NM Democratic delegates rally behind Harris

‘She will get the job done,’ congresswoman says

President Joe Biden handily won New Mexico’s primary election earlier this year, and most of the state’s delegates who were pledged to him are starting to coalesce around Vice President Kamala Harris to take the top of the ticket.

New Mexico’s presidential delegates will represent the state at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month.

They will elect the next Democratic nominee for U.S. president and vice president, and determine the national party’s platform when the DNC takes place Aug. 19 through 22.

New Mexico has 45 delegates, and three alternates.

In the 24 hours following Biden’s announcement that he won’t seek reelection, high-ranking elected officials in the Democratic Party of New Mexico released statements backing his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for president.

New Mexico’s 11 automatic delegates, according to party rules, include DNC members who live in the state, and any Democrats elected to be U.S. president, vice president, governor, members of Congress, and other distinguished party leaders.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham joined every Democratic governor in the U.S. and endorsed Harris on Monday morning, calling her the “party’s most effective voice in the fight to restore reproductive health care rights.”

“A former prosecutor, Vice President Harris is best equipped to make the case against convicted felon Donald Trump,” Lujan Grisham said.

New Mexico’s entire Congressional delegation endorsed Harris on Sunday afternoon.

Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez said Harris “will bring renewed energy, unity and vibrancy to this race.”

“She will get the job done,” Fernandez said of Harris.

DPNM Chair Jessica Velasquez and Vice Chair Manny Crespin endorsed Harris on Sunday evening.

“From Attorney General of California, U.S. Senator, and Vice President, Kamala Harris’ resume speaks volumes to her qualifications,” they wrote in a news release. “New Mexico Democrats believe our Party’s best days are ahead of us and are thrilled to do our part to make Kamala Harris the first woman and Asian-American President of the United States.”

With Biden watching, Harris on Monday gave a speech from Wilmington, Delaware to staff to kick off the run, setting the tone she will take on against Trump.

“They lead to inequality and economic injustice, we are not going back,” Harris said.

She also said she wants to pass gun safety measures like red-flag laws and mandatory background checks for new gun purchases. Reproductive health measures in her speech offered a stark contrast to Trump.

“The government should not be telling a woman what to do with her body,” Harris said.

“In the next 106 days we have work to do, we have doors to knock on, we have phone calls to make, and we have an election to win,” she said.

Harris’ running mate not yet known

Twenty-three of New Mexico’s delegates were elected at three district-level party conventions in June.

John Dyrcz, of Albuquerque, is a delegate for Congressional District 1. He is supporting Harris. He said he doesn’t have a preference for a vice presidential running mate but said, “we need somebody who can blunt the things that J.D. Vance might bring to the Republican ticket.”

He suggested someone from a Rust Belt or Appalachian state, like North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper or Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, for example.

Augustine Montoya, of Torrance County, is a delegate for the same congressional district. He is supporting Harris. He said he has no opinion on a vice presidential nominee, but he trusts Harris to pick one.

Montoya said LGBTQ+ rights are essential to any platform, and he wants to bring that message to the DNC in Chicago and back to rural New Mexico.

CD3 delegate Isaac Dakota Casados, of Santa Fe, is also the New Mexico Democratic Party secretary. He endorsed Harris along with the party’s other executive officers.

New Mexico’s seven at-large delegates, along with the three alternates, are determined by the results of the statewide primary vote and were elected by county-level delegates at the DPNM post-primary state convention in June.

At-large delegate Rayellen Smith, of Albuquerque, is also the state party’s treasurer, and she endorsed Harris along with the party’s other officers.

New Mexico’s four pledged party leaders and elected official delegates, according to party rules, include big city mayors and statewide elected officials, state legislative leaders, state lawmakers, and other elected officials and party leaders at the state and local levels.

One of them is Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller, a former state senator.

“I look forward to the opportunity to play a role in this historic and important process,” he said. “With so much on the line for our families, I’m grateful for the opportunity to help shape the direction of our country at this critical moment.”

Editor Shaun Griswold contributed reporting to this story.

Austin Fisher is a journalist based in Santa Fe. He has worked for newspapers in New Mexico and his home state of Kansas, including the Topeka Capital-Journal, the Garden City Telegram, the Rio Grande SUN and the Santa Fe Reporter. Since starting a full-time career in reporting in 2015, he’s aimed to use journalism to lift up voices that typically go unheard in public debates around economic inequality, policing and environmental racism.