Unpleasant Truths: A 2026 blue Tsunami In New Mexico Could Be A Disaster

Sent to newspapers 9/18/2026

The New Mexican hamster wheel

Early voting for the 2026 elections starts in less than three weeks and from a state perspective, it seems like nothing is changing.

Democrats maintain a stranglehold on the state with no record of success, but plenty of grift and bullying. Republicans remain mired in their own cliques and inertia and inability to rally around proven winning candidates.

This is my fourth election cycle writing this column and man, this script is getting old.

Unpleasant Truth #1: Unlimited power invites unlimited corruption.

This summer continues to out  Democratic state legislators who feel that rules are for other people. After the embarrassing reports of Rep. Joseph Hernandez of Shiprock getting into it with Chicago police when found drunk and naked in a hotel hallway, and Rep. Andrea Romero of Santa Fe chairing the Truth Commission, then taking a job with it as its attorney before finally resigning the job (but not her chair position or her House seat), we now have an ethics complaint filed against the Senate Finance Committee chair.

Senator George Muñoz of Gallup is accused of contacting a district engineer at the Department of Transportation to get an adjustment favoring his son’s paving company. Muñoz claims to not remember making the call, which is documented in emails from DOT employees.

I do work for state agencies. Let me tell you – before any work begins, I have to sign a disclosure form regarding relatives in elected office or in state government. The state is serious about this, even if Muñoz and his caucus are not. I believe the state employees who were likely quite unnerved by the call and wished to document it.

Unpleasant Truth #2: We have a female majority in the legislature because the trial lawyers want that.

I really want to support candidates standing for the legislature. It’s expensive, time-consuming and personally painful as your personal life and record are torn apart by your opponent. I think serving in the legislature is one of the highest forms of public service.

It is not a service to your constituents if you are beholden to out-of-state private interests. And New Mexico has a trial lawyer problem. We are known for some of the highest jury awards in the nation, particularly in the First Judicial District. This results in “venue-shopping” where out-of-state law firms come here for class-action suits.

Senator Joseph Cervantes, a Las Cruces Democrat, led a case in the First Judicial District that resulted in a $165 million judgment against FedEx in 2023, one of the largest motor vehicle liability awards in the nation. Cervantes is also chair of the Senate Judiciary committee, responsible for shaping tort liability, medical malpractice caps, and court funding. This is most likely, or absolutely, positively, a conflict of interest.

Retiring Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth of Santa Fe has aided and abetted the trial lawyer lobby in his own right. This year, he co-sponsored Senate bill 35, to add a judgeship to the First Judicial District, citing a backlog of cases. Well, yes.

Searchlight New Mexico found that included in the First Judicial District’s backlog were several multi-million-dollar lawsuits brought by Cervantes and Wirth in their private capacities. SB 35 passed the Senate unanimously, with both Cervantes and Worth adding their “yes” votes without recusal.

But back to the Ladies of the Legislature. Over the last 15 years or so, there has been a groundswell of progressive women being elected to the Legislature. Most of them complete campaign school courtesy of Emerge NM. Emerge NM is the state offshoot of Emerge America, a progressive nonprofit focused on getting women into office.

I am for women getting into office. I’ve been to campaign school – sponsored by the Republicans. It’s always interesting to see who comes to speak and looking up who is paying them. Because someone is always paying them.

Among Emerge NM’s largest donors is the NM Trial Lawyers Association, besides the massive dump of dark money it gets from the North Fund. It also receives money from the American Federation of Teachers, and NM law firms.

If you wonder why it took so long to get medical malpractice reform passed here, you can look to Emerge. Their graduates were under immense pressure to stop any reform.

As a friend noted at breakfast last week, wouldn’t it be great if someone out there was dumping money into a non-profit to get moderate business leaders elected?

Unpleasant Truth #3: Don’t look to RPNM to fix this anytime soon.

Oh, boy. Republican Party of New Mexico. If you could just decide you don’t have to love a Republican statewide candidate to support them. Things could be so different. Gregg Hull could be a great governor. But he’s not from the south, or from the oil patch, so RPNM just doesn’t care. And the likely donors are not very interested.

Then we have this guy running for the CD2 seat which should be fairly manageable because incumbent Gabe Vasquez is no great shakes. But we’ve got this campaign that makes Greg Cunningham look like he’s a MAGA trial lawyer prepping for an MMA match. (Unpleasant Truth #3.5: MAGA doesn’t win in New Mexico. It just doesn’t. Old School Western Republican Stuff does. Think Joe Skeen, Manuel Lujan. More John McCain, less Lauren Boebert.)

For the two statewide races that are competitive, the GOP has one credible candidate, but donors are sitting on their checkbooks. Can Hull win without a ton of cash? Maybe, if he gets enough Albuquerque metro votes.

Albuquerque voters may have a little incumbent fatigue with Democrat Tim Keller into his third term and no visible change to homelessness, and a Democrat-majority school board and our public schools in freefall. Comparatively, Rio Rancho is thriving. If Hull can draw these comparisons (“hey, Albuquerque, the Rio Rancho city council doesn’t have to appropriate funds to clear human waste from business premises…”) he could draw enough urban votes to build a majority with the rural votes he is likely to get.

I’d sure like to see a break from the relentless treadmill of partisan dysfunction in New Mexico. Maybe a highly competent mayor – Gregg Hull – can shake free of the torpor that grips our electorate and eke out a win. He’s challenged not just by the state landscape but also by a national one where the national GOP brand is at an all-time low.

If you take anything away from this column, please remember that New Mexico isn’t like the rest of the country. We have a problem with government corruption in our state and it is not the Republicans. We can’t let our distaste for the current White House prevent us from voting for local Republicans if our local Democrats are supporting corrupt practices.

Voting a straight Democratic ticket in a revenge vote because Trump is making you mad might feel good at the time. But by the time the Legislature recesses next March, you might be sorry.

Merritt Hamilton Allen is an executive and former Navy officer. She appeared regularly as a panelist on NM PBS and is a frequent guest on News Radio KKOB. A Republican for 36 years, she became an independent upon reading the 2024 Republican platform. She lives amicably with her Democratic husband north of I-40 where they run one head of dog, and one of cat. She can be reached at merritt@merrittocracy.news.