Growing a governor

When we at Searchlight New Mexico asked the four gubernatorial candidates to talk about the well-being of children, we weren’t looking for pro forma policy statements. We wanted to hear about their childhoods. We wanted to understand how those formative years shaped their thinking about what we regard, hands-down, as the most critical issue confronting […]

Growing a governor

When we at Searchlight New Mexico asked the four gubernatorial candidates to talk about the well-being of children, we weren’t looking for pro forma policy statements.
We wanted to hear about their childhoods.

We wanted to understand how those formative years shaped their thinking about what we regard, hands-down, as the most critical issue confronting New Mexico.

How will the next governor approach the intractable problems facing the children and families who call this state home? How will he or she elevate the state from its ignoble ranking — as one of the worst places in America to raise a child?

What parental influence continues to inform their judgment and thus potentially affect the lives of New Mexico’s 500,000 children?

We asked those questions because we believe the very future of this state rests on the health, education and success of its children. The 2018 election for governor is New Mexico’s chance to get it right.

As the Jesuits famously told us, “Give me the child until he is 7, and I’ll give you the man.” Or the woman. In that spirit, we wonder: Who was Jeff Apodoca at age 7? How did Steve Pearce get along with his siblings? Did Michelle Lujan Grisham eat supper with her family every night? What did Joe Cervantes want to be when he grew up?

The candidates’ answers to our questionnaire are thoughtful, often provocative and in some cases disarming in their candor. Who would have imagined that Apodaca, stricken with cancer as a teenager, was among the first New Mexicans given medical marijuana as treatment for the effects of chemotherapy?

It’s clear that in many cases their policies and outlooks grew out of their childhood experiences.

Michelle Lujan Grisham, for instance, says she developed a commitment to public service through watching her parents. Her father, a dentist, worked at one of New Mexico’s first public health dental clinics and continued to practice, providing free care, well into his 80s. Her mother was driven to action after Grisham’s sister developed a brain tumor at age 2 and went blind. Sonja Grisham devoted herself to reforming the New Mexico School for the Blind.

Steve Pearce’s formative years reflect an entirely different experience. In his telling, the family home was “not much more than a converted chicken coop” and his father was “a roustabout” in the southland oil fields. As for Pearce himself, he says he was not “particularly smart or particularly good at anything.”

Of the four candidates running for governor, he is the single Republican. His story offers insight into his deep conservative streak and the belief — intrinsic to many a self-made man or woman — that success is within reach for anyone who’s just willing to work for it.
What a candidate chooses to omit is sometimes as revealing as what he includes. Joe

Cervantes, state senator and lawyer, recalls growing up on the family farm in southern New Mexico, “working the fields from an early age.” He descends from one of the state’s agricultural dynasties: Cervantes Enterprises Inc. produces chiles for some of the most popular hot sauce brands on the market.

Asked how he would convince young adults to remain in New Mexico, he waxes poetic, turning to metaphor about the south’s archetypal tree.

“In its maturation, the pecan tree gives back to the farmer tenfold in its production of pecans, a source of income and well-being for the community,” he writes. “Our children of New Mexico are not much different from this relationship.”

Apodoca has a more practical response to the problem of New Mexico’s brain drain. The son of Jerry Apodaca, the state’s 24th governor (1975-79), he has never before sought public office. The decision to do so arose last summer, he says, when one of his 9-year-old twin sons asked him to do something to stop his friends from moving out of the state.

“I know that for his friends to stop leaving, we need to improve the education system and create meaningful jobs and career paths for children starting in high school,” Apodaca says.

The candidates’ answers illuminate who they are as people, and who they would be as governor. We invite you to read their full responses here.

Searchlight New Mexico is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to investigative journalism. Read more in the Raising New Mexico series at projects.searchlightnm.com/ .

Sara Solovitch can be reached at [email protected].

We're ad free

That means that we rely on support from readers like you. Help us keep reporting on the most important New Mexico Stories by donating today.

Related

Emily’s List endorses seven candidates for Legislature

Emily’s List endorses seven candidates for Legislature

Emily’s List, a nonprofit that supports women candidates and reproductive rights, endorsed seven incumbents facing general election opponents in New Mexico legislative elections. All…
Equality New Mexico endorses 15 legislative candidates

Equality New Mexico endorses 15 legislative candidates

A New Mexico-based LGBTQ rights organization endorsed 15 candidates for state House and Senate seats for the 2024 elections.  Marshall Martinez, executive director of…
Lujan Grisham pocket vetoes two bills

Lujan Grisham pocket vetoes two bills

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham pocket vetoed two bills the legislature passed this legislative session: one changing the Cybersecurity Act and the other concerning law…
BLM announces final methane waste rule

BLM announces final methane waste rule

The federal Bureau of Land Management announced its final methane waste rule on Wednesday. These new regulations clamp down on the practice of venting…
What consumers, farmers should know about the flu impacting dairy cows

What consumers, farmers should know about the flu impacting dairy cows

Migrating birds appear to have caused a virus in dairy cattle that is causing reduced milk production. So far, the disease, which initially started…
Republicans seek to limit national monument designations

Republicans seek to limit national monument designations

Republican-backed legislation in the U.S. Congress would make it harder for the government to designate new national monuments. The proposed Congressional Oversight of the…
Amid new graduation requirements, what do high schoolers want to learn?

Amid new graduation requirements, what do high schoolers want to learn?

By Margaret O’Hara, The Santa Fe New Mexican The main things that bring Brayan Chavez to school every day: Seeing, talking to and engaging with…
Special ed teachers hope lawmakers OK pay raises, admin changes

Special ed teachers hope lawmakers OK pay raises, admin changes

By Margaret O’Hara, The Santa Fe New Mexican Brittany Behenna Griffith has a laundry list of adjectives to describe the ideal special education teacher:…
Lawmakers must find consensus on competing education spending plans

Lawmakers must find consensus on competing education spending plans

By Margaret O’Hara, The Santa Fe New Mexican A challenging task awaits New Mexico lawmakers in the next 30 days: Reconciling three very different…
Health workers fear it’s profits before protection as CDC revisits airborne transmission

Health workers fear it’s profits before protection as CDC revisits airborne transmission

Amy Maxmen, KFF Health News Four years after hospitals in New York City overflowed with covid-19 patients, emergency physician Sonya Stokes remains shaken by…
Lujan Grisham, Biden admin announce $10 million in federal funds for tribes, pueblos

Lujan Grisham, Biden admin announce $10 million in federal funds for tribes, pueblos

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Friday $10 million in funding from the federal American Rescue Plan Act was awarded to six tribal nations and…
Proposal to curb executive powers moves to House Judiciary

Proposal to curb executive powers moves to House Judiciary

The House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee discussed a potential constitutional amendment that seeks to limit the governor’s executive powers. The committee approved…
Senators introduce legislation to aid abortion providers

Senators introduce legislation to aid abortion providers

Sen. Martin Heinrih and other Senate colleagues introduced abortion rights legislation into the U.S. Senate on Thursday. The Abortion Care Capacity Enhancement and Support…
U.S. Supreme Court hears case to restrict access to medication abortion

U.S. Supreme Court hears case to restrict access to medication abortion

The U.S. Supreme Court heard the case about the regulations around mifepristone, one of a two-step regime for abortion medication, on Tuesday. FDA v.…
At stake in mifepristone case: Abortion, FDA’s authority, and return to 1873 obscenity law

At stake in mifepristone case: Abortion, FDA’s authority, and return to 1873 obscenity law

Lawyers from the conservative Christian group that won the case to overturn Roe v. Wade are returning to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday in pursuit…
Senators introduce legislation to aid abortion providers

Senators introduce legislation to aid abortion providers

Sen. Martin Heinrih and other Senate colleagues introduced abortion rights legislation into the U.S. Senate on Thursday. The Abortion Care Capacity Enhancement and Support…
New Mexico Medicaid to cover cost of over-the-counter oral contraception

New Mexico Medicaid to cover cost of over-the-counter oral contraception

New Mexico Medicaid announced on Wednesday that it will cover the cost of Opill, the first oral contraception approved for over-the-counter use. It is…
U.S. Supreme Court hears case to restrict access to medication abortion

U.S. Supreme Court hears case to restrict access to medication abortion

The U.S. Supreme Court heard the case about the regulations around mifepristone, one of a two-step regime for abortion medication, on Tuesday. FDA v.…
San Juan County, Navajo Nation settle redistricting case

San Juan County, Navajo Nation settle redistricting case

The Navajo Nation and San Juan County reached an agreement Monday about commission districts after the tribe alleged that its members were not adequately…
MIT ranks NM elections most well-run in the U.S.

MIT ranks NM elections most well-run in the U.S.

New Mexico’s 2022 election was ranked most well-run in the country by Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Election Data and Science Lab’s Elections Performance Index.…
Emily’s List endorses seven candidates for Legislature

Emily’s List endorses seven candidates for Legislature

Emily’s List, a nonprofit that supports women candidates and reproductive rights, endorsed seven incumbents facing general election opponents in New Mexico legislative elections. All…
Ex-GOP candidate allegedly hired people to kill witnesses in shootings of homes of Democratix politicians

Ex-GOP candidate allegedly hired people to kill witnesses in shootings of homes of Democratix politicians

Republican failed state house candidate Solomon Peña is facing more federal charges, this time on a murder-for-hire scheme.  Peña allegedly tried to hire two…
BLM announces final methane waste rule

BLM announces final methane waste rule

The federal Bureau of Land Management announced its final methane waste rule on Wednesday. These new regulations clamp down on the practice of venting…
U.S. Supreme Court hears case to restrict access to medication abortion

U.S. Supreme Court hears case to restrict access to medication abortion

The U.S. Supreme Court heard the case about the regulations around mifepristone, one of a two-step regime for abortion medication, on Tuesday. FDA v.…

GET INVOLVED

© 2023 New Mexico Political Report