None of the five member all-Democratic congressional delegation have called on Biden to step down or seem stricken with panic over the bad night delivered by Scranton Joe.
All but one offered solid support in the aftermath of the debacle.
The lone exception would be southern Dem US Rep. Gabe Vasquez who has often shied away from Biden since going to the House two years ago and who is the only delegation member in danger of losing his job in November.
He faces a rematch with Republican Yvette Herrell whom he ousted in '22 in a one percentage point race and who is now calling Vasquez out for refusing to answer when asked after the debate about Biden's competence:
@Gabe_NM refuses to say if Joe Biden is fit to be president. Biden clearly doesn’t have the mental acuity to serve, and Gabe is putting political allegiances over the good of #NM02
Vasquez faces a litany of woes far more dire than any association with Biden.
He was poorly vetted for the position when recruited by Sen. Martin Heinrich who he once worked for and now that carelessness is taking a bite out of the freshman lawmaker. The latest:
. . .An arrest warrant was executed against Vasquez over outstanding traffic tickets from more than two decades ago and allegations that he tried to flush marijuana down a toilet after police were dispatched to his apartment to investigate a noise complaint in 2005 and also that he uttered a racial slur against a former colleague the year before. "I have not and would never use language like this," Vasquez said, referring to a report unearthed by the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative news outlet, alleging he called a Black co-worker a derogatory term.
The southern district remains swing territory. Under the new lines it is more Democratic but still conservative. Using the current boundaries in 2020 Biden won the 2nd CD 51.9 percent to Trump's 46.1.
While Vasquez was unprepared for the job and his warts are becoming more prominent, Herrell's abortion stance and her vote to overturn the 2020 presidential results make her an unacceptable choice for many of the few undecided voters still out there.
Like the presidential race the Vasquez-Herrell campaign will be a long negative slog financed by tens of millions from the national parties and that will have voters praying for the end.
SICK LEAVE
Sick leave payments to top officials departing the Mayor Keller administration and called into question by the city's Inspector General brings this from a former department director under the previous mayor:
Joe, I was a director under the Mayor Berry administration and when I was not reappointed, I specifically asked about sick leave. I was told in very clear terms by then Chief Administrative Officer Sarita Nair that I would have to forfeit my time because it was under the threshold.
Now to learn it was grifted to others, including her, is a clear slap in the face. Sick leave now seems negotiable to those who need it the least and have access to the decision makers. The best insight is to show how many employees have had to forfeit their sick leave because this option was not available to them.
The city says it "can create exceptions for leave policies, and it is not unusual to do so for senior employees."
This is the Home of New Mexico Politics.
(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2024