Duke Rodriguez successfully jumped over one legal hurdle Tuesday. Now he has one to go before he is free and clear to make his run for the '26 GOP gubernatorial nomination. 

. ..A state judge dismissed a court challenge filed against the Republican gubernatorial candidate. But the question of whether Rodriguez meets a residency requirement to hold statewide office remains unanswered — at least for now. . .District Judge Curtis Gurley of Aztec granted a motion to dismiss the complaint filed by two Republican voters that claimed Rodriguez did not meet the residency requirement in the New Mexico Constitution. "Our courts want the voters to decide," Gurley said while announcing his ruling that granted Rodriguez's motion to dismiss the case on technical grounds.

The second lawsuit Rodriguez must overcome--and Legal Beagles say Judge Gurley's ruling gives him a head start--deals with the five year residency requirement to hold statewide office. That suit was filed by Rodriguez rival Jim Ellison and has yet to be scheduled for a hearing. 

Rodriguez attorney, former ABQ state Senator Jacob Candelaria, a onetime Dem turned independent, got a head start on the residency argument in his filings in the first suit, writing: 

Article V, Section 3 of the New Mexico Constitution requires that a person "have resided continuously in New Mexico for five years next preceding his election" to hold the office of Governor. . . This provision addresses the qualifications to hold office, not to run for office. 

And he added this argument: 

The determination of whether Mr. Rodriguez's name can appear on the 2026 primary election ballot is completely independent of, and therefore unaffected by, the question of whether he satisfies the constitutional residency requirement for the office of Governor. The constitutional question will not become ripe for judicial review until such time as Mr. Rodriguez receives a Certificate of Election to the Office of Governor.

More of the legal motion to dismiss the case is here. 

Elections expert and former Dem ABQ state Senator Daniel Ivey Soto reacted:

There is no legal provision that allows a candidacy challenge after the Primary and before the General. What would be raised after the General would be a constitutional challenge. . .If Duke were to win the General Election, that is when another case could be raised, but the conundrum for the judge deciding the case would be whether to overturn the will of the voters.  

Another Legal Beagle opined:

The argument is basically - Duke might not be qualified to be Governor, but he is qualified to be on the ballot.  

While he still has to endure some more legal limbo, Rodriguez, who has had residences in both New Mexico and Arizona, wasn't waiting to celebrate. Right after the ruling came out of the Four Corners courtroom, he declared:

I don't view this as just a victory for my campaign. Today, New Mexicans won. They won the opportunity to get beyond the politics of the past and to fix what’s broken. . .While other candidates in this race are trying to create voter confusion, I’m going to continue my focus on fixing the problems New Mexican families are facing: crime, healthcare, immigration, and building a stronger economy so families can thrive.

TOO LOW?

The Duke Rodriguez detractors remain busy critiquing his Dem campaign donations as the March 7 GOP preprimary convention nears and where delegates will vote to place gubernatorial candidates on the ballot. We get this from one of them in reaction to our Tuesday blog on those donations: 

Joe, The CFIS (the state's campaign reporting system)  is a real pain in the ass these days, but the $186k in Democratic donations you reported made to Dem candidates are just from his marijuana company Ultra Health. Rodriguez has donated $40,00 on his own. All of these numbers can be verified directly with the SOS. f you judge Rodriguez by his donations he's a quite the Democrat.   

Here is the donation report that reader cited. The initial report from GOP political operatives is on the Tuesday blog.

 SPEECH BOYCOTT 

Sens. Lujan and Heinrich

There was little political cost to members of the state's congressional delegation who boycotted last night's State of the Union speech from President Trump. After scaring Democrats in 2024 by coming within six points of presidential winner Kamala Harris in New Mexico, the president's polling remains low and has crashed Hispanics has crashed.

Trump's overall popularity has consistently been underwater here. A Morning Star poll conducted earlier this month has him with a 42 percent approval rating and 55 percent disapproval. A CNN survey also this month shows Hispanic approval of Trump is at 25 percent, down from the 44 percent approval he received in early '25. Economic concerns and the White House's aggressive immigration policies are the chief reasons, according to the survey. 

Rep. Gabe Vasquez was the sole member of the state's five member congressional delegation to attend the State of the Union.  

This the Home of New Mexico Politics.