Chavez, 68, was a successful mayor and before that a state senator. But that success never translated to higher office. He campaigned for US House, Senate and NM Governor. He lost a bid for a fourth mayoral term in 2009.

Chavez was an ardent Hillary Clinton supporter in 2016. An attorney, he serves on the Board of Directors for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and American Rivers.

The Dems Saturday chose Trish Ruiz, a Hobbs high school counselor and a co-chair of MLG's transition team for the Workforce Solutions Department, as their National Committeewoman.

TABLE FOR THREE

It will be a one woman, two man race for the GOP nomination for US Senate. After failing to receive the required 20 percent delegate support to win an official spot on the June 2 primary ballot, Mick Rich and Louie Sanchez folded their campaigns. That leaves pre-primary winner Elisa Martinez, founder of the NM Alliance for Life, former KRQE-TV meteorologist Mark Ronchetti and Gavin Clarkson, an associate business professor at NMSU, in the contest. Clarkson also failed to get 20 percent at the convention but is filing additional petition signatures to make the ballot. Neither Rich or Sanchez endorsed any of their rivals as they headed for the exits.

CRIME BEAT

The unsolved ABQ murder rate made blog news recently. Maybe the rate is higher because a considerable member of the killings are related to drug trafficking and difficult to pin down?

The former El Paso U.S. Marshal said that a Drug Enforcement Administration plan to fight a meth uptick in key U.S. cities like El Paso is needed. "I think what it takes is law enforcement being proactive and going after the cartels, going after the drugs that are coming across border - with the emphasis on taking down more of these loads along the border," said former federal marshal Robert Almonte. 

DEA seizures of methamphetamine in the U.S. increased by 127%, from 49,507 pounds to 112,146 pounds between 2017 and 2019, and DEA arrests related to the drug rose nearly 20%, the agency said.

ALTERNATIVE DRUGS?

Here's an interesting angle in the drug epidemic from reader and ABQ attorney Jeff Baker:

Joe – perhaps you could invite readers with medical backgrounds to comment if there are medically safe alternatives to the narcotics being distributed by the Mexican cartels. Let’s remove the stigma of “drug addict” from the conversation, and be more effective than “Just Say No.” As long as demand exists, we will lose the “war on drugs.” Are there “safe” alternatives to street drugs? If the answer is yes, the challenge will be to get these safer drugs to folks who otherwise would be buying their next fix from a dealer. Let’s attack this problem from a marketing perspective – the government’s product is safer, better, and cheaper (with one part of the user’s cost being a requirement for counseling). But even if counseling fails, a government run program will not involve gang involved murders.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2019