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Thursday, July 02, 2020

Top Rep. Lujan Aide Lands Spot On Biden Transition Team, Plus: Update On MLG Cabinet Chatter And A Rural Take On State Senate losers 

Angela Ramirez
He may not plan on campaigning much here but New Mexicans can't complain that Joe Biden is ignoring them. The latest is this news:

Other officials the Biden campaign has announced hiring for the transition are Avril Haines, a deputy national security adviser during the Obama administration who will manage national security and foreign policy planning; Angela Ramirez, the chief of staff to Representative Ben Ray Luján, Democrat of New Mexico. . .

Biden is not getting ahead of the parade. It is traditional for a major party nominee not occupying the White House to start a transition team in the event of a fall victory.

In the years ahead New Mexico's fragile economy is going be even more dependent on federal funding. Lujan is the frontrunner to take the open US Senate seat in the November election so having his top aide on the Biden transition is encouraging.

It's not just about New Mexico, of course. Biden is ever mindful of the importance of Hispanics nationally to his presidential chances.

Ramirez has been with Lujan since he was first elected in 2008. She came to him after a stint as the executive director of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. She was raised in Sacramento, CA.

Both her parents spent long days in the fields, living what she called “their version of the American dream.” They would later go on to send their daughter to Princeton.

Then there's Biden doting on Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, vetting her for the vice-presidential slot. As it turns out, Biden is now said to be leaning toward naming a Black woman. Still, the rumor mill persists that the cabinet position of Secretary of Health is really the prize that could await MLG. Would she be interested in shedding the power of a governor to take it? A Senior Alligator close to the situation offers this take:

It would probably be a coin flip on whether she would take it. Some of it could depend on how left the state Senate goes in the November election. She is not comfortable too far from the center. Also, the state's finances could play a part. Given the pandemic the new Sec. of Health will be sharing much power with the White House and that could be another consideration.

MLG is a former director for the NM Department of Health. In the past she has been quick to leave positions to climb the ladder, taking leave of the BernCo Commission to run for the US House and leaving that to seek the Governorship. If Biden wins he can be expected to fill out his cabinet by mid-December. Until then, the guessing game will continue to entertain La Politica. (Okay, Lt. Gov. Howie Morales, watch your heart rate.)

A RURAL TAKE

A reader from rural New Mexico snail mails us (yes, they still have that) to disagree with the pundits on their analysis of why so many incumbent senators were defeated at the June primary:

Joe, I believe the pundits got the election wrong. Almost all of the coverage was about how New Mexico is turning left because a handful of moderates in the Senate lost to a handful of liberals. Out in the rest of New Mexico we interpreted this election as a desperate cry from everyday New Mexicans for term limits. That was the real story. 

Seven sitting incumbents in the Senate, 5 Democrats and 2 Republicans, were defeated in their own parties. Never have there been so many Senate incumbents rejected by voters in their own primaries. Joe, go back to statehood. You won't find a primary where more incumbent senators lost to challengers. 

Fully 1/6 of the Senate got shown the door by voters from their own party. You can add Republican Senator Bill Payne and Dem Senator John Sapien who didn't run for re-election because they could at least see the writing on the wall. Good riddance and y basta! (Enough is enough!)

Senator Mary Kay Papen is 88 and John Arthur Smith is 78 so it's not a stretch to say a number of voters went against them because they believed they were there too long. As for the primary seeing more incumbent senators losing than anytime since statehood, we'll have to get back to you on that. Please check your snail mail.

Happy Fourth of July, New Mexico!

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