“We’re not purple,” said Joe Monahan, a blogger who has chronicled New Mexico politics for decades. “We’re blue. Very blue.” 

The change is part of a pattern that has remade the West. . . To a large extent, it’s a story of movement. 

People relocating from more liberal climes, like California. Newcomers filling up cities and suburbs, as rural areas recede. Latino influence expanding. And, not least, Republicans shifting dramatically rightward — especially on issues such as immigration and abortion — antagonizing that burgeoning Latino population and butting up against wary Westerners bridling at those telling them how they should live their lives.

"They don’t like government interference,” said New Mexico’s Democratic governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham. “What I mean by that is: Don’t make healthcare decisions for me. Don’t talk to me about what you deem to be equality. Don’t tell me what books I can or cannot read. Don’t tell me who I can marry.”  

In sum, she said, “Don’t tell me what to do.” 

After more than a decade in Los Angeles, Tarra Day was ready for a change. The Hollywood makeup artist decided to return home to New Mexico, where she grew up and her father still lived. It was, she said, “a leap of faith.”. . . It was 2005 and Gov. Bill Richardson was working to diversify New Mexico’s tepid economy through tax rebates and other incentives aimed at making the state a hub of movie and TV production. The industry boomed. Day found plenty of work and bought a ranch-style home amid the cottonwoods and adobes of Santa Fe. . .

A Republican who became a Democrat when Bill Clinton was president, Day, 61, is part of New Mexico’s two-decade political transformation. (“I wanted a party that would be open to gay rights, women’s rights,” she said of her switch from the GOP.) 

. . .New Mexico’s population, about 2.1 million residents, is not a whole lot more than it was in 2000. With the exception of the thriving southeast oil patch called “Little Texas,” most of the meager growth has been in and around its largest cities. That’s boosted the strength and influence of Democratic-leaning Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Santa Fe at the expense of New Mexico’s rural areas, which tend to vote Republican. New Mexico has become a hub of TV and film production, drawing an influx of newcomers, including many who relocated from California. 

The same political and demographic shift has happened throughout the region. There is a mythology of the West, a romantic notion of wide-open spaces and rugged individuals spread far beneath the big, open sky. Although those people and places certainly exist, as anyone who’s driven the empty high-desert expanse between Albuquerque and Santa Fe can attest, most Westerners live in cities. 

In fact, a greater percentage of residents are urban dwellers — 90%— than anywhere in the country. Most of them favor Democrats, like Stacy Skinner, 58, another Hollywood migrant, who does hairstyling as well as celebrity makeup. . .  “Republicans,” Skinner said, “have become the party of crazy.”. . .

David Damore, a political scientist at the University of Nevada suggested Republicans haven’t done themselves much good attacking cities, opposing diversity and adopting “a very old-timey message” intimating things were better when the West had fewer people, most of them were white and the economy was ruled by ranching and industries such as mining and logging. Essentially the GOP “has become a party that’s anti-urban,” said Damore. . .

Mark Z. Barabak

Sometime in the mid-1990s, New Mexico passed an invisible line and became a majority-minority state. A substantial Latino population — or Hispanic, as many here prefer — has been deeply woven in the state’s culture and politics for centuries. Some families trace their lineage to the 16th century conquistadors. 

As a result, there isn’t nearly the same degree of animosity toward Mexico and immigrants that fires much of the Republican Party. . . 

“There is just a natural inclination in the state, first and foremost, to view things through a multicultural lens,” said Dan Sena, a Democratic strategist. . .But it’s not just the bellicosity of build-a-wall Republicans that puts off many New Mexico voters. It’s also the GOP’s messengers. . . 

As the Hispanic population expands — the proportion increases about 2% every five years, according to the state’s leading pollster and demographer, Brian Sanderoff — Hispanic clout has grown along with it. Today, New Mexico has more elected Hispanic officials than any state, most of them Democrats. That’s made the party’s candidates more relatable and appealing to voters. . .

Today, the five-member congressional delegation is entirely Democratic. The party holds all seven statewide offices and controls the Supreme Court and both houses of the Legislature by significant margins. 

Biden is a strong favorite to carry New Mexico in 2024 after beating President Trump by 10 percentage points in 2020. Once a bellwether, the state no longer swings with the national mood. It’s become Democratic bedrock, part of a politically crucial base in the reconstituted West. 

Good stuff as the impact of the big switch continues to play out in the policies and laws New Mexicans live under.

HONORING APODACA 

Former Governor Jerry Apodaca went rogue in his final years and actually endorsed Republican Steve Pearce over MLG in the '18 gubernatorial race. That was after his son, Jeff Apodaca, unsuccessfully challenged her in the Democratic primary. But those hard feelings--if there were any--were set aside as the Governor and the Apodaca family gathered Sunday for a dedication of the memorial garden in honor of the late Governor on the grounds of the Governor's Mansion.

Said Jeff Apodaca: 

It was a Rose of Sharon planted in honor of Apodaca, who died in April at the age of 88 and served as Governor from 1975 to 1979.

Apodaca's grandchildren took part in the planting of the rose, crating a lasting memory for them and a warm moment of unity in a sometimes fractious Democratic Party.

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