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New Mexico Political Journal

Intelligent Political Discourse for the Thoughtful New Mexican. Fact-based, historically referenced, with electoral and demographic data.

The primary purpose of New Mexico Political Journal is to educate the people of New Mexico at large and the electorate in particular regarding the history, demography, and culture of New Mexico, as well as its electoral and political landscape. As our motto states, we desire to provide Intelligent Political Discourse—for the Thoughtful New Mexican. The principal objective in striving to achieve th

is goal is to bring about civic betterment and social improvements. NMPJ seeks to enlighten and inform the citizenry through an educational process that instructs the public on subjects beneficial to to the community, both as an electorate and as citizens in general. The method includes full and fair exposition of pertinent facts sufficient to permit an individual or the public to form an independent opinion or conclusion. We offer news and analysis of New Mexico government and politics, as well as national news. But we do so from a unique approach, not found in other media in our state, or most states—that is, we utilize critical and analytical thinking and logic to communicate the news of the day. While most modern journalism is based on the journalist himself or herself, we focus on the actual person or event that is being covered. Rather than preparing what we want to say in advance of a newsmaker's response, we actually listen to the newsmaker, or read his or her actual words and key off those, without preconceived notions of what our next question or statement will be. We are the listener and analyst. The political leader or newsmaker is the subject, not us. We believe the obviously simple—but continually overlooked—axiom that "words mean things." NMPJ's primary educational goal can be achieved through dispassionate analysis, grounded in a realistic, fact-based frame of reference that includes New Mexico history and demography, as well as legislative and electoral history.

06/05/2026

GRAHAM PLATNER — MISSPLAYED SITUATION

If we were running the Maine Republican Party, we would not be trying to push Graham Platner out of the race. We would have held on to the information for another month or so or until it was too late for him to be replaced.

Then, publish everything—spend big at that moment.

Having seen Platner outed now, the Maine Democratic Party may figure out a way to replace him with a cleaner candidate—and one that can then beat Republican incumbent U.S. Senator Susan Collins.

The New Jersey Republican Party made this same mistake a number of years ago when they made such a big scene about the corrupt Democrat Senator Robert Torricelli that the New Jersey Democratic State Committee forced him out.

Torricelli was way behind in the polls at the time.

What happened then?

Well, the Democrats brought former Senator Frank Lautenberg out of retirement, put him on the ballot in place of Torricelli, and — Voila! — Lautenberg immediately jumped ahead of the Republican nominee and went on to win in a landslide.

Missed opportunity for the Republicans.

It appears the same thing may be happening in Maine this year.

It’s similar to the blunder Trump made by endorsing California GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton, thus destroying a real opportunity to have two Republicans finish at the top in the jungle primary.

Republicans cannot afford unforced errors—especially in a year in which we are likely to see a huge Democrat wave.

06/02/2026

HOW TRUMP BLEW THE CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR RACE

We cringed about 6 weeks ago when we suddenly heard that Donald J. Trump had suddenly—and, well, rather dumbly—endorsed Steve Hilton for governor of California.

We believed immediately that the Republicans had just lost whatever chance they had. Here’s why:

1) California has a “jungle primary,” meaning everyone votes for all candidates, regardless of party affiliation.

2) The first and second place finishers—regardless of party—advance to the November general election.

3) There are 61 candidates on a two-page ballot.

4) Only two Republicans and six Democrats are serious contenders.

HERE’s the KEY POINT:

5) The two Republicans, Hilton and Bianco, were running first and second at the time of Trump’s blunder.

6) THAT scenario—with the Republicans finishing as the top two—leaving the November election between two Republicans—was the only chance the Republicans had.

(A Republican v. a Democrat in California is an
automatic win for the Democrat.)

7) As soon as Trump foolishly intervened, Hilton gained about 5 or 6 points, while Bianco fell to fourth, then fifth place. Meanwhile Democrats immediately moved into second and third place.

At that point the race was lost—because even if Hilton were to make it into the top two, he would face a Democrat in the fall. One on one. Bad situation.

In addition to knocking one of the Republicans out of one of the top two positions, Trump immediately made the Republicans’ campaigns about himself.

This, keep in mind, in a state where Trump is EXTREMELY unpopular. One really has to work extra hard to be this tone deaf.

Bottom Line: Trump lost the California governorship for no reason at all. But you can kiss it goodbye.

05/29/2026

RIGHT HERE IN NEW MEXICO! YouTube CHANNEL EXPOSES SHOCKING MIGRANT CRIME

Check out this shocking video from a new Bodycam Channel about a 13-year-old girl being rescued from a Venezuelan migrant right here in New Mexico.

See the link in the comment below.

We encourage you to like and subscribe to this channel, as we understand that every week they will be posting more videos of the stories the media tries to hide, or bury!

05/27/2026

GOP CHAIR REMOVED BY DEMOCRAT JUDGE

A New Mexico judge on Wednesday ruled that Republican Party of New Mexico Chair Amy Barela must vacate her position, siding with Republican candidates who said she broke party rules by continuing to serve as chair while also running for office.

Thirteenth Judicial District Judge Cindy Mercer, (who, it must be noted, is an acolyte of former Democrat State Senate boss, Michael S. Sanchez) issued a preliminary injunction that prohibits Barela from continuing to serve as chair.

Oddly enough, Mercer also ordered party officials not to publicly support any of the Republicans running for office during the ongoing primary—which was not something that was happening to start with.

That gratuitous additional order of course hints at a somewhat mischievous aggressiveness on the part of Mercer in what otherwise should have been a case for jurisprudential neutrality— as opposed to the kind of over-the-top enthusiasm for intervention that she displayed.

THE DUKE and BLAIR are OVERJOYED

The eight-page ruling sided with the three Republican plaintiffs — gubernatorial candidate Duke Rodriguez, lieutenant governor candidate Aubrey Blair Dunn and Otero County Commission candidate Jonathan Emery — who said that Barela and other officials were breaking party rules and contributing to an unfair primary.

It is unclear why Rodriguez and Blair have invested so much political capital in this case whilst simultaneously running vigorously contested campaigns. Recent polls indicate that Rodriguez has no chance whatsoever of catching either Hull or Turner in the GOP primary. Though the race between Dunn and David Gallegos of Eunice could be a tight one.

OTERO COUNTY COMMISSION RACE AT ISSUE

Barela is running for re-election as Otero County commissioner. And a man named Jonathan Emery challenged her. It is extremely rare that incumbent county commissioners in Republican counties are challenged in Republican primaries. So most observers concluded that Emery was encouraged to run for the express purpose of being able to invoke what the RPNM attorney called an “ambiguous rule.”

The plaintiffs argued that Republican Party rules bar party chairs from running for office. They also alleged the party was unfairly picking favored candidates through implicit endorsement on the party’s page.

Mercer agreed with the plaintiffs on all counts in her ruling Wednesday. In the ruling, she said that Barela serving as both a candidate and party chair constitutes a conflict of interest.

“Her position as party chair gives her a higher
profile and may lend her an aura of greater party
legitimacy than her challenger,” Mercer wrote.

Mercer determined that not only did the Barela and other party leaders break the rules, but the party also has insufficient processes for handling alleged rule violations. As a result, the court needed to intervene, she wrote.

RPNM ATTORNEY CLEARLY DISAGREED

RPNM attorney Carter Harrison conceded at the end of a court hearing last week that the rule regarding whether Barela can serve as both party chairwoman and candidate is “ambiguous,” but he said the party — not a court — should retain control over resolving the issue.

05/26/2026

TEXAS SENATE PRIMARY TODAY—Republicans will keep the seat regardless of who wins the GOP primary. We explain why.

We have to guess that the best inside polling shows that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is on a glidepath to the Republican nomination today. Otherwise, we doubt that President Trump would have made such a bold endorsement of Paxton a week ago. (Trump does like to run to the head of a parade and pretend he was the drum major all along the route.)

Either that, or Trump is reverting to his earlier approach during the 2018-2022 timeframe when he would endorse based only on personal loyalty to him or based purely on retribution. (And contrary to Fox News reports, Trump has had many many of his endorsees go down in flames—as well as causing the loss of two Georgia senate seats in one cycle.)

So, it was good news to Republicans when early in this 2026 cycle, he started to take a more measured approach, including the endorsement of critics like New Hampshire’s John Sununu, who has a reasonable chance of picking up an open senate seat. And Trump was all set to endorse Cornyn a little over two months ago. Then that intention was leaked to the media, and Trump got really steamed.

It was at that moment that Paxton threw a “Hail Mary” pass by announcing that he would drop out if Senate Republicans would pass the Save America Act. This, combined with Trump’s anger about the leak, caused Trump to reconsider. In a certain sense, who can blame him? The Save America Act is about common-sense, very basic elections integrity measures, like Voter ID.

BREAKING THE FILIBUSTER PROCESS

The problem is that to break the filibuster would require several weeks of continuous “stand and talk” debate on the question. (This is not the same as removing the filibuster rule. Instead, this is the process by which the actual filibuster itself is defeated on the Senate floor.)

The fact they are not pursuing it is not the Republican Leader’s fault. Senator John Thune would go forward were it not for the fact that there are four or five Republicans who absolutely will not be a part of the 51 senators who would have to be on or near the floor at all hours while the “stand and talk” process continues.

If, for example, the minority party (the Democrats) were to call a “quorum call” at 3:00 AM and the Republicans could not produce 51 bodies, the Senate would be forced to adjourn. Obviously, this would disrupt everything.

PAXTON v. TALARICO—who, in effect, called God Himself a Tr**ny!

We hold out hope that Cornyn will surprise everyone with what would now be considered an upset win, but it appears that Paxton will win.

Does that mean Republicans will lose the seat?

No.

The Democrat nominee, James Talarico, has not exactly said that the God of the Universe is a “tranny,” but he did say that He was “non-binary.” Which is close enough for government work.

He’s also piled up a long and creepy series of comments about transgender kids, and he’s steadfastly insisted that biological boys and men be able to compete in athletic events against girls and women.

Our Texas correspondents have said the following:

“There are still enough real Texans to maintain the
seat, even if Paxton wins the nomination. Paxton
will win the election against Talarico by close to 10
points.

“For Paxton, all the smoking guns are now old
news. The smoke has blown away. He’s a crook—
no doubt about it. But Texans have already
decided he’s certainly no more “tainted” than
Trump, and he’s most definitely not as bad as
Talarico.

“When you’re staring at a Kamala Harris, a Biden,
or a Hillary, Republicans don’t really care about
Trump’s sins—and when you’re staring at a
Talarico, you don’t really care about Paxton’s.”

So, there it is. Paxton is likely to prevail tonight. But Talarico is already there as the Democrat nominee. Being creepy. Way too creepy to prevail in the general election in November.

05/19/2026

SAM BREGMAN RESORTS TO LIES—AGAIN—He is no Stranger to Deceptive Behavior.

Sam Bregman has, in our opinion, a remarkable history of deception and what—in any other setting—would be seen as criminal conduct. This includes the harboring as an "assistant" a child p**nographer, as well as involving himself in the theft of emails of political opponents. He has also, quite obviously in our opinion, openly lied to the FBI and other law enforcement about all of the above.

Back in 2011-2012 he barely escaped prosecution (along with at least one Republican co-conspirator) while his assistant was sentenced to federal prison for child p**n, and another co-conspirator served a year in federal prison for stealing emails.

Yeah, Sam met with both of them—many times—helping to coordinate the leaks of Governor Martinez’s personal emails to the media.

The federal court appeared to be fairly openly skeptical that charges were not brought against Bregman and one other of his co-conspirators. This of course raises questions about integrity within the legal circles Bregman runs in.

In any case, now Bregman has been caught lying over and over again about his opponent in the Democratic Primary for governor—claiming that Deborah Haaland flew on the famous Epstein airplane.

We are no fans of Haaland, and it’s very possible she may lack competence in many respects. But so does Bregman—in spades. AND—and this is an important distinction: to our knowledge, Haaland is not a big fat liar. Which Bregman is.

To our knowledge, Haaland has not gotten herself involved in conspiracies to steal emails from political opponents and leak them to the press. Bregman has.

We are amused by the current campaign perennial candidate Sam Bregman is running—holding himself out to be a cowboy, a westerner, a solid citizen, an honest man, and an intelligent, hardworking, law-abiding citizen.

He is none of those things. Okay, maybe he’s a citizen. He moved to New Mexico from Washington, DC where he was born and raised. Then he started running for office.

He first ran for Commissioner of Public Lands in a Democratic primary against Ray Powell. Bregman got 25% of the vote. Then he ran for mayor of Albuquerque. He finished fourth. Then he ran for the Democratic nomination for Congress in CD1. He got beat again. Finally, a couple of years ago, he got Governor Grisham to appoint him to an office—District Attorney for Bernalillo County. (Bad idea.)

In that office, he’s done nothing to stop the rampant crime in Bernalillo County, which leads the nation in car theft and is in the top 10 in almost every area of violent crime. In fact, arguably, things have gotten worse.

Bregman started his campaign trying to act as though he is a “moderate,” which is something he’s never been—probably because he was motivated to be able to secure $500,000 in contributions from misguided oil and gas interests and possibly other Republicans.

Then, he realized he had screwed up. Advisors warned him that, as his posturing became known, his deception wouldn’t really gain him many votes in the predominantly Woke Democratic primary.

So, he quickly jumped back to his more true nature—he then started running about $1 million dollars worth of ads bragging to everyone about how he would "arrest ICE agents," and not cooperate at all with law enforcement when it comes to illegal migrants.

In other words, he made it known that he is just as Woke as Haaland and the mainstream of the Democratic Party.

All he accomplished was to reinforce his entire political profile—which is that of a deceiver, a thief, and a liar.

No, we are not enthusiastic about Deb Haaland. Not by any stretch. But she’s no Sam Bregman. And Sam Bregman is no New Mexican. He deserves to be buried in a landslide. We hope that happens.

04/26/2026

DEMOCRATS and MEDIA NEED TO STOP—As we just learned from AI—Check this out:

Here at NMPJ, we just now posed this question to Artificial Intelligence:

“If your constant message, every single day,
several times a day, from multiple sources, for
3,965 consecutive days, is that one specific
individual is ‘Hi**er,’ ‘Totalitarian,’ ‘a ra**st,’ a
‘pe*****le,’ and “a traitor,’ could that inspire one or
two people out of a population 340,000,000?”

Here’s what AI told us:

Based on psychological theories, media studies, and research on disinformation, a consistent, long-term campaign of extreme, targeted accusations (e.g., comparing an individual to Hi**er, claiming he is a pe*****le, ra**st, and traitor) daily for over a decade (3,965 days) could highly likely inspire one or two people out of a population of 340 million to take extreme action.

▪️From the National Institutes of Health (NIH):

▪️Key Findings on Why This Inspires Action:

▪️THE ILLUSORY TRUTH EFFECT

Repeatedly hearing a statement makes it easier to process, which the human brain interprets as a sign of truth, regardless of whether the statement is factually correct.

Research shows that even false statements, when repeated, become perceived as increasingly true over time. �
▪️STOCHASTIC TERRORISM/RADICALIZATION

While most people will not act, high-frequency extremist messaging directed at a specific target increases the likelihood that a small number of volatile individuals will believe the accusation and take action, even if the influencer does not directly tell them to do so. �
▪️PROCESSING FLUENCY

The sheer volume of 3,965 days (over 10 years) of repeated accusations means the messaging becomes part of the informational landscape for consumers.

As cognitive load increases, individuals often rely on this "processing fluency" rather than critically analyzing the information.�
▪️HIGH VOLUME REPETITION

Studies in cognitive science suggest that while the largest increase in perceived truth comes from hearing a statement for the second time, continued, long-term exposure keeps the falsehoods active and believable to a segment of the audience. �
▪️ TARGETED EXTREMISM

Given a population of 340 million, even a minuscule probability of influencing someone—far less than 0.0001%—could result in one or two individuals choosing to act on the misinformation.

▪️ CONCLUSIONS ▪️�
In summary, the combination of extreme accusations, relentless daily repetition over many years, and a massive population makes it statistically and psychologically plausible that at least one or two people would be moved to extreme behavior.

After all, if there is an individual who is:
▪️a Hi**er clone
▪️a proven totalitarian
▪️a child-molesting ra**st
▪️intent on destroying the US Constitution
▪️destroying the very foundations of American
democracy and our way of life
▪️actively planning concentration camps for people
who disagree with him

Is it not every citizens duty to be part of eliminating this individual?

The Democrats and their ardent, extremely committed allies throughout American media must stop. They must try to move themselves back to a time when normal behavior and normal rhetoric was, well, “normal.”

And responsible leaders in both the Democratic Party and the mainstream media—if there are any anywhere—must step forward and say “enough.”
___________________________
MS NOW ABC News CBS News NBC News The New York Times Washington Post Bloomberg

04/21/2026

VIRGINIA REDISTRICTING & CONTROL of CONGRESS

We have no idea how the Democrat Party can possibly lose their scheduled “plebiscite” being held today in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

It would be a miracle surpassing that of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team if Virginia voters were to decide to vote down the Democrats’ power grab, regardless of its iniquity.

After all, the Democrats managed to compose the question being put to the voters as one of voting for or against “fairness.”

Who is going to vote against fairness?

The Democrats are beyond aggressive—they’ve admitted to everyone that they will immediately change the Virginia congressional delegation from one which currently has 6 Democrats and 5 Republicans to a “more fair” lineup of 10 Democrats and 1 Republican.

This will result in a net gain of 4 Democrat seats — enough to change the U.S. House of Representatives
from Republican control to Democrat control just by itself. Never mind the coming wave of Democrat gains this fall—likely to be 25 or 30 seats, possibly even more.

The country is going to hell in a hand basket, largely because of the influence of the mainstream media, but also in no small part due to Donald J. Trump’s personality quirks and the extreme narcissism over which he, apparently, has no control whatsoever.

We continue to support his policies, which are wise, long-needed corrections of tragically dumb policies of the past.

Unfortunately, however, Trump’s careless remarks and bizarre tweets and social media antics cause the muddled middle of the voting public (the 8% or so who actually decide elections) to focus on that sort of silliness rather than the serious public policy questions that will determine our nation’s future.

Brace for impact.

03/29/2026

ANOTHER “NO KINGS DAY” in ROSWELL
BIGGER TURNOUT THAN in JANUARY

Probably due to better weather: 67° v. 29°

ROSWELL—Anti-Trump organizers claimed their turnout peaked at 116 protesters sometime between 11:00 and 1:00 PM –probably around noon today—enjoying Roswell’s pleasant, balmy 67°.

(We counted 59 when we showed up at 1:30 to interview the friendly crowd.)

However many there were, it was quite a turnaround from the lonely 9 who showed up to brave the uncomfortable 29° weather on the 31st of January.

Whichever number (59 or 116) is closer to an accurate count, it continues a generally downward trend, from the 148 protesters last October 18th and the 215 in the warm weather of 14 June 2025.

We interviewed about 20 folks—some from as far away as Artesia and Carlsbad—with everyone being pleasant, approachable, and engaging, as are we of course.

Apparently, the folks from Eddy County were unable to find enough dedicated Democrats for a demonstration, so they were forced to drive 45 and 80 miles respectively to a “more liberal” hangout like Roswell, so their voices could be properly heard.

But if you have to come to Roswell as your chosen “progressive” venue, well, you’re pretty hard up for a gathering spot for leftwing sentiment.

One couple who’d driven all the way from
Seagraves, Texas (137 miles) let us know we “should be happy” (apparently for the economic benefit we will enjoy) that “Texas just banned the sale of all smokeable h**p products,” beginning just three days from now.

As usual, the crowd was largely Anglo, semi-elderly to full-blown elderly. There were perhaps two or three Hispanics, no blacks, no Asiatics or Pacific Islanders, and no American Indians. There were about a half dozen folks under 50.

Traffic was moderate, with quite a bit of honking—though it’s often hard to determine if the honking is supportive or an expression of annoyance.

We did see one pickup (a dually) stop and ask protesters why they weren’t at work—they were obviously unsupportive of the event.

(But it must also be noted that it was a Saturday—so the pickup folks were probably just frustrated and didn’t think about that aspect.)

Our informal poll found virtually 100% of attendees expressing support for Deb Haaland for Governor. No one said anything favorable about Sam Bregman
—despite his recent $500,000 expenditure on ads telling Democrats and Occupy Democrats that he will “resist ICE, arrest ICE agents, prosecute them, put them in jail,” and continue the Democrats’ “sanctuary state” policies.

Bregman’s pandering to try to assure his fellow Democrats that he’s “Woke,” apparently did not pe*****te very deeply.

PERSPECTIVE

Once again to put things in perspective, about 55,000 people live within or just outside the city limits of Roswell. In the 2024 general election, the major party vote for Chaves County was:

Trump 15,894 (73%)
Harris 5,941 (27%)

We are reasonably sure that wildly enthusiastic rallies took place in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Las Cruces, though it’s been shown that those rallies do in fact have many paid agitators.
_______________
Marianne Hook

Address

P. O. Box 96
Roswell, NM
88202

Telephone

+15756262876

Website

http://www.newmexicopoliticaljournal.com/

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