New Mexico House GOP elect new leaders

New Mexico House Republicans recently moved to overhaul their leadership team, after a southeast New Mexico lawmaker decided to abandon his bid to retain the party’s top post in the State Legislature.

In leadership elections in Albuquerque, members of the House Republican Caucus tapped Aztec state Rep. Ryan Lane to be the next House Minority Leader when they convene on Jan. 17 for the 60-day legislative session.

“I am incredibly humbled and honored to share that yesterday my friends and colleagues in the NM House Republican Caucus selected me to be their next leader,” Lane said in a Facebook post Nov. 20.

Lane, who was first elected to the House in 2020, will succeed state Rep. Jim Townsend of Artesia who declined to seek reelection as minority leader but will remain in the Legislature.

Townsend, who has been minority leader since 2019, initially planned to make a bid to continue as leader, but reversed course just as his colleagues were about to unanimously reelect him to the post. “I just decided when it got down to being accepted by acclamation by the caucus, I just thought I would tell them I wasn't going to run again,” he said.

The Republican caucus decided to replace its two other officers. Farmington state Rep. Rod Montoya was defeated in his bid to remain House Minority Whip. He will be succeeded by state Rep. Jason Harper, R-Rio Rancho.

Magdalena state Rep. Gail Armstrong will take over as Republican caucus chair, a position currently held by State Rep. Rebecca Dow of Truth or Consequences, who did not run for re-election to the New Mexico House.

Townsend said Montoya not being reelected as whip was a factor in his own decision to drop his bid for another term as minority leader.

“When Rod lost his election, I just decided that it was probably time to have a complete new team,” he said.

The transition will mean a big change for southeast New Mexico which for the first time in decades will not have any of its legislators in a House or Senate leadership position. Townsend noted the new leaders will also hale from less rural areas.

“When you look at the voters across New Mexico, the rural areas are more Republican than the urban areas, and the leadership is predominately from urban areas or have strong urban ties,” Townsend said. He attributes that loss of clout, at least in part, to the often poor turnout by voters in the heavily conservative southeast, especially in the recent midterm elections.

Lane will take the helm of a caucus whose numbers were largely unchanged in the recent elections. Democrats will continue to hold 45 seats in the 70-seat chamber. Despite high hopes, Republicans only managed to make a net gain of one seat in midterm elections earlier this month, taking the House District 66 seat now held by Roswell Rep. Phelps Anderson, who did not run for re-election.