Submitted by state Rep. Stefani Lord, Sandia Park
New Mexicans are beginning to ask – why our state is ranked last in the nation in every important category (from education, to crime, addiction, and child welfare); and why isn’t their legislator proposing solutions to fix these problems? Both are fair questions.
The answer partially lies in who governs New Mexico now versus who governed us in the past. It was not that long ago that moderate Democrats like Gov. Bruce King and Speaker Ben Lujan were in charge. Love them or not, it is hard to deny they loved New Mexico, and they represented the majority view of New Mexicans. They won elected offices because they understood the pulse of the people and advocated for public policy proposals that were typically based on long-standing traditional New Mexico values. Those values — believing in the family, hard work, and faith — were supported by Republicans and Democrats.
Yet, there is a reason why New Mexico has become one of the late-term abortion capitals of the country, has put menstrual products in boys bathrooms in public schools, has allowed “sex altering” surgeries for minors, has increased taxes at a time of record budget surpluses, has made getting a doctor’s appointment nearly impossible by changing medical malpractice laws, has created a “catch and release” criminal justice system, has removed qualified immunity for law enforcement officers, has changed the Election Code to allow felons to vote, and has adopted some of the most restrictive gun laws nationally. The reason — progressive Democrats and their activist allies now have a stranglehold on our state.
If you are a typical New Mexico voter, I bet you’re saying to yourself: “I never voted to support any of that stuff.” But the candidates who may have been receiving your votes strongly support these progressive ideas. It’s no accident progressives are dominating elected offices. There is an organization that has been in operation in New Mexico for almost 20 years and its singular mission is to elect progressive “women and non-binary” people to the Legislature – it’s called Emerge New Mexico.
At first glance, most people would ask what’s wrong with an organization that supports women candidates. However, Emerge isn’t helping all female candidates; the organization only helps women and others who are true believers of the progressive left’s ideology. In other words, Emerge New Mexico may be selling diversity, but diversity of thought is strictly prohibited. I would describe such an organization as being anti-New Mexico as they do not share the traditional values of our families.
Emerge responds to this criticism with “we support Democrat candidates,” but in reality, they don’t support moderate or conservative Democrats. The last time I checked, most Democrats in New Mexico support the 2nd Amendment, support privately owned small businesses, support parental rights, support responsible government spending, support the oil and natural gas industry, and believe in the exceptionalism of our country. I can assure you, if you are a Democrat who believes in any of these traditional ideals, Emerge would politely say “we cannot help you.” Just ask the dozen (or so) moderate legislators who have recently lost elections to Emerge candidates and Emerge’s out-of-state donors.
The progressive-socialist ideas of Emerge candidates are why New Mexico is often graded as one of the worst states in the nation. The Democratic party of Bruce King and Ben Lujan has been hijacked by Emerge. Today moderate Democrats are almost nonexistent in the Legislature. So, the next time you notice an absurd new law that looks like something California would pass, look no further than your friendly Emerge community organization.