Courting Lujan Grisham
Remaining candidates seek support of New Mexico governor, who says she’s looking for unifier
New Mexico’s governor has yet to endorse anyone for president, but that doesn’t mean she’s not being courted.
All three major Democratic primary candidates still running have asked for Michelle Lujan Grisham’s endorsement, and one of them reached out “incredibly early” in the race, the governor said Wednesday.
That presidential hopeful, she told
The New Mexican, was former Vice President Joe Biden.
Biden likely asked for Lujan Grisham’s support so early, she said, because of her previous role as chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus during her time in Congress.
Although the governor hasn’t publicly declared support for anyone yet, she did say she would do so “sooner rather than later.”
“I want to see who has got the ability to get the most done for the country and for New Mexico,” she said. “That’s where my interest is in this primary.”
Lujan Grisham does have a history of endorsements relating to Biden and his former boss, President Barack Obama — although she was previously on the receiving end. Both Obama and Biden endorsed her in New Mexico’s 2018 gubernatorial race.
An endorsement from New Mexico’s first female Hispanic Democratic governor could be helpful to one of the remaining presidential candidates, particularly as the race for the nomination has become tighter after this week’s Super Tuesday primary contests.
Biden, who surged to win 10 states Tuesday, led Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders 509-449 in the delegate count as of Wednesday evening, according to CNN.
New Mexico’s Democratic primary is in early June, and it’s possible Biden or Sanders could have a decisive edge by that time. But with the race so fluid — Biden’s campaign seemed to be in trouble only a week ago — support from influential state leaders will become even more important. And though New Mexico has only five electoral votes, it has long been eyed as a key target for both parties.
As recently as Tuesday, at an event in Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump predicted he would win the state. He held a campaign-style event in Rio Rancho in the fall.
New Mexico governors previously have made waves with their endorsements. Former Gov. Bill Richardson gave a controversial endorsement of Obama in 2008, snubbing Hillary Clinton. The move upset the Clinton camp, with James Carville, a former adviser to President Bill Clinton, calling Richardson “Judas.”
Richardson said six years later the former president was still “mad” and had not forgiven him. Richardson did, however, endorse Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race.
Lujan Grisham’s support will be important for the Democratic contenders if none of the candidates wins a majority of pledged delegates and superdelegates are called on to vote at the party’s national convention in Milwaukee. As the state’s Democratic governor, Lujan Grisham is a superdelegate, also called an “automatic delegate,” according to the state Democratic Party’s selection plan for the national convention.
Whether as an automatic delegate or endorser, the governor said she’s looking for a candidate who is focused on bringing unity to a sharply divided nation.
“I want to know about a candidate who is going to work to bring unity and find more things that we have in common, not less,” the governor said at a news conference Wednesday. “When we talk about who’s going to support the more progressive candidate and who’s going to support the more moderate candidate, we get further away from those aspects.
“What we need to be doing — where I would cast my convention vote or if and when asked again about endorsing by the candidates directly,” she added, “[is that] they have to ensure me they have to bridge these divides.”
I want to know about a candidate who is going to work to bring unity and find more things that we have in common, not less.”
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham