New Mexico, we survived another election and dang did you all show up! We had some major wins last night, but before we get into that, let’s talk about the elephant in the room…
The GOP will likely begin to spread disinformation about the security of the elections. Y’all know this is their new thing. If they don’t win, they claim the election was “stolen.” Like, at some point can we move beyond the Trump rhetoric and come up with something new? Anyway, we digress. Here’s the truth of the matter: New Mexico literally leads the nation in the security of our elections. The election last night was no different than any other election in New Mexico for the past decade. Here’s how it went down.
- The Secretary of State and County Clerks got all set up for election day with more checks and balances than we have time to write down.
- New Mexicans voted–whether absentee, early, or in-person on election day.
- The County Clerks did their thing with all the regulations and requirements put in place to ensure the security of our election.
That’s it! That’s the long and short of it. Now, we start an audit process run by county clerks and the Secretary of State to ensure that all those regulations and checks and balances worked the way they were supposed to. So yeah, no need to start crying about needing an audit. It’s already happening. (We’re looking at you, Couy Griffin and David Clements.)
Cool, now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s move on to the WINS!
There is no doubt that this year’s election was decided based on whether candidates supported abortion access. It was the main topic of many conversations, and across the country, we saw races determined by candidates stances on access to abortion. Despite the stacked, conservative Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, New Mexicans overwhelmingly support access to abortion as a decision made between a pregnant person, their family, and their doctor. As a state, we will not let any politician take that right away from us.
The outcome of the 2022 General Election also proved, once again, what New Mexicans value:
- Freedom: to make our own healthcare decision – to have protections for air, land and water – to be able to securely cast a vote and have it count
- Integrity: of candidates being honest about what they believe in – of doing the right thing for ALL New Mexicans – of policies based in truth rather than extremism
- Equality: for New Mexicans to have a fighting chance at improving their lives – for our communities to have the supports and freedoms they deserve – for righting wrongs that have hurt us for decades (if not longer)
Let’s take a look at the races from last night and break a few of them down.
Governor – Incumbent Michelle Lujan Grisham (MLG) won the Governor’s race after what turned into a pretty ugly competition. Despite Mark Ronchetti doing everything he could to get elected, New Mexicans saw right through him and voted for the Governor who would actually work to improve our lives. As Bob Dylan says, “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” Crisis averted!
Secretary of State – Incumbent Maggie Toulouse Oliver (MTO) won her seat for another term and WOW, we could not be more relieved. MTO has worked tirelessly throughout her career to ensure safe, fair, and secure access to voting while her opponent, Audrey Trujillo, is a Q-Anon conspiracy theorist. Once again, New Mexicans proved we can see right through the BS. We rejected Trujillo’s wild claims and plans to restrict our access to our constitutional right to vote.
Commissioner of Public Lands – Incumbent Stephanie Garcia Richard also kept her seat, defeating GOP, climate change denier Jefferson Byrd. Byrd, outwardly supported oil and gas over the health of New Mexicans and our land. He also overtly spews racism, jingoism, homophobia and transphobia narratives. We can rest assured with Garcia Richard at the helm that New Mexico will continue to lead the nation in environmental protections ensuring the health of our communities.
Attorney General – Raul Torrez secured the win for Attorney General over his GOP opponent Jeremey Gay. This is a win because Gay is absolutelyscary. Gay is not only anti-immigrant, he likes to blame crime on tribal sovereignty. While claiming to be a consumer protection lawyer, he’s actually working a case to support the predatory actions of a lender; making him a liar too. One thing to note here is while we averted a real circus by NOT electing Gay, Torrez has some policies related to incarceration that we plainly don’t like. We’re hopeful that Torrez will lead this office grounded in restorative justice, and we’ll be watching him closely.
House Races – Overwhelmingly, New Mexicans voted for candidates in the House races that will continue to support and improve reproductive healthcare, environmental protections, and access to safe and secure voting. We are always going to win some and lose some, but the important part in this is that we still hold the majority in the House, meaning that good bills can continue to get passed. As we get final numbers in and make it through inevitable recounts we will send out updates.
New Mexicans should be proud of the wins in this election. We showed up. We made our voices heard and in turn we elected candidates that will work towards improving OUR lives and our communities. Congrats to all the winners! Now we rest and recharge for the legislative session in January 2023 where we get more policies passed that work for us!