Torres Small

Another top New Mexican politico could be headed to the Biden administration. 

Multiple reliable sources report that former southern NM US Rep. Xochitl Torres Small is under consideration for a high ranking position in the US Department of Agriculture, even as she's touted as a a possible 2022 attorney general candidate. 

Torres Small defeated Republican Yvette Herrell in 2018 to take the GOP leaning congressional district but Herrell came back in 2020 and ousted her. Still, the 35 year old attorney remains a rising star in the NM Dem Party and her moves are closely watched by both supporters and possible competitors.

Torres Small is said to be under consideration for the position of Under Secretary for Rural Development, a slot eliminated under Trump but restored under Biden. The USDA has a major imprint throughout the nation's rural areas. The job is not symbolic or perfunctory but a deep dive into administration and policy. 

Should Torres Small make the move she would follow former NM Dem Congresswoman Deb Haaland and now Secretary of Interior into the administration. The move would also take her out of the speculation for the Dem nod for attorney general or for another run for the southern House seat next year. 

The '22 Dem AG candidates--State Auditor Brian Colón and Bernalillo County District Attorney Raul Torrez may be especially keen on Torres Small heading back to the banks of the Potomac. If she joined the AG race she would start as the frontrunner for the nomination next June, with statewide name ID and fund-raising ability. 

Colón announced his candidacy last week. Today Torrez launched his effort. 

Anticipating the Torrez entry, Colón commissioned a poll from Lake Research Partners in DC. The survey showed his previous statewide runs give him a leg up on Torrez with 30 percent of likely primary voters going for him, 17% for Torrez and 44% undecided. 

After the initial polling voters were given negative info about both contenders. The poll says Colón's support went up and Torrez' went down. The pollsters warn that Torrez' vulnerabilities could mean trouble for Dems in a general election. The polling memo is here. 

No R has yet announced for AG. The very early polling test was dismissed by Torrez backers who pointed out the primary is over 11 months away and that in 2020 Torrez ran unopposed for a second four year term in big BernCo, the state's largest county.

MEANWHILE. . . 

State Dems are debating what to do about that southern congress seat when redistricting gets underway later this year. 

Rep. Herrell has sided with the Trump wing of the GOP, including embracing baseless election fraud charges. That has surfaced the argument that the D's should redraw the district to ensure a Herrell loss. Herrell, those partisans argue, is not a "normal" Republican but one who represents an existential threat to representative government. 

Using that lens, they don't see redrawing the district as gerrymandering or political but as curing a cancer that has gripped the GOP.

Other D's are less fervid, seeing the district as conservative and redistricting Herrell out as politically risky. Having one of five members of the state's congressional delegation in the R column, they believe, is not a significant hindrance. The R's, of course, heartily agree with that view.  

This collision in viewpoints will be the most dramatic aspect of the redistricting legislative session at which state legislative boundaries will also be redrawn for the decade ahead. 

BROADBAND HELP

There's still a lot of money floating out there for low income households who could use help paying their broadband bills during the pandemic. The state Human Services Department reminds them of this new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) program:

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