Another rough night for sanity in NM’s Legislature

For nearly a decade and for MANY reasons, New Mexico’s Legislature has moved considerably to the political left. New Mexico has been controlled by Democrats since 1930 and there has NEVER been a “conservative” majority over that time period. In fact, there has only been one Democrat that I’d even consider an economic “conservative” in my 18 years at Rio Grande Foundation.

So, with 10 moderate Democrats having opposed paid family leave in 2024 and Gov. Lujan Grisham and a host of “progressives” coming after them, voters decided to move the Legislature even further left.

As Marjorie Childress at NM Indepth writes, “Four of the 11 Democratic state representatives who voted against the Paid Family and Medical Leave act this year — Anthony Allison, Ambrose Castellano, Harry Garcia, Willie Madrid — won’t be returning to the Legislature, with the winners of their seats in the primary election all endorsed by progressive organizations.

The losses of those moderates (under no circumstances are they economically “conservative”) includes further losses for moderates like former Sen. Clemente Sanchez to a “progressive.” Further losses include heterodox senators Daniel Ivey-Soto and Bill O’Neill. Neither of these men would be considered anything but “progressives,” but they sometimes bucked the establishment in their party which was enough for them to be targeted.

So, based on these results (and unless the GOP eats into Democrat majorities in November) New Mexicans (thanks to Democrat voters and various well-funded left-wing candidates) New Mexico’s Legislature will be even FURTHER to the left next year than it already is.