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Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Pearce Confirms Run For GOP Chair, Hispanics Hit Record Number In US House Including Xochitl And Happy Thanksgiving, New Mexico  

Headed into the holiday weekend our Alligators scored a coup with their report here Monday that Steve Pearce, fresh off a failed bid as the '18 GOP Guv nominee, was eyeing a run for chairman of the NM Republican Party. Now he has confirmed that, announcing he will seek the chairmanship at the December 8 meeting of the GOP state central committee

It is unusual to have the unsuccessful party nominee for Governor hang around in the public eye as outgoing southern Congressman Pearce is choosing. 

For example, when Dem Gary King lost the Guv slot in '14 he left the spotlight for good. When Dem Diane Denish lost her bid in 2010, she too backed away from any high profile politics, and soon after Republican John Dendahl lost the 2006 Guv race to bill Richardson, he moved to Colorado.

The Martinez/McCleskey faction will have an option other than Pearce. Albuquerque businessman John Rockwell, who previously ran for the post will run against Pearce. But the GOP Central committee is stacked against Rockwell And he has lost twice before. 

Perhaps Pearce, 71, wants a shot at revising his legacy by rebuilding the state GOP. His two statewide losses by large margins--the '08 Senate race and this year's Guv contest--will not be easily forgotten. With the Republican Party left for dead in the aftermath of this month's rout at the polls, Pearce this time would seem to have nowhere to go but up. 

His run for chairman, however, does not rule out a 2020 run for the congressional seat he is vacating and which was won by Dem Xochitl Torres Small. He’s leaving that option open prompting criticism that his run is more for his own personal gain then for the well-being of the party.

LOTS OF COMPANY

Torres Small is the first Hispanic to ever represent the southern NM congressional seat but she will have plenty of company when she goes to work in January:

Congress will have a record 43 Latino members next year. The number increased after California Democrat Gil Cisneros defeated Republican Young Kim, who was trying to become the first Korean-American woman elected to the House. The Hispanic delegation will be made up of 35 Democrats and eight Republicans in both chambers.

HI, HANNA

A reader sends an update on the whereabouts of the now long gone former NM Secretary of Education Hanna Skandera, perhaps the most controversial cabinet secretary in recent decades:

Skandera is currently editor in chief of The Line, a publication of the Frontline Research and Learning Institute. Frontline produces research and data on education-related topics. The Line (headquartered in Pennsylvania) is a twice-yearly publication of the Frontline Research & Learning Institute, whose purpose is to offer new ideas and insight and encourage civil discourse on the most significant K-12 issues we face.

INSIGHTS APPRECIATED

Reader Joel Gay writes:

I wanted to thank you for another great election year of blogging. For years you have been my go-to source for political news, and for that matter for insight into our economy and society. I rely on online news sites like yours to give me the scoop. Which you do, regularly. It is greatly appreciated in our house, where every other day or so I walk into the kitchen and tell my wife, "Did you see what Monahan wrote this morning?" Anyhow, enjoy a well-deserved rest.

Thanks much for that, Joel. That's a nice way to begin our holiday break and say to you and all who join us here:

Happy Thanksgiving, New Mexico!

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2018
 
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