, I fully intend to uphold these same principles as BLM Director and ensure local input is a key factor in my decision-making,” he said.
Multiple Democratic senators, including Heinrich and U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), asked Pearce whether he disavowed previous statements about selling off public lands. Wyden pointed to a letter Pearce co-wrote in Congress in 2012 urging for the “disposal of some of the federal government’s vast land holdings” to prevent tax hikes.
Pearce noted that while he’s not sure his position has changed, he wrote the letter out of “sheer frustration.” He added that a “wholesale” selloff of public land is currently illegal under federal law.
Heinrich told Pearce he’d received concerned letters from local elected officials in Southern New Mexico about Pearce’s previous opposition to the 2014 designation of Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument and subsequent efforts to shrink the monument’s footprint.
Pearce said he does not plan to revisit the “hotly contested issue” if confirmed as BLM director.
“I very rarely look in the rear view mirror, and especially looking at this job and the amount of work ahead of us, I don’t anticipate going back and reviewing that at the end of the day,” he said.
Pearce would take over at the BLM amid Trump’s push to increase domestic energy production, boost domestic oil and gas extraction and roll back the “Public Land Rule,” which sought to ensure conservation of public lands received due consideration along with mining, timber, grazing, recreation or other uses.
In late December, he committed to the Interior Department’s Ethic Office that he would divest within 90 days of being confirmed from several oil and gas leases he held in the Permian Basin, as well as interests in companies like gas company Chevron and chip-maker NVIDIA.
Committee Chair U.S. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who introduced legislation last June that would have mandated the disposal of up to .75% of public lands, said at the end of the hearing that he’d received 18 letters of support for Pearce’s nomination.
He identified supporters as the Navajo Nation and the New Mexico Association of Conservation Districts. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association also previously expressed support for Pearce’s confirmation.
Environmentalist groups have continued to pressure the Senate to vote against Pearce, including in a statement following the hearing Wednesday. Mike Carroll, a campaign director for the Wilderness Society, told Source NM on Tuesday that unless he disavows his previous views on public lands, Pearce is unfit to be director.
“It’s really hard to look past that history, even if he does actually disavow being in support of selling off federal public lands,” Carroll said.
Lawsuit: Santa Fe Railyard group pressured director to sign fraudulent documents - Santa Fe New Mexican
Former Santa Fe Railyard Community Corp. Executive Director Christine Robertson has filed a lawsuit alleging that she was fired because she refused to sign fraudulent documents.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that Robertson’s attorney, John Day filed the complaint in the First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe on Tuesday.
Robertson said the board’s executive committee “repeatedly pressured” Robertson “to sign off on and approve multiple fraudulent bank documents and sign off on fraudulent board of director corporate resolutions.”
Day is calling for the New Mexico attorney general’s office to investigate the governing board of Railyard Community Corp.
The organization manages the city-owned Railyard District.
The complaint names its executive committee members as board President Rosemary Romero, Vice President Oscar Rodriguez, Treasurer Michael Chamberlain and Ron Pacheco.
Romero told the Santa Fe New Mexican that she’s unable to comment on the accusations because the matter is a personnel issue.
Duke Rodriguez dodges eligibility challenge, as judge dismisses complaint against GOP candidate - Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
Duke Rodriguez survived an attempt to bump him off the ballot, as a state judge on Tuesday dismissed a court challenge filed against the Republican gubernatorial candidate.
But the question of whether Rodriguez meets a residency requirement to hold statewide office remains unanswered — at least for now.
After hearing more than an hour of arguments, District Judge Curtis Gurley of Aztec granted a motion to dismiss the complaint filed by two Republican voters that claimed Rodriguez did not meet the residency requirement in the New Mexico Constitution.
"Our courts want the voters to decide," Gurley said while announcing his ruling that granted Rodriguez's motion to dismiss the case on technical grounds.
Rodriguez, a cannabis entrepreneur who is one of five Republicans running for governor, had described the court challenge against him as a political stunt by supporters of rival candidates.
"I don't view this as just a victory for my campaign," he said in a statement after Tuesday's ruling. "Today, New Mexicans won. They won the opportunity to get beyond the politics of the past and to fix what’s broken."
During Tuesday's hearing, Rodriguez's attorney, Jacob Candelaria, argued the plaintiffs in the case — James Maes of Navajo Lake and John Rockwell of Albuquerque — did not properly serve his client and other involved parties with a copy of the court challenge.
He also argued the requirement that candidates must have "resided continually" in the state for at least five years before being elected applies only to holding office, not for running for it, making a determination at this early stage of the campaign premature.
In addition to residency, other requirements stipulated in the state Constitution for statewide office include being a citizen of the United States and being at least 30 years old.
"Our client has met all the requirements to appear on the ballot," said Candelaria, a former state legislator who has also represented Rodriguez in other court cases.
"The court should step back and let the political process play out," he later added.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit had argued that Rodriguez's extensive voting record in Arizona made him ineligible to run for New Mexico governor this year.
Rodriguez, who owns houses in both Albuquerque and Scottsdale, Arizona, voted in both the 2022 and 2024 general elections in Arizona, where he first registered to vote in 2001, according to Maricopa County records obtained by the Journal.
However, he voted in Albuquerque's regular local election — and its runoff election — last year, and was certified as a candidate by Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver's office this month after filing the necessary paperwork.
Rodriguez, who has insisted he's eligible to run for governor, is a former state Cabinet secretary who is currently the president and CEO of Ultra Health, New Mexico's largest medical cannabis company. He has sought to portray himself as a political outsider in this year's open race, saying in recent social media videos he has been largely snubbed by current GOP leaders.
He also said a state senator aligned with one of his Republican rivals had recently tried to get him to drop out of the race for governor and run for U.S. Senate instead.
Meanwhile, Rockwell and Maes were not represented by an attorney in their court challenge and occasionally struggled with courtroom procedures during Tuesday's hearing. At one point, the judge reminded them their conversations with each other were being picked up by the courtroom's microphones and could be entered into the legal record.
While acknowledging his legal limitations, Rockwell, a former Bernalillo County Republican Party chairman, urged the judge to focus on the underlying merits of the case.
"We've got a situation where this candidate hasn't lived in the state for five years and he wants to run for governor," Rockwell said.
The lawsuit dismissed Tuesday is one of two separate petitions challenging Rodriguez's eligibility to run for governor. The other challenge was filed in the 1st Judicial District in Santa Fe by fellow Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Ellison of Cedar Crest. No hearing had been set in that case as of late Thursday, according to court records.
In addition to Rodriguez and Ellison, the three other GOP candidates vying for the party's nomination in the June 2 primary election are Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull, state Sen. Steve Lanier of Aztec and small business owner Doug Turner of Albuquerque.
On the Democratic side, former U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman are locked in an expensive primary showdown. Former Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima had also been running for governor as a Democrat but said recently he would run instead as an independent.
This year's race for governor is open since incumbent Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is constitutionally barred from seeking a third consecutive term. The two-term Democratic governor will step down at the end of this year.