Concho, 59, is especially upset with Sanchez's vote in the Senate Rules Committee this week to table the proposed constitutional amendment to tap a portion of the state's nearly $18 billion Land Grant Permanent School Fund for early childhood programs. He told me from Acoma that the vote may push him to challenge Sanchez in the June 2020 primary:

Joe, it is frustrating that he does not support that amendment. We need to find a candidate that can support early childhood education that benefits the rural communities. If there are no candidates out there, I will be willing to step up to the plate.

Concho says he will make a decision on a primary challenge in April.

Concho's frustration is great because a district court ruling singled out Native American children as "at risk," finding the state in violation of its constitution for not providing adequate education funding for them and other children. But that did not move Sen. Sanchez to vote for the early childhood amendment, which he has opposed since his election to the Senate in 2012.

Sanchez, 60, works in the banking business and has an accounting background. That grounds him in fiscal conservatism.

Sen. Sanchez

Business interests have amply bankrolled Sanchez and last October he reported $103,000 in cash on hand, plenty to battle a primary opponent. But if Concho, a father of four and the director of planning for Acoma Pueblo, can draw in national liberal money--as the state House races in BernCo did last year-- he too might have a hefty campaign war chest. "If" being the key word.

The seat is safe Dem so the winner of the primary is the likely winner of the general election.

As the state's three large cities shift to the center/left the reality is that the mostly rural coalition in the Senate holds more power than the numbers it represents. That was driven home this week with the tabling of the early childhood measure. Now liberals fear the Senate coalition is about to shred a House bill that restores the state's progressive income tax structure and will also vote for a watered down minimum wage increase, not the one advocated for by MLG and approved by the House.

Concho's Native American background puts him in good position in the four county district which includes parts of McKinley and Cibola counties. If he does launch a bid and looks serious, would Sanchez try to split the vote by getting another Indian Country candidate in the primary? Well, the coalition doesn't stay in power by not tending to its backyard. Stay tuned.

THE GOP MELTDOWN

The meltdown of the New Mexico Republican Party did not stop with the devastation it suffered on Election Night last November. The anger and frustration over their increasing irrelevancy seems to be pushing the party further over the edge. An example is this meme that was briefly posted to the GOP’s Facebook page Tuesday in which the question is posed as to whether Governor Lujan Grisham is an "asshole."

Shortly after, the GOP was forced to apologize:

. . . An inappropriate post was posted on our page. We had given temporary editing privileges to a volunteer for a specific event. Unfortunately, this person inadvertently posted something to RPNM’s page. Their privileges have been revoked permanently. In no way would RPNM post something so inappropriate. We want to apologize to the Governor and anyone else who is offended by this.

Dems were taken aback by the meme attack but were not shy about letting everyone know about it. 

Longtime Dem operative James Hallinan, now heading PR company Intersections Strategies, offered this Twitter advice to Steve Pearce, the former congressman who now chairs the state GOP:

If I was offering my strategic communications and crisis management advice to @Pearce4NM & @NewMexicoGOP, I’d tell them this is the absolute best way to get yourself a plethora of unwanted, unnecessary, and negative press.

Pearce has his hands full dealing with the dominant Trump wing of the party where emotions are easily triggered over issues like guns and abortion, issues that have made headlines this legislative session as the Dems move more left. But Pearce has also misfired. Instead of concentrating on bread and butter economic issues his recent newspaper op-ed was a food fight with three GOP state senators who now favor legalizing marijuana while he doesn't. Where did that come from, Steve?

House Republicans

The upside for Pearce and company is that the grassroots of the GOP is getting energized. The downside is that those grassroots, embracing a hard right message, now represent a measly part of the political pie. It may, as we have written, help them in the 2020 southern congressional race, but falls flat or worse elsewhere. 

The party is also foundering in Santa Fe where the state House R's have been pushed to the back benches by newly aggressive Dem House Speaker Brian Egolf. But they too seem to have succumbed to emotion, as seen in this photo where they hold up "No" signs to show their disagreement with the dominant Dem majority.

And to think only a couple of years ago the R's were actually in the House majority. Is that the GOP caucus with those signs or members of a college fraternity? In any event. . .

MLG gave the GOP a break when she recently came with an outspoken tweet, calling sheriffs who opposed her gun control bills "rogue." That gave the R's something to hang their holsters on and fill in the blanks on social media. But they can't count on her to rebuild a party that now engages only a sliver of the electorate.

This is the home of New Mexico politics.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2019