Sen. Pope

The race for lieutenant governor is revealing a much more aggressive left wing in the state Democratic party with important implications for economic policy should Deb Haaland become the next governor. 

The race for the number two spot features two leading hopefuls--term-limited State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard and ABQ state Senator Harold Pope. 

Their below-the-radar contest is to fill the vacancy created when Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver won the primary nomination over Pope but withdrew for health reasons. The race will be decided by about 500 members of the party's State Central Committee in a four-day electronic vote July 25-29. 

The party's more pronounced left wing was in evidence at the June primary election when moderate Democrats failed to muster respectable percentages in even conservative counties such as Eddy, Chaves and Lea, revealing that middle of the road politics is practically extinct among the party's nominating wing.

Now the Pope-Garcia Richard battle unveils party progressives even going after Haaland who is being labeled a "corporate Democrat" by some supporters of Pope. That is quite the turn of events given that Haaland was elected to the ABQ congressional seat and in 2018 immediately caucused with the progressive "Squad." 

It is not social issues such as abortion or trans rights that are now in dispute; it is critical economic matters and comes as Democratic socialists make major strides in New York City and elsewhere. In New Mexico that dynamic is being manifested in several key proposals where the newly energized left parts ways with Haaland who is urging committee members to name Garcia Richard as her running mate rather than the more progressive Pope.

--Private Equity Takeovers of PNM and the New Mexico Gas Company.

Garcia Richard

Pope opposes Blackstone's proposed $11.5 billion acquisition of TXNM Energy, PNM’s parent company. There is a similar private equity bid of $1.250 billion from Bernhard Capital Partners for the New Mexico Gas Company. Both takeovers await decisions from the Public Regulation Commission (PRC). 

Pope argues an unbridled thirst for profit by the bidders would ultimately "screw" ratepayers. He has joined protests outside PNM headquarters to condemn the deals. Rather than just regulating the private equity firms, Pope introduced Senate Memorial 9 urging the PRC to pause the acquisitions. 

He also proposed a socialist alternative: having the state use its permanent funds to buy a majority stake in PNM and possibly a nonmajority stake in Gas Company. He argues this would keep utility profits in New Mexico and diversify state revenue away from volatile oil and gas royalties. 

Haaland has focused her platform on lower utility costs and holding public utilities accountable, rather than pushing for an outright state takeover of the energy grid. While enviros have pressured the PRC to reject the Blackstone and BCP bids, Haaland’s approach leans on enforcement of the state's Energy Transition Act to ensure utility profits don’t come at the expense of regular families, but she has stopped short of endorsing Pope's state-ownership plan. 

Says Dem Central Committee member Mitchell Freedman of Rio Rancho:

I continue to say this is an important political moment to show Deb Haaland she and her consultants can't run the state like she ran the Democratic Party (as chairwoman) in 2016. The push for Pope is part of the Dem base revolt against corporate Dem leadership and the consultants who simultaneously fund and advise them.

JUPITER 

On the massive Project Jupiter data center being built in Santa Teresa, Pope, 52, wants the project halted, citing concerns about the strain hyperscale data centers place on water resources and the local energy grid. 

Jupiter will not tap into the local grid but instead use natural gas fuel cells for power. But enviros assert the center could still produce carbon emissions equivalent to a coal-fired power plant. Pope is pushing for regulatory interventions, including a statewide data center moratorium as was recently done in New York state.

In contrast Haaland supports a temporary pause on new data centers--but not Jupiter--while the state drafts rules regarding water usage and grid demand. She says: "New Mexico is not a piggy bank and I support our state putting guardrails in place that data centers must follow...Large corporations must do their part. . .As governor, I’d rather fix the guardrails than shut the door on an entire industry."

Garcia Richard, 52, is actually more aligned with Pope than Haaland on Jupiter.. The Land Commissioner made recent headlines by halting a proposed natural gas line to Jupiter that would run across state land--a direct blow to the project and more stern than Haaland's position. 

The bottom line on the divisions now on display in the Democratic party is whether the more insistent leftist positions on economic matters become more relevant in Santa Fe. Will there be state takeovers of gas and electric utilities previously thought inconceivable? A forever ban on data centers? A universal basic income for all residents which Pope has warmed to?

Garcia Richard, with Haaland's blessing, has the edge over the more progressive Pope but no matter who wins the campaign has been revealing. The strain of socialist thinking we've seen in the nation in response to rampant income inequality and the increased cost of living is now a tangible, mainstream ideology in New Mexico. That's a first. How it plays out promises to be more suspenseful than the upcoming election. 

TRAIL DUST

Former Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima has dropped his independent candidacy for governor after failing to collect 14,574 petition signatures needed to qualify for the November ballot, and he has thrown his support to Republican Gregg Hull. 

Miyagishima, a conservative Dem turned independent, toyed with filing a lawsuit to dispute the high number of signatures required of an independent candidate but decided not to. Still, that threshold, upheld in a long ago court ruling, could use anther going over in an era when registered independent voters now rival the number of registered Republicans. . .

But hold on. There may be a court review yet. A federal lawsuit has been filed challenging the petition requirement that kept Bob Perls from running for the US Senate seat held by Sen. Ben Ray Lujan. Perls, chairman of the newly formed New Mexico Forward Party, filed suit over the requirement that he needed those 14,000 plus signatures to qualify for the ballot. He argues once the Forward Party submitted enough signatures to qualify as a minor party, they should have been allowed to place candidates on the ballot without a further petition requirement. The lawsuit and other info is here.

Former ABQ city clerk and Dem state Sen. Katy Duhigg has a rebuttal: 

The statewide signature requirement for independents and minor parties is much higher than those for major party candidates because those independent and minor party candidates get to skip running in a primary. It’s not a plot, and it’s not unfair. It is the trade off for only having to run in one election (the general election), instead of two (primary and general). . . 

Dem US Rep. Gabe Vasquez holds a significant money lead over Republican Greg Cunningham in the race for the southern congressional seat. In the latest federal campaign reports Vasquez reports raising $569,000 and having nearly $2.4 million in cash on hand. Cunningham raised $382,000 and reported $768,000 in cash. The Cook Political report ranks the Second Congressional District lean Democrat. Polymarket bettors have Vasquez with an 85 percent chance of victory.

This is the Home of New Mexico Politics.

Labels: Ben Ray Lujan, Deb Haaland, Gregg Hull, Harold Pope, Sen. Katy Duhigg, Stephanie Garcia Richard