Ask a variety of political insiders how that leaked draft of a US Supreme Court ruling restricting abortion rights will impact the midterm elections here and you get a variety of responses. 

Positions are so locked in that most observers say the votes are already accounted for. Ardent pro-choice voters are going to be with MLG and those in the pro-life camp will support the GOP nominee. 

It's in the state House races where the politicos think the issue might be more meaningful, with one telling us:

In the Dem primary races, progressive Tara Jaramillo, facing moderate Ravi Bhasker for a central NM House seat (HD 38), saw an opening with the court leak and came with this:

Bhasker is a medical doctor and mayor of Socorro who is also pro-choice, saying:

The abortion debate here has been subdued since the Legislature in 2021 repealed a dormant law that criminalized the procedure in anticipation of a Supreme Court ruling striking down Roe. There was fear that law could take effect in the absence of Roe. 

New Mexico is one of a handful of states with zero restrictions on abortion and there is little chance it will be restricted. The House passed the repeal of that dormant law on a 40 to 30 vote. In addition, if MLG remains Governor she would veto any restrictions in the unlikely event they made it through the House and Senate.

Abortion rights advocates are still concerned about constitutional challenges and are pushing lawmakers to make abortion a specific right in NM law. 

Those sales numbers aren't tepid but neither do they signal a huge boom, especially since April is expected to be the banner sales month for this first year. 

Why? Reasons include the robust medical marijuana market which now serves well over 130,000 New Mexicans. Then there's the sobering fact that the black market is not going away and can undercut legal prices. And estimates about marijuana sales to Texans could be overblown. 

The state projects it will realize about $50 million in taxes from first-year pot sales. That will barely make a blip in a state budget that is now approaching $9 billion. But for those that do imbibe and obey the rules  at least they no longer have to worry about getting busted. 

The Dem candidates for attorney general have been poking at each other on the campaign trail and today the negative goes on the TV airwaves, with BernCo DA Raul Torrez launching two ads (here and here) that accuses rival and State Auditor Brian Colon of advocating for defunding the police. Colon says he is for no such thing and is putting up a negative spot of his own. He says Torrez is taking police funding remarks he made on a podcast out of context.

Colon has turned out to be the front-runner in the race, raising twice the amount of money as Torrez and having widespread name ID in the party. But there is a long way to go and the Torrez attack ads are better than his initial TV foray. 

The GOP Ohio US Senate candidate who had the blessing of Donald Trump won the primary there last night, showing that the ex-president still packs a punch in the party. 

There is no sign that Trump will make an endorsement in the NM GOP primary Guv race, although there has been talk of it in the Rebecca Dow camp. An endorsement from Sen. Ted Cruz would seem more likely. He's next door in Texas and Dow's campaign consultants also have Cruz as a client.

A Cruz endorsement wouldn't move the needle like a Trump nod, but it could mean more campaign funds for Dow who needs them as she is being outspent by chief rival Mark Ronchetti. Still, after Vance's win Dow has to be thinking about ringing that phone in Mar-a-Lago.

With a barrel of oil going for over $100 there is--as the saying goes--more where that came from. 

This is the home of New Mexico politics.