I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
State Sen. Dianna Duran made history Tuesday, becoming the first Republican to in 80 years to win election as the New Mexico Secretary of State.
Unofficial results showed Duran winning nearly 59 percent of the vote to defeat first-term incumbent Mary Herrera, who collected just over 41 percent.
“This is just amazing, just amazing,” Duran told a crowd of supporters at the Albuquerque Hilton on Tuesday night. “This is not a night for Dianna Duran. It is a night for New Mexicans.”
Duran said her number one priority as the state’s next Secretary of State would be to lobby state lawmakers to pass photo voter ID. Currently, voters do not have to present a form of identification to vote.
“In New Mexico it is amazing that we have had in poll after poll done, New Mexicans, regardless of party affiliation, regardless of racial ethnicity, have said we want photo voter ID required at our polling places,” Duran said.
Duran, a state senator for 18 years, predicted the idea would resonate with her fellow state lawmakers.
“There are wonderful people in the Legislature, in the Senate and in the House, on both sides of the aisle, we have great people and they understand the need,” Duran said. “In past years when I introduced legislation regarding voter photo ID it’s a bipartisan effort. I don’t like the statement that only Republicans think voter ID is important.”
Duran said another priority would be to establish an investigative arm at the Secretary of State’s office charged with looking into allegations of voter fraud.
Herrera couldn’t escape controversy
Duran, who crisscrossed the state over the past three months talking to voters, had Herrera as much as anyone or anything to thank for her historic victory.
The first-term Democratic incumbent’s hopes for re-election seemed star-crossed from the beginning.
In the weeks preceding Tuesday’s election several of Herrera’s former employees went to the FBI to allege corruption in her administration. A public airing of dirty laundry, and what appears to be a full-blown mutiny, is rare for any public official, but during election time it was startling. It hurt Herrera with negative publicity while playing to Duran’s advantage, providing fodder for her campaign and material for ads.
Combined with Herrera’s testy relationship with some New Mexico county clerks, hints that her office had been in turmoil for years and problems with the office’s website, the accusations proved too much of a liability for Herrera to overcome.
Herrera, for her part, repeatedly dismissed the allegations of corruption as politically motivated. But the damage was done and Herrera’s vulnerability became all-too-clear in her inability to raise as much money as Duran.
This fall, many of the state’s largest newspapers endorsed Duran.
Duran had fundraising advantage
Since late June Duran collected $160,000 for her run compared to the $78,000 Herrera raised, state records show.
Duran’s candidacy got a serious boost from the state GOP, which gave Duran’s campaign two $25,000 checks while the company run by GOP chairman Harvey Yates also contributed $5,000.
In contrast, there were no big checks from the state Democratic party to bolster Herrera’s campaign as of last Tuesday, state records show. Herrera’s biggest contribution, $20,000 on Oct. 18, came from the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State.
Other than that $20,000 check, Herrera’s single-largest contributions were from American Federation of State County Municipal Employees ($5,000, Aug. 4), Plumbers and Steamfittters Local #410 ($5,000, July 23) and racetrack owner Paul Blanchard ($5,000, Oct. 25), records show.
Duran meanwhile collected $7,500 from Mack Energy Co. of Artesia and $5,000 each from Bank Consultants Inc. of Carlsbad and Wyoming investor Foster Friess.
State party helps push Duran through to victory
A longtime political observer had predicted earlier this year that the state party would need to help Duran if she had any hope of beating a Democrat for an office that Democrats seemed to own since 1930, the year the state last had a GOP Secretary of State.
The party came through.
Duran had experience running local elections
Even if Herrera hadn’t had to overcome a toxic mix of problems, she might have had a hard time this year.
Voting trends appeared to heavily favor the GOP this year, fueled by the poor economy and the numerous scandals that have afflicted New Mexico in recent years. Several high-profile Democrats have either pleaded guilty or been convicted of corruption, while others have been indicted.
In Duran, Herrera also faced a dangerous opponent: a GOP state senator with a working knowledge of the state elections code after two terms as Otero County Clerk.
County clerks run local elections.
Duran, for her part, has said she will restore integrity to the Secretary of State’s office.
Political observers marveled at Duran’s historic victory Tuesday.
“It takes two things for a Republican to have a chance in a lower profile (statewide) race,” New Mexico pollster Brian Sanderoff of Albuquerque-based Research and Polling Inc. told The Independent on Tuesday.
“To have a good candidate, and for the mood of the state to be leaning Republican,” Sanderoff said. “Both the ingredients played right into their advantage” this year.
