Democrats’ best choice: Michelle Lujan Grisham
Back in 2015, U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham addressed the New Mexico Legislature, as our congressional representatives do occasionally. This was no typical speech, though. It passionately and forcefully made the case that our state government had lost its focus and needed to rededicate itself to rooting out poverty — making clear that Lujan Grisham was ready and able to help.
We were so struck that we wrote an editorial about it, saying, “Grisham, in particular, needs to be heard, as she powerfully distilled the state’s many challenges into one: poverty.”
Her words then remain true today: “‘It’s time that you declare war on poverty in New Mexico. It is time that the New Mexico Legislature flatout declare war,’ ” Lujan Grisham said, reminding everyone that poverty is the underlying issue with every problem in the state. She earned a standing ovation. We continued on about the speech: “It’s the kind of speech she could be making around the state in a few years, should she transfer her political interests from Washington, D.C., to the state level. A second Latina governor, perhaps?” There is no perhaps about it anymore. Lujan Grisham is running to be the Democratic nominee for governor, taking on two talented competitors in the primary race. She is considered the front-runner, but winning always depends on turnout. She has been tested — and that’s how it should be — by opponents Jeff Apodaca and state Sen. Joseph Cervantes. Her supporters should take nothing for granted, whether on June 5 or come November (if she is the nominee) against fellow member of Congress, U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, the presumptive Republican nominee.
In her speech from 2015, Lujan Grisham showed why she is the best choice to win the Democratic primary. She understands what is at stake in New Mexico. We cannot advance until we tackle — and beat — poverty. That is the governor’s challenge. Everything else — improving the economy, boosting education, broadening health care coverage, shoring up infrastructure or reducing prison populations so that people who don’t need to be behind bars can go home — revolves around that single issue.
And yet, there is so much to do for the next governor. (Remember, folks, when you elect antigovernment politicians, they tend to leave a mess behind). The next governor will have to clean up that mess — and, to be fair, many structural challenges are built in that can’t be blamed on anyone.
The judgment in lawsuit against the state Public Education Department could mean that New Mexico must find millions more in funding for schools. The U.S. Supreme Court is weighing in on what, if anything, New Mexico owes Texas in water and money for the way we use water from the Rio Grande. Balloon payments in the financing of the New Mexico Rail Runner Express are coming due.
All of this is out of the control of any governor. What is up to the next one is meeting the challenge. That’s why Democrats must chose a candidate who can best state the case for a progressive, innovative response. Because here’s what is at a stake.
The next governor will have to wrestle with repairing the ineffective New Mexico Children Youth and Families Department, a problem that has bedeviled many governors through the years. Children in New Mexico are being killed by parents, sold into prostitution and otherwise abused and mistreated — yet the adults charged with protecting them have failed. The next governor will have to find the right person to improve this system before any more children die. Whoever the governor is, it’s essential to choose an expert on both child welfare and running a bureaucracy.
We need a governor who understands that being in charge is less about sound bites and a stream of news releases and more about sound policy and solid results. We need a governor who doesn’t mind getting into the weeds on implementing policy (Lujan Grisham went undercover while at the thenstate Agency on Aging to see patient problems firsthand) and who knows how to work with the Legislature to pass thoughtful, smart laws.
We need a governor who is compassionate and competent, someone equipped to lead a large organization. Lujan Grisham’s background as secretary of both the departments of aging and health gives her an edge in understanding not just how laws are passed, but in how agencies actually work — the nuts and bolts of governing, in other words.
We need a governor with sound political instincts, someone who can make the case to the people and lawmakers using persuasion, not bullying. She has been elected to Congress, winning a tough primary, and once there, she has risen to a position of respect as chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. That makes her a national leader on immigration, useful in a border state like New Mexico. She also understands the workings of local governments, having served as a Bernalillo County commissioner. She knows our state, all four corners. Born in Los Alamos, raised in Santa Fe and having traveled to all parts of New Mexico, Lujan Grisham has seen the problems up close and over many decades. She gets the scope and challenge of the job.
To juggle so many competing priorities, New Mexico will need someone who is tested on a variety of fronts. That someone is Michelle Lujan Grisham. She understands poverty isn’t just an issue, it is the issue. She is the Democrats’ best bet to win in November.
For governor in the Democratic primary, The New Mexican endorses