Republicans get their man: Ronchetti

As the votes come in on Tuesday night for Republicans  in the race for Gov. and other big races throughout New Mexico, the media has called the race for Mark Ronchetti in what appears to be an overwhelming victory. As of 8:25 in the evening he has 60% of the vote in a five person race.

The primary was hard-fought and more divisive than it had to be. In the view of RGF’s Paul Gessing, all of the candidates were firmly in the “center-right” of the GOP both here in New Mexico and nationwide. Unfortunately, especially in light of the final results, the race got much nastier than it needed to when the goal (shared almost universally by GOP voters as well as many independents and moderate Democrats) is to rid New Mexico of Michelle Lujan Grisham.

So, will the vanquished GOP primary rally around Ronchetti? Will voters? It is hard to say. New Mexico’s GOP is a fractious and fractured bunch, but a lot of New Mexicans believe that failure to defeat an unpopular left-wing governor with an unpopular president in the White House will threaten their ability to EVER win statewide races in New Mexico. We shall see.