New Mexico's five member congressional delegation switches to all Democratic today, only the second time that a single party has controlled the entire delegation in recent decades and another sign of the growing dominance of the Dems in New Mexico this century. (It also happened in '09 for two years when Dem Harry Teague was elected to the southern congressional seat)

Dem Xochitl Torres Small, 34, will be sworn in today on Capitol Hill as the new congresswoman for the sprawling southern district, taking the place of Steve Pearce, the last remaining R in the delegation.

Deb Haaland will take the oath and assume the ABQ congressional seat vacated by Gov. Lujan Grisham. Northern Dem Rep. Ben Ray Lujan will be sworn in for his sixth, two year term. Both of the state's US Senators--Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich--are Dems.

Four of the five seats are rated as "safe Dem." Torres Small's seat is the only swing district. In an under-the-radar move she has begun positioning herself for her 2020 re-election bid. She has joined the Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, a group of congressional reps who are self-described "fiscal conservatives" and strive to work across the aisle.

Torres Small won the seat based on the strength of Democratic Dona Ana County. Her joining the conservatives is setting off some grumbling. But Torres Small backers say it's a smart move because it will quiet opposition to her on the conservative eastside where a big push against her in '20 could return the seat to the R's.

Torres Small, whose husband State Rep. Nathan Small is one of the most liberal members of the NM House, is walking an ideological tightrope. Would she have been better off letting her voting record speak for itself rather than risk dampening enthusiasm among her liberal base by going Blue Dog? It's hard to say. And that's why they call it a tightrope.

A MAJOR SIDEBAR

At 34, Xochitl is the youngest person ever elected to a US House seat from New Mexico since statehood in 1912. While you were busy shoveling snow, we checked it out. Maybe she'll throw a party to celebrate. Heck, she's so young the birthday candles would fit on a good sized cupcake.

RETIRING CONSULTANTS

Haaland, 58, has her staff named and read to go. The full list is here. It includes political constant Scott Forrester, who will shed that title to become Haaland's district director based in ABQ.

Forrester is one of several local Dem political consultants to call it quits and go for the security of a government job. Dem consultant Alan Packman folded his consulting tent last year and went to work for the mayoral administration of Tim Keller, who he had previously consulted. And Tarin Nix, who served as political consultant to State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard, is now her director of communications.

Consulting is exciting and potentially lucrative but the big bucks are now being gobbled up by the DC crowd.

Another new employee of the land office is Sunalie Stewart, who is leaving his job as Chief of Staff to Mayor Keller to become Deputy Commissioner of Operations in the land office. He was also a deputy commissioner when Dem Ray Powell was commissioner. Stewart, 41, was also a top staffer to Keller when he was state auditor. The job is open so if you're looking for a six figure job gig your resume to the Mayor, but make sure you can handle the pressure cooker.

SHARING WITH SHARICE

Haaland, a member of Laguna Pueblo, was all set to become the first Native American woman elected to the US House but she had to share the title with Sharice Davids of Kansas who won her seat the same night as Haaland. I asked the incoming congresswoman about Davids, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, a Native American tribe in Wisconsin. She gave a broad smile and described her as thoughtful and quiet. Will we see the two history makers together in ABQ soon? Don't be against it.

A COUPLE OF THINGS. . .

A couple of things left over from the old year we wanted to get to. While the Alligators are more often than not spot on in their predictions, they did not get it right when they opined that longtime government administrator Lawrence Rael could end up as Gov. Lujan Grisham's chief of staff. He remains with the city of ABQ. Lujan Grisham named John Bingaman her chief.

And when we interviewed House Speaker Egolf late last year he predicted the state could have a surplus of up to $2 billion. That made news but the state's projected surplus for the budget year that starts next July 1 is $1.1 billion. However in fairness to Egolf,  it will be over $2 billion if you count the huge reserves that are being accumulated in the current budget year--$925 million. Most of that money, however, will be kept in reserve leaving the $1.1 billion to be spent.

Finally, it will take some getting used to so we weren't too upset when we referenced Teresa Casados, the Governor's new Chief Operating Officer, as Teresa Cordova.

Teresa Cordova is a former Dem BernCo commissioner we covered. She served one term but was defeated for a second in 2008. She now lives in Chicago where she's the Director of the Great Cities Institute (GCI) at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is also Professor of Urban Planning and Policy in the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs.

Teresa Casados was Director of Senior Services for Santa Fe County as well as a deputy cabinet secretary under Big Bill. Next time we'll be sure to keep straight our high-powered Teresas.

A pretty busy week around here. Ya think? Thanks for stopping by. And one more time: Happy New Year!

I'm Joe Monahan, reporting from Albuquerque, NM.checked it out.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2019