2018 Election

Straight ticket voting helps voters: It’s constitutional

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On August 29, New Mexico Secretary of State, Maggie Toulouse Oliver, announced that she will reinstate straight party voting.  Why would New Mexicans be against something that can make voting easier? The Republican Party of New Mexico says that this is a partisan move that will only help Democrats down the ballot- but are Republicans not also a major party in New Mexico?  Not to mention the Libertarians will have a spot just for them at the top of the ballot. The GOP joined a lawsuit along with the Libs and other smaller parties to stop the move from being instituted by the SOS.

Elections 2018

It’s time for a change in New Mexico’s House District 41

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Debbie Rodella has been the representative for House District 41 since 1993. After all that time, she’s barely faced any opposition from members of her own party, last facing a primary challenge in 2006. But after a series of votes over the last few years, it has become clear to many that it’s time for a change in the district. Rodella has taken nearly $20,000 from the payday lending industry in the last decade and made sure that at least three times bills designed to protect New Mexicans died in the committee she chairs. As a whole, that industry has spent almost A MILLION DOLLARS in the last few years to oppose common-sense consumer protections. Such protections would ensure that predatory practices from these high-interest lenders would at least have some checks and balances, as well as legal protections for consumers.

Elections 2018

2018 Elections: What you need to know about New Mexico politics right now

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Today is March 14, 2018. It is the day after “filing day” in New Mexico when candidates file for their races around the state, from county commissions to the governor. With little exception, if candidates haven’t submitted the required amount of signatures or have for some other reason been disqualified by the Secretary of State’s office, we now have a pretty good idea of who’s running in 2018 across the board. ProgressNow New Mexico will be looking at some top-level races more in-depth over the next few weeks to bring our perspective to the key races we’re expecting to see in New Mexico this year. New Mexico is in the national spotlight as one of the “most likely to flip” states in terms of our governor’s race.

Abortion rights

Legislative round up 2018- Here’s all the people who worked against women and access to healthcare this year

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This year’s 30-day session saw a litany of conservative attempts to once again limit women’s reproductive options in New Mexico by pushing for laws that interfere with personal reproductive health care decisions and that reinforce shame and stigma. Thankfully the progressive majority in both the House and Senate held such arcane bills at bay in committees, keeping reproductive choice in the hands of families who are the sole deciders of their health decisions. In this election year, it’s important that we remain focused on who these obstructionist legislators are so that voters can help move New Mexico forward in assuring women and families have access to whatever healthcare options are right for them, up to and including abortion. Every Representative above voted to restrict access to abortion in some form this year, and in years past. That includes Democratic Representatives Debbie Rodella and Carl Trujillo. 
Some “highlights” of the session include when Minority Leader Nate Gentry attempted to politicize a visit from Albuquerque Police Officer Ryan Holets.

Elections 2018

#5 – Top 5 Martinez blunders as we approach another legislative session

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As the new year starts to pick up speed, as our 30-day legislative session creeps ever closer, we thought it’s the perfect time to highlight some of the failures of our state’s commander-in-chief, Governor Susana Martinez. Between now and the first day of session, when Governor Martinez is set to give her last State of the State Address, Progress Now NM is pleased to present the top five times Governor Martinez has failed the people of New Mexico.

Actions

A gift Donald Trump will hate

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Before we end 2017, please consider one last thing for your 2018 to-do list: making a year-end gift to help us start 2018 off right! Six years ago, Susana Martinez had just finished her first year in office promising that big corporate tax cuts would create New Mexico jobs.  That wasn’t true and we knew it, but Democrats and Republicans alike bought in. ALEC was adding new members in New Mexico and the Koch brothers were testing out new state-based strategies to attack unions and lower wages. We started ProgressNow’s network in New Mexico because we were tired of waiting for someone else to take on the fight. Today, that network is one of the state’s biggest and most vocal unapologetically progressive organizations, and the undisputed go-to source of progressive news for the state. With Trump in the White House and the possibility of Steve Pearce ending up in Roundhouse, New Mexico has never needed progressive leaders and actions more.

2018

Did Pearce distort his “humble beginnings” in his campaign launch?

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Steve Pearce made it official on Monday. Pearce will be vacating his $174,000 congressional job in an attempt to pick up a $110,000 gig as governor. Those salaries may not mean much to a man who has consistently ranked among the richest members of Congress, but being a rich oil executive doesn’t help you relate to voters so Pearce pointed to his parents’ humble beginnings in his campaign announcement this week. (Hat Tip to a reader who spotted this  and sent it to us!)
“Steve grew up south of Hobbs as one of six kids. His parents did everything possible to provide for him and his siblings while earning a $2.62 hourly wage.