Rural-urban divide remains in Legislature

SANTA FE — The dust that settled on Tuesday’s legislative elections told a tale of two New Mexicos.

A blue wave that hit the state’s urban areas in 2018 did not recede on election night, as unofficial results showed Republicans losing three Senate seats in the Albuquerque area.

After big Democratic gains in 2018 and more this year, only two Republican lawmakers from Albuquerque will be left standing come January — Sen. Mark Moores and Rep. Bill Rehm — out of roughly 30 seats in the metro area.

However, Republicans picked up at least three seats in rural parts of southern and central New Mexico by ousting Democratic incumbents or, in two cases, defeating progressive Democrats who had defeated more moderate incumbents in the June primary election.

Eastern New Mexico lawmakers were mostly unopposed. Incumbent Rep. Martin Zamora, R-Clovis, easily defeated Randal Brown, D-Santa Rosa, in the District 63 House race.

“I think what you’re seeing in New Mexico is what we’ve seen across the nation in recent election cycles,” said Moores, who predicted Republicans would eventually make gains in rural parts of traditionally Democratic northern New Mexico.

House Speaker Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, pointed out that some Democrats in rural parts of the state did post re-election victories Tuesday — including Candie Sweetser of Deming, Anthony Allison of Fruitland and Eliseo Alcon of Milan.

He also pushed back against suggestions that Democrats are out of touch with rural New Mexico.

“They can say we’re out of touch all they want, but the truth is we’re in touch with working voters” and providing more economic opportunities, Egolf told reporters during a Wednesday news briefing.

But several candidates said a rural-urban divide in the Legislature that has flared up in past years on bills dealing with guns, wildlife and film tax credits could become even deeper, given the election results.

Republican Crystal Diamond of Elephant Butte, who defeated Democrat Neomi Martinez-Parra of Lordsburg for the Senate District 35 seat, said she planned to try to build alliances with other rural lawmakers — both Democrats and Republicans — once sworn into office.

“We’re almost more divided geographically than we are by party affiliation,” Diamond told the Journal. “I think that’s going to continue to be the divide.”

Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle, R-Portales, said President Donald Trump did not perform strongly in the Albuquerque area, which likely hurt the odds of GOP legislative candidates in the state’s largest city.

“He runs well in rural areas, but he didn’t do well in metropolitan areas,” Ingle said of Trump.

A ‘change election’

Overall, Democrats are set to enter the 2021 legislative session with a 27-15 majority in the Senate after winning three GOP-held seats and losing two seats.

Democrats will also hold at least a 43-26 advantage in the House as the final party breakdown depends on the outcome of a looming recount in House District 53, where Republican Ricky Little of Chaparral held a seven-vote lead over Democratic incumbent Willie Madrid.

There will also be one independent House member, Brittany Barreras of Albuquerque, who said she plans to caucus with Democrats.

In all, there will be 11 new members of the Senate and at least 10 new members of the House sworn into office in January, depending on the pending recount.

Democrat Harold Pope Jr., who defeated three-term GOP incumbent Sander Rue in the Senate District 23 seat that encompasses Albuquerque’s west side, attributed the results to voters’ desire for a “change election.”

“People just wanted to give someone new an opportunity,” said Pope, who said his military background helped establish connections with some Republican and independent voters. Pope will become the first African American state senator in New Mexico history.

The other Democratic candidates who posted breakthroughs in Albuquerque area seats were Katy Duhigg, who defeated incumbent Candace Gould in Senate District 10, and Martin Hickey, who bested Republican John Morton for the open Senate District 20 seat.

A slice of history

In addition to the first independent candidate being elected to the Legislature, this year’s legislative elections also revealed another slice of history.

The state House will feature a female majority for the first time in 2021 after four female candidates posted victories in seats currently held by men.

With those victories, there will be 37 female House members — 28 Democrats, eight Republicans and the one independent — in the 70-member chamber, once newly elected lawmakers are sworn into office.

In contrast, the Senate will remain overwhelmingly male, with women poised to hold 12 of the chamber’s 42 seats come January.