ALBUQUERQUE (NM. aEUR”) Five Republican candidates will compete in Tuesday’s primary to be New Mexico’s governor. They will face Michelle Lujan Grisham who is running for her second term as a Democratic incumbent in a state that has Democrats holding every statewide elected office.
Lujan Grisham served as the state’s secretary for health and was elected governor. With some of the most stringent public health mandates in America, she led the state through the pandemic.
Many of the GOP candidates built campaigns that criticize Lujan Grisham’s pandemic response aEUR”. They expressed outrage at closures and cited negative impacts on small businesses. Jay Block, GOP County Commissioner, calls the state’s shutdown orders “unconstitutional” in his campaign website. However, the state Supreme Court upheld their authority to be instituted.
Lujan Grisham is also running for office on COVID aEUR”, including New Mexico’s long-standing indoor mask mandate. This was lifted in February after much debate. She is also preventing New Mexico’s successful vaccine rollout, which has resulted in more than 90% of New Mexican adults getting at least one shot. She also slammed the GOP’s economic messaging and praised relief packages for businesses and individuals as protecting the state’s economy.
According to an Albuquerque Journal poll, Mark Ronchetti, a GOP candidate and ex-TV meteorologist, has a significant lead over his competitors for the nomination. This is partly due to his name recognition. He was a long-standing local TV personality as well as a 2020 U.S. Senate Candidate. He lost the race to Democratic Senator Ben Ray LujA!n, but he did well with almost 46% of votes. According to the secretary of state’s campaign finance reports, he is also leading the Republican pack when it comes to fundraising. However, he has raised less than half the amount that Gov. Lujan Grisham is the candidate for the primary.
According to polls, 45% of likely Republican primary voters said that they would vote for Ronchetti (who is running as an outsider). The next highest draw is 17% for Rebecca Dow, a three-term state representative.
Dow is a native of southern New Mexico. She serves as the chair for the state’s House Republican Caucus. Her background is in early childhood education and business.
Retired Brig. are trailing in the five way race. Former Guantanamo Bay commander Gen. Greg Zanetti, Jay Block, County Commissioner, and Ethel Maharg, an abortion rights opponent, are trailing in the five-way race.
In a debate on KOAT, Dow said that she is a “lifelong conservative” who has never disrespected President Trump. She has worked hard to portray Ronchetti as anti-Trumpeter. Dow referred to Trump in a campaign ad in 2019 as “aEURaEURused be a Republican until that orange one” and criticized a comment he made about him in 2019. Ronchetti defended the comment, claiming it was a joke meant for college students. His campaign claims he is still a registered Republican.
Dow also displayed her political experience. Ronchetti criticized Dow’s voting record in the state Legislature during the campaign. He cited her support for state pandemic relief aid that received bipartisan support. The legislation provided funds to those who did not receive federal stimulus checks, even undocumented persons. On his campaign website, he claims that the policy encourages illegal migration and that if elected, he will abolish it.
The five GOP governor candidates campaigned for increased security at the U.S.-Mexico frontier. It was called “job No. Dow called it “job No. 1” during a May debate and pledged to support Trump’s wall at the border. Block, Ronchetti, and She have all pledged to redeploy National Guard troops to the border if they are elected. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham pulled the majority of Guard troops back to the border in 2019, disproving the notion that the region was in crisis. The former Republican Governor had ordered them there in the previous year. Susanna Martinez was responding to Trump’s call.
Albuquerque is experiencing record-breaking homicides. Both the left and right are pledging tough-on crime initiatives. Ronchetti calls for increased recruitment, pay and stricter laws to keep criminals behind bars. Lujan Grisham is the same. She oversaw 16% increases in state police officers’ salaries and increased police department funding. Although she identified crime as one her priorities for the 2022 legislative session though a bill that would have kept more people behind bars while they tried to bring them to trial was defeated, she did so anyway.
On gun policy, candidates fall more along partisan lines. Lujan Grisham signed many gun regulations into law. This includes a “red flag” law that allows for the temporary removal or confiscation of guns from people who are a threat to themselves or others. It also increases background check requirements. It limits gun access for domestic violence restraining order holders. While four of the five Republican candidates for governor received an A grade from National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund, Dow is the only one with a voting record on gun regulation.
