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| Speaker Martinez |
That's not shocking since the current roster of House Democrats made Martinez the Speaker. And even though he stripped Lundstrom of her powerful House Appropriations Committee chairmanship in a show of strength after she ran against him for Speaker, his punishment does not extend to vindictiveness as is often the case in La Politica.
Lundstorm from District 9 in Gallup has has two June primary opponents with Christopher Hudson endorsed by the Better Future for NM PAC run by a trio of progressive consultants. But they may want to offer an early concession. Besides having two candidates splitting the anti-Lundstrom vote, she has nearly $280,000 in cash on hand, says her latest report, while Hudson has just $2,900. The other challenger has raised no money at all.
In fact, Lundstrom's cash beats out the progressive PAC which reports $262,000 in cash on hand but has to cover a bunch of targeted races with that money and anymore they can raise in the short time before early voting begins.
If Lundstrom does indeed retain her seat it is critically important to state politics because Lundstrom has the force of personality and a long record of Democratic conservatism. As long as she sticks around that viewpoint will create strength and cohesion for her fellow conservative Dems even as the chamber is dominated by progressives.
The Speaker's decision to support all incumbents--including Lundstrom--could also be critical down the road if restless progressives challenge his leadership.
Another reveal in the finance reports is the strong financial position of Speaker Martinez whose Speaker Fund reports $377,000 in cash on hand plus his personal campaign account with $76,000 in cash.
HOUSE ACTION (CONT.)
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| Dr. Anjali Taneja |
Let's pick up where we left off yesterday and take a look at more of the state House campaign reports where there are contested primaries.
In the race to replace longtime Dem Rep. Gail Chasey in ABQ SE Heights District 18, the four way contest quickly became a three way race with lobbyist Marianna Anaya raising $70,000 in the six month period and family medical doctor Anjali Taneja close behind with $66,000. Nurse Gloria Doherty came with $32,000.
Anaya is the chief sex harassment accuser of Dem Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto. Her list of contributions is a who's who of progressives including Senate President Mimi Stewart who has no love lost for Ivey-Soto. She had her committee give Anaya $5,500. Stewart has over $90,000 in her campaign account.
Anaya reports $55,000 in cash on hand for the final weeks and Taneja $60,000. The doctor received strong support from the Indian community as well as fellow medical doctors and is positioned as the chief rival to Anaya in what has become a race to watch. Doherty reported $31,000 in cash and appeared to lean more on out of state and out of ABQ contributions than the other two. Candidate Juan Larrañaga has just $1,500 in cash on hand. No Republican is running for the seat so the primary winner takes the prize.
In District 31 in the far ABQ NE Heights, the only Bernalillo County House seat to be represented by a Republican--the retiring Rep. Bill Rehm--there is a three way primary for the GOP nomination. Nicole Chavez has the money lead with $50,000 in cash on hand but Sarah Jane Allen comes with $26,000. Chavez is the favorite but she did lose a House race to Dem Pam Herndon in District 28 two years ago. Democrats will make a serious play to win the seat in November with Vickey Estrada-Bustillo reporting $30K in cash. She is unopposed in the primary.
In District 41 centered in Rio Arriba County, there was talk that Dem
Rep. Susan Herrera, a progressive, could be in for a strong challenge
from conservative Margaret Campos. But it appears that challenge is
fizzling. Campos reported just $48 in her campaign coffers while Herrera
came with $18,000.
There's no primary in House District 38 in Socorro and environs but the general election money battle is fully underway. Former GOP Rep. Rebecca Dow, who represented much of the district before leaving to run for Governor, reports $87,000 in cash on hand. Tara Jaramillo, who won the district in '22 in a cliff hanger, reports $67,000 in cash. This will be near the top of the races to watch come this fall.
DEM INFIGHTING (CONT.)
There is absolutely no proof that progressive candidate Greg Seeley has a strong history of supporting reproductive choices (and comes no where close to Matthews’ strong support on the issue), paid family medical leave (PFML) or environmental protection. His website is focused primarily on his veterans experience, which is valuable, and his many jobs over seven years with elected reps and government agencies but that simply doesn’t translate to a “long history of support for…) any of these issues. Rep. Matthews problem is she is smart, pays attention to detail, tries to protect caregivers (which Dems wanted to eliminate in PFML) and asks tough questions that apparently can’t be answered by bill sponsors.
Candidate Seeley, of course, is welcome to respond.
After progressive Dem Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino came to the defense of embattled Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto on the blog recently the email rolled in and we're still trying to catch up. Here is reader Charity Townsend:
In response to Senator
Ortiz Y Pino’s comments last Thursday, when it comes to who stands with
women and who are the reproductive health care champions we should
support in the upcoming election I trust Planned Parenthood. If an
incumbent has been good on their issues they will support the incumbent.
But in the case of SD15 and Daniel Ivey-Soto, Planned Parenthood has
proudly endorsed his opponent Heather Berghmans.
THE BOTTOM LINES
In the Tuesday monster blog on the campaign money reports, we omitted the name of Republican Frida Susana Vasquez from the Senate District 9 race. She had $212 in cash on hand. And when we reported on the new GOP House leadership we had the incorrect party breakdown in the House. It is currently 45 Dems, 24 Republicans and one vacancy.
This is the Home of New Mexico Politics.
(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2024