Gonzales enters race for lt. gov.
Mayors says position would allow him to advocate for early childhood education, renewable energy and film production.
Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales announced Saturday that he will run in the state’s Democratic primary race for lieutenant governor.
“It’s an incredible opportunity to advocate and pursue a broad range of policies that have realworld implications for New Mexico families,” Gonzales told The New Mexican, citing issues such as early childhood education, renewable energy and diversifying the economy through film production.
“It puts you in a strategic position to not only advocate for these policies,” he said, “… but to interface with the state Legislature to see those policies are enacted.”
The news of Gonzales’ bid for lieutenant governor came just days after he said he was considering entering what has become a crowded race. His decision to campaign for office also is a turnabout for the mayor, who announced three months ago that he would not seek re-election in March, when voters will choose Santa Fe’s first full-time mayor, because he wanted to spend more time with his daughters.
On Saturday, Gonzales said he talked over the issue with his two daughters — one who attends college in Southern California and the other a student at the Academy for Technology and the Classics — and decided that it was “the right thing to do.”
In a YouTube video announcing his decision, which Gonzales posted on social media Saturday evening, he speaks of his success in closing a $15 million city deficit without raising taxes, reducing veteran homelessness in the city and creating 2,000 new jobs.
“Our state needs a new path,” he says in the video, “One that leads to good-paying jobs, a strong public education system that invests in kids so they can stay and raise their families right here in New Mexico.”
Asked about his failed effort to tax sugary beverages to pay for an expansion of early childhood education programs, with voters overwhelmingly casting ballots against the measure, Gonzales said, “People told me early childhood education was a priority, but the source for revenues we proposed … was just not the right one.
“I heard loud and clear not to give up that fight … and to take that fight to a statewide focus,” he added.
His past experience working in both the city and county governments has taught him that people want to supIt’s
port political leaders who say they are going to do something and then set out to do it — even if they fail, Gonzales said.
He joins a growing field of Democratic contenders for lieutenant governor that includes Eagle Nest resident and teacher Jeff Carr, Doña Ana County Commissioner Billy Garrett, former House Majority Leader Rick Miera, state Sen. Howie Morales, D-Silver City, and Rio Rancho resident David McTeigue, who works as a juvenile probation officer.
State Sen. Michael Padilla of Albuquerque dropped out of the race earlier this month amid mounting outcry over years-old harassment lawsuits against him.
Former state party Chairman Brian Colón, who recently ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Albuquerque and ran for lieutenant governor in 2010, said he is considering jumping into the race.
The GOP field is much narrower. So far, the only candidate is Michelle Garcia Holmes, who also was an unsuccessful mayoral candidate in Albuquerque. Garcia Holmes previously was an independent, but has changed her voter registration to Republican.
Richard Ellenberg, chairman of the state Democratic Party, said the number of Democratic candidates in the race “means that Democrats are really energized. … People are thinking it’s a good time to run for office.”
The six contenders are “a good group of people,” he said, “and from my perspective as party chair, whoever comes out of that field is going to be a strong candidate.”
Although voters elect the governor and lieutenant governor on the same ticket in the general election, the candidates for those offices run separately in primary elections, which will take place in June.
Lieutenant governor is a position that comes with a small staff, a salary of $85,000 a year and few responsibilities — except when the state’s chief executive is out of the state or during the legislative session, when the lieutenant governor presides over the Senate.
The position has rarely served as a stepping stone to higher office in the state. Only a few lieutenant governors have gone on to serve as governor since New Mexico gained statehood.
Gonzales, who has long harbored political ambitions, said it’s too early to discuss a run for governor down the line.
The city’s first openly gay mayor, Gonzales has continually advocated for LGBT and immigrant rights. Earlier this year, he received national news coverage for his defiance of Republican President Donald Trump’s executive order to revoke federal funding for socalled “sanctuary cities” that refuse to use their own resources to help federal agencies identify and detain unauthorized immigrants.
Gonzales first drew political attention when he won a seat on the Santa Fe County Commission at the age of 27. He also served as the first Hispanic president of the National Association of Counties and as chairman of the state Democratic Party.
A 1984 graduate of Pojoaque High School, he earned an accounting degree at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. His father, the late George Gonzales, served as mayor of Santa Fe from 1968-72.
Javier Gonzales’ term as mayor ends in mid-March. While he will spend much of his time in the next few months working to clarify the new ranked-choice election system that voters will encounter in the March 6 municipal election, he said, he also plans to start traveling the state to listen to residents’ concerns and ideas.
Though he is not as wellknown in the southern part of New Mexico as he is in Santa Fe, he doesn’t see that as a concern.
“This is New Mexico,” he said. “People are friendly and they are welcoming and they are caring and compassionate people.”