There will be no Republican elected as State Auditor in 2022. That's not an earth-shaking prediction but it can be made with certainty because the GOP will not field a candidate for the position that has become a launching pad for Democratic political careers.

While tapping candidates for the other statewide offices--Treasurer, Land Commissioner and Attorney General--the R's took a pass on Auditor. That means either of two Dems--Joseph Maestas or Zach Quintero--will effectively be elected to the position when one of them wins the June 7th primary. 

The Libertarian Party has also taken a pass on the race. 

Maestas, a current public regulation commissioner, former Mayor of Española and Santa Fe City Councilor, is seen having the edge in a statewide race over the thirtysomething Quintero, a native of Mesilla, who ran a close but unsuccessful race for ABQ City Council in 2019. 

Maestas would probably be less likely to pursue higher office from the Auditor's perch than Quintero and those recently in the office. Current Auditor Brian Colón is seeking the Dem nod for Attorney General and Tim Keller, the Auditor before him, went on to become mayor of ABQ. 

Having a Dem as State Auditor is par for the course. In fact, no R has been elected since 1970 when Harold Thompson completed his second, two year term. After that terms were changed to four years and a Democrat has won ever since--a streak of over 50 years. However, Gov. Martinez did appoint Republican Wayne Johnson as state auditor to fill the post when Tim Keller left to assume the office of ABQ mayor. Johnson was defeated when he ran for Auditor in '18.

Ant Thornton in Ruidoso

Consider yourself tamed, Pat Lyons. That big name of La Politica took a major hit to his Light Guv candidacy this weekend when GOP delegates to the state preprimary convention failed to give him the required 20 percent support to win an official spot on the ballot. Lyons can still get on the ballot by filing additional petition signatures.

Clearly the Grand Old Party is a bit tired of Lyons and looking for new faces. They found one in political novice Anthony "Ant Thornton" of ABQ's East Mountains who is attempting to become the first Black man in state history to win a spot on a gubernatorial ticket. 

His Lt. Gov. candidacy was endorsed by 59 percent of the delegates. Neither Lyons or three other hopefuls managed to get the needed 20 percent. Lyons ran fourth among the five contenders.

No question Thornton, an aerospace engineer with a Ph.D and who worked 27 years at Sandia National Labs, would be a breakthrough candidate for the GOP which badly needs one in a majority-minority state that has turned its back on the party. There currently are no statewide elected Republican officials.

Lyons, 67, a former state senator and public regulation commissioner, was trying to resurrect his political career following his 2018 loss for land commissioner, a post he also previously held. But he didn't count on Ant the Lyons tamer storming the convention. Still, Ant can't turn his back. The old Lyons could still have some fight left in him.

When GOP Guv candidate Jay Block went into attack mode on MLG, calling her a crotch-grabbing evil witch," the delegates to Saturday's preprimary convention handed him the top GOP ballot position in the June primary, But the comments rankled more than a few and we heard from them, including reader Kelley:

Block told us he is unapologetic about the comments saying the Guv's campaign settled a lawsuit or $150K over her crotch grabbing and that he believes she is truly evil because of the way people suffered under her pandemic mandates. 

The state GOP needs a giant mop and pail to clean up the mess leftover from the ill-fated vote-counting at their preprimary convention Saturday . How much of a mess is it? Well, the party went public in knocking down rumors that everything was not on the up and up in the final vote count:

Hey Amy and Steve, we never did get our ballot over here. 

Uh. . . just joking.

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