Despite small gains in Legislature, GOP say results signal 'promising trend'

Nov. 6—After months of exhaustive campaigning, former state Rep. Rebecca Dow fell asleep around 9 p.m. Tuesday as results in her race for House District 38 were still up in the air.

"I was just tired," Dow said Wednesday morning.

But after midnight, Dow couldn't go back to sleep after a slew of supporters started to call to congratulate her on her win against Democratic Rep. Tara Jaramillo.

"The phone was ringing and everybody kept calling me," she said. "I couldn't go back to sleep after that. But then all the other numbers were in, and it wasn't as good as I wanted, you know. It was a mixed bag."

While Republicans nationwide extolled the win of former President Donald Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris in the race for the White House, their celebration in New Mexico was a little more reserved after making only incremental gains in state legislative races.

Republicans gained one seat in the state House of Representatives with Dow's win and one — or two — in the Senate, depending on each person's perspective.

"Count wise, we went from 15 to 16," said Senate Republican Whip Craig Brandt.

Republican Jay Block, a Sandoval County commissioner, won the race for Senate District 12, which had long been held by Democratic Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, who didn't run for reelection. And Democrat-turned-Republican Gabriel Ramos beat Democrat Chris Ponce in Senate District 28, which was up for grabs after Sen. Siah Correa Hemphill, D-Silver City, dropped out of the race after the primary.

But Republicans didn't put up a candidate in Senate District 30 after redistricting made it heavily Democratic. That seat had been held by Sen. Joshua Sanchez, R-Bosque, who ran in a new district that had been held by another Republican, Senate Minority Leader Greg Baca of Belen, who didn't seek reelection.

"You could spin it one or two ways," Brandt said. "You can either say we picked up one overall or you can say we lost one and picked up two."

Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, noted Tuesday was the Senate's first election after redistricting.

"We are very happy with the results," he said in a statement. "All of the state Senate Democratic incumbents who were running won re-election. We have six new women in the caucus: Linda Trujillo, Cindy Nava, Angel Charley, Debbie O'Malley, Natalie Figueroa and Heather Berghmans. While we lost one seat, our 26-16 majority is strong."

While Democrats will maintain control in both chambers of the Legislature, Republican leaders say their small gains in Tuesday's election, plus a couple of tight races against incumbent Democrats in Southern New Mexico, could translate into more GOP wins in the future.

"The numbers from the presidential election and some of the polling that we did [have] shown one thing I'm real excited about, which is the trend for Hispanic men to cross over" and vote Republican, said House Minority Leader Rod Montoya, R-Farmington.

"It's kind of showing that maybe the old-school, traditional New Mexican is still alive and well," he added.

Montoya said he went to bed Tuesday night thinking Republicans were going to pick up three seats. While Democratic Rep. Nathan Small and Sen. Carrie Hamblen, both of Las Cruces, held onto their seats, they trailed their Republican challengers earlier in the night.

In the end, though, only Dow edged out Rep. Jaramillo.

House Speaker Javier Martínez said Jaramillo would be "sorely missed."

"She ran a very strong race in one of the most competitive districts in the country while withstanding brutal and dishonest personal attacks from his opponent," he said.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement she was "grateful" Democrats held majorities in the Legislature and that voters had reelected Democrats to the state's U.S. House and Senate seats.

"Over the next two years, I promise to keep fighting to improve the lives of families and children, create more opportunities for all New Mexicans and protect our democracy and reproductive and human rights," said Lujan Grisham, who is serving her second and final term in office.

The results of Tuesday's election show Republicans are poised to make more gains in the future "or that the Democrat Party is going to have to self-correct," Montoya said.

"I spent a lot of time this last year traveling the state, especially north-central New Mexico, and the progressive effort in the Democrat Party has essentially basically silenced or chased out all the old-school, traditional Hispanic legislators," Montoya added. He named several former Hispanic Democratic legislators, including former state Reps. Carl Trujillo of Santa Fe and Harry Garcia of Gallup, who were pushed out by more progressive challengers.

"Ben Luján ... couldn't be elected in this party today," he said, referring to the former House speaker and father of U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján.

Brandt agreed the election could point to more Hispanic voters in New Mexico supporting Republican candidates.

"I think what you're seeing in New Mexico is a lot of what they're seeing nationwide, where you see a shift in the Hispanic community that is looking at who's actually representing them and who is actually benefitting them, and they're realizing it's not the Democratic Party," he said.

Hispanic voters are "moving steadily in our direction, and we're seeing that down south where we have a very large Hispanic community," he said. "We have some real opportunities as long as we take them."

Republican Party of New Mexico Chair Steve Pearce expressed "sincere gratitude" to Republicans who ran in Tuesday's election. He also expressed hope for the GOP in New Mexico in future elections.

"We congratulate the New Mexico House and Senate Republicans for not only defending their seats but also for expanding their caucuses and closing the gap in multiple races, signaling a promising trend as we look to the future," he said in a statement.

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