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Monday, December 17, 2018

GOP Insiders Say Herrell Set To Make Second Run For 2nd Congressional District, And: Big Bill's Spaceport Suddenly Not Looking So Bad 

Herrell And Torres Small
Our GOP insiders report that Yvette Herrell will not challenge her loss to Democrat Xochitl Torres Small for the southern congressional and is instead already preparing to make a second run for the position.

Herrell's campaign successfully sued to have a district court impound the absentee ballots from Dona Ana County where Torres Small scored a large victory that made possible her 3,000 vote win over Herrell in the mainly conservative southern CD.

The Herrell camp has completed its examination of those absentee ballots but has yet to  report any mischief and is not expected to. Herrell has yet to concede the election.

Her decision to make a second run appears to rule out a campaign by Rep. Steve Pearce who gave up the seat to make an unsuccessful bid for Governor and has since been elected chairman of the NM Republican Party. Pearce has taken heat for not ruling out another congressional run even as he serves as party chair.

Pearce was a firm supporter of Herrell who faced a rough primary challenge from former Hobbs Mayor Monty Newman. And she can't expect any free ride in the 2020 GOP primary when Newman could be among the other R's who will vie for the seat.

Torres Small doesn't take office until January 3 but she can't be surprised that she will not only be a full time congresswoman but a full time candidate. The R's are upset that they allowed her to take a seat that Dems have rarely held. They think that the higher turnout in the 2020 presidential year could tip the scales back to Herrell. They say Dona Ana County midterm turnout nearly matched that a presidential year and Torres Small can't expect to get much more out of there next time. But that was not the case in the conservative SE areas of the district where Herrell outperformed but turnout was more modest.

Dems argue that Torres Small will have the advantage of the incumbency in 2020 and that could reduce her losing margins in the SE while she does more than hold her own again in her home county of Dona Ana, making her re-election likely.

No word on when Herrell, who gave up her Alamogordo state House seat to make the congressional bid, will make her announcement regarding a second shot but it may not be far off.

AMAZING AND CAUTIOUS?

Following her selection by Governor-elect Lujan Grisham for the position of Secretary  of the Department of Finance and Administration, Secretary-designate Olivia Padilla-Jackson said the immense state surplus the state is accumulating represents an. . .

unprecedented opportunity to do some amazing things. But we need to be cautious.

We don't know how you get "amazing things" without taking some risk but we will closely watch the state budget Padilla-Jackson drafts with Lujan Grisham.

BIG BILL'S BET

Will Big Bill's NM Spaceport be finally pay off? A test flight from California into space by Virgin Galactic last week raised hopes that the dream of ex-Governor Richardson and Virgin's Richard Branson could be about to finally be realized. The NM Spaceport was announced by the pair 14 years ago but ever since Bill and Branson have been ridiculed for the often delayed project. But if this breakthrough development is followed by a couple more, in the next few years paying tourists could  be launched into space from the NM Spaceport. That would be a major boost to the legacy of the former two term Democratic governor. Now, if they could only get Bill's RailRunner on track

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2018
 
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