On KANW Election Night

We couldn't squeeze all the action into the blog or on our Election Night radio coverage so here are some clippings that fell to our newsroom floor. . . 

Even the most ardent followers of politics may have been hoping for a reprieve after an intense primary campaign featuring nonstop TV ads. But these days that's not to be. No sooner had primary Election night ended when the Republican Governors Association announced it was going on the air with a negative hit on MLG that would run through early July and cost in the six figures. 

The RGA says:

The RGA is filling a cash void for GOP Guv nominee Mark Ronchetti who spent down his $2.5 million campaign kitty to $470,000 and faces a dilemma: If MLG were to stay on the air through June with her positive spots she just might get her approval rating up to the crucial 50 percent mark or more. The RGA will try to keep her in check while Ronchetti works to reload his cash kitty. 

One problem: The RGA is not a candidate so the rate it pays for TV ads will be higher than what the Ronchetti campaign would pay. Also, rules prohibit Ronchetti from appearing in the RGA ads. Political pros point out that means the ads are often not as effective as ads run by the candidate's campaign. 

Still, the RGA involvement is a lifeboat for the Ronchetti campaign as it seeks a new injection of funding. funding. (Ronchetti's full Election night speech is here.)

Voter turnout hit 25 percent of major party registered voters for Primary '22. With only a few competitive races that wasn't so bad. Most primaries draw around 30 percent. But in 2014 when the action was really low-key turnout crashed to only 20 percent. 

Now that Raul Torrez is headed for the attorney general's office, the question is who will replace him as BernCo district attorney if, as expected, he wins in November and takes office January 1? 

Well, given the unforgiving nature of that job and the ongoing crime wave, don't expect a long line to form outside the Guv's office seeking the appointment. No, we don't think State Auditor Brian Colón, whose term concludes at year's end and who Torres defeated Tuesday, will seek the post. 

NM House Speaker Brian Egolf proudly boasted on Election Night that all the House Dems seeking nomination won but he forgot one. Rep. Roger Montoya was defeated by former Rep. Joseph Sanchez in the north. But then Egolf did not support Montoya, the only member of his caucus on the ballot who did not get his blessing. 

John Block

In an upset Tuesday night twentysomething blogger John Block beat Rep. Rachel Black in an Alamogordo area state House primary, and will take the seat in November As there is no Democrat running.

Block, a pro-Trumper, America-first Republican who is gay, was ceaseless in his attacks on Black who he called a Santa Fe "swamp creature" and worse as he won the support of several former Trump administration officials. 

Expect Block, author of the conservative blog Pinon Post, to be New Mexico's version of outspoken US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene when he arrives at the Roundhouse seeking attention for his causes before the TV cameras. 

And House Minority Leader Jim Townsend already thought he had plenty of problems. 

So much for the beard theory that held that sporting one was usually a one way ticket to defeat in a statewide race. This year Raul Torrez broke the taboo and won the Dem nomination for attorney general while showing off his well-manicured beard to the TV audience. His nomination is tantamount to election in November for a Democrat. No R has won in decades.

Readers pointed out that Torrez joins former Dem Land Commissioner Ray Powell, Jr. in the exclusive club of politicos who have now won statewide office while bearded. Will there be more hirsute contenders as a result of the Torrez breakthrough? Keep it right here for the latest.

Thanks for joining us on the blog and on the radio this week. It's been fun. 

Reporting from Albuquerque, I'm Joe Monahan.