Our live, continuous Election Night coverage begins at 6:30 PM with complete results and in-depth analysis on KANW 89.1 FM and the live stream on KANW.COM. We look forward to having you with us as we continue this New Mexico public radio tradition.

The executive editor of the ABQ Journal is out. The paper reports Jay Newton-Small resigned from the state's largest newspaper on Monday, a day before today's primary election.

Newton-Small was hired in November 2024 so her tenure was short of two years. She was brought aboard when the previous editor was fired after being arrested on a shoplifting charge. Before signing with the Journal, Newton-Small, 50, was a correspondent for Bloomberg News and Time Magazine.   

The Journal announced that veteran journalist James Bennett, a former weekend/Senior Editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution who joined the Journal in April, has been promoted to "managing editor," the paper said. 

James Bennett

He may be the one to settle things down at Journal Center. The Atlanta paper has a strong legacy, winning 11 Pulitzers in its history and has had a string of storied editors.

The Georgia paper of record is in the middle of a major gamble. The AJC printed its final physical daily newspaper on Dec. 31, ending 157 years of ink-and-paper history. It is now a 100% digital-only publication. It makes observers here wonder if the all-digital route could be in store for the Journal as it wrestles with new media and financial challenges.  

Bennett’s title is noticeably less broader than Newton-Small's "executive editor/vice-president" title. 

That may signal a more robust role for executives of the ABQ Publishing Co. which own the paper. They have now seen their last two editors unable to follow in the leadership shoes of retired editor Kent Walz who steered the paper for decades. This is also the first time in memory that the Journal has made a managing editor, who usually serves under an editor-in-chief, the actual editor of record.   

The Journal gave no reasons for Newton-Small leaving, only saying her departure would be "a loss" but a recent public outburst by the former editor may have played a part.  

Jay Newton-Small

It was just over two weeks ago that Newton-Small shocked the political community when she warned Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deb Haaland that she would be investigated by the paper because of her refusal to appear at an ABQ Journal forum with Sam Bregman, her rival for the Democratic nomination (Video here.) 

Newton-Small called the rejection "scary" and added it was "terrifiying" that Haaland stayed away. Haaland did sit for a profile interview with the paper's Santa Fe reporter.  

The Haaland camp obviously will not be displeased with this turn of events. The prospect of having the newspaper conducting a vendetta against her should she win election was already putting a cloud over her possible administration. 

We broke the news of the change while anchoring our KANW radio Election Eve Special. Analyst Sisto Abyeta drew laughs when he quipped of the upheaval, "it makes you want the ABQ Tribune back!"

But everyone in the room said that they where rooting for the Journal to succeed because a strong daily newspaper is good for the state and city--and democracy.

The Journal is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year but with the editorial chaos it seems more like a wake. The new editor has his work cut out.  

 PRIMARY TURNOUT 

There's enough going on in the campaigns to prevent a big drop in turnout for today's election. Votes already cast in the Democratic primary put us on track to hit the 176,000 who voted in 2018 when there was also no incumbent running for the gubernatorial nomination. 

For the Republicans it appears they too will hit the number of their last non incumbent primary in 2022 when about 118,000 ballots were cast. 

The turnout is more of an issue in the GOP primary where three candidates are vying for the nomination while Deb Haaland is seen as having a commanding lead over Sam Bregman.

The four county ABQ metro area--BernCo, Sandoval, Valencia and Torrance--produced 47.6 percent of the early vote cast in the election. Other counties made up 52.3 percent. 

Former Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull hopes that the above average turnout in the metro holds up through the voting today since he is is counting on winning the area. Doug Turner is leaning on the rural counties but needs to keep Hull's winning margin down in the ABQ area. A lower turnout is believed by GOP analysts to benefit him. 

Polymarket late Monday put Hull's chances at winning at 80 percent. In the Dem chase, 98 percent of bettors were predicting a Haaland victory.

The betting market does not judge the margin of a victory--only the victor--whether it be by 100 votes or 10,000.  

TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT

Joe Monahan '26

Join us tonight for continuous results, in-depth analysis, candidate reaction and much more on our traditional Election Night coverage starting at 6:30 on KANW 89.1 FM and  streamed at KANW.COM.

We say traditional because our Election Night broadcasts for public radio started in 1988. As we did then, tonight we have an all-star panel to break down the results and what they could mean for New Mexico's future.

ABQ Dem state Senator Moe Maestas has been a regular for years at the KANW Election Night round table. He loves politics almost as much as the Lobos. The District 28 first term senator served 16 years on the state House before moving to the upper chamber.  His involvement in campaigns goes back better than 30 years. Suffice it to say that no campaign movidas get past him--and none will tonight. 

Sen. Berghmans

ABQ Dem state Senator Heather Berghmans is a newcomer to elective office and a newcomer to public radio. She won her District 33 seat just two years ago but she is a veteran of the political battles. Berghmans previously served as a policy analyst at the Legislature and as a campaign finance consultant with the House Democratic Caucus. In the Senate she is the Vice-Chair of the Senate tax committee. With the way big money is coming into campaigns it takes a finance guru to figure it out, so we've got one. 

ABQ Dem state Rep. Joy Garratt is back on the air. The retired educator and representative from ABQ's westside District 25 since 2019, she is a retired teacher. She also has an unoffical Ph.D  in the ways of La Politica. She serves as vice-Chair of the House Education Committee and is a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. Her website is Joy for New Mexico." Who couldn't use some of that?  

Amy Sanchez is the political director of the Bernalillo County Republican Party who is a go-to advisor with a nose for news--of the political variety, of course. She is back ton KANW to carry the banner for the GOP which provided a fair share of the drama in this year's primary election. And drama is what Election Night is all about. 

Veteran Republican campaign consultant Bob Cornelius, a longtime public radio contributor, will phone it in this year. He just could not get away from his Austin outpost. He would have liked to but after all the internecine battles in the GOP, he may be safer delivering the news from across the border. 

Dem political consultant and lobbyist Sisto Abeyta, our lead analyst, is back and has ceded his blog bio space to the elected officials--just as a good lobbyist should. Just don't try to take his microphone away on Election Night. We won't.

Mountain West News Bureau journalist Jenny Kinsey returns to cover events from the field with live reports and news from various locations.We say various because if things get wild she may have to have an Uber on stand-by.

Kevin Otero is our longtime and patient producer and Michael Brasher is our gracefully aging general manager. 

Public radio KANW is celebrating 75 years on the air this year and we are proud to have been a part of so many of them. But there's nothing like the present--so set your alarm for 6:30. It's Election Night on KANW. See you soon. 

This is the Home of New Mexico Politics.