Earlier this year the race for New Mexico Senate District 28, including Silver City and the Gila Wilderness, took an unexpected turn.
Senator Siah Correa Hemphill, a Democrat, was all set to run for reelection, facing no challengers in the primary elections. But after those primaries, she pulled out, saying she couldn't afford to commute to Santa Fe to do unpaid work as a lawmaker anymore.
The district was the closest state Senate race in the last election two years ago. Sen. Correa Hemphill won by just under 400 votes. Back then, she ran after successfully challenging sitting Democratic senator Gabriel Ramos in a primary race.
Ramos was appointed by the Governor after his predecessor Howie Morales was elected Lieutenant Governor. Even then, he was seen as conservative-leaning when some environmentalists argued he was too supportive of an Arizona project that diverts water from the Colorado River. Later in 2019 he joined a group of Democrats who voted to keep an abortion ban from the 1960s on the state's books.
That law was eventually repealed. But Ramos has stuck to his pro-life guns and is now running for his old seat, but this time as a Republican. He told KUNM it's not him that's changed, it's the party.
"I was raised a blue dog Democrat," he said. "My father made sure that I went and registered when I was 18 years old."
He grew up in a mining community in western New Mexico and said miners looked to unions to fight for their rights.
"And I think the unions pretty much ran our Democrat party when I was younger, and they did a lot of great things," he said.
Now, he thinks the Democrats are a party of liberal values and he believes that turns voters off.
"I think people are tired of Santa Fe pushing their progressive values on rural New Mexico," he said.
He said his potential constituents object to a planned state-funded reproductive health clinic in Las Cruces that will provide abortion as well as other services. He is opposed to a law that passed last year banning discrimination against people who seek gender-affirming care. And he thinks two economic mainstays of his area, cattle and mining, are overregulated.
"I also believe that we always got to fund our police to the fullest to make sure that they can do their jobs to protect all of us," he said. "So those types of issues are the issues that drove me to the Republican side."
Ramos has raised significant funding for his race, more than $200,000 at last count. And the fact that the race was so tight last time might make him think he has a chance of winning.
To replace Sen. Correa Hemphill, a small group from the state Democratic Party's central committee chose Grant County Commissioner and retired police officer Chris Ponce in July. He did not respond to KUNM's request for an interview but he did speak to KRWG which is based in Las Cruces.
He led on the economy.
"I think we need to build more on our economy. I think we need to protect some of the jobs that we have. Also think we need to create jobs," he said.
One way he suggested doing that was by improving education, such as starting more middle school programs. Another was supporting the outdoor recreation economy.
On the issue of public safety Ponce said many feel not enough people accused of violent crimes are detained before their trials. He raised the possibility of a vote on bringing back cash bail, which was abolished after a 2016 statewide vote.
He says mental health services need more money and that the state should introduce incentives to build affordable housing to address shortages. When asked about climate change he said rural areas like Grant County need electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
"I think by building first our infrastructure, that gives the public and the people an option to do that," he said.
And he supports training more people to work in renewable technologies. Ponce has raised rather less than his challenger's total, more than $67,000, with the biggest donation from the state Senate Democrats.
The Santa Fe New Mexican in September reported that a lawsuit in 2005 made allegations of harassment against Ponce. Ponce told the newspaper that the lawsuit was dismissed and he remembered little else about it. Sen. Correa Hemphill, told the paper: “This information is deeply troubling…I stand in solidarity with survivors of violence."
The paper also reported that during the process by which Ramos was appointed in 2019, Ponce backed Ramos over her.
