KOB-TV

Polls: Lujan Grisham leads by high single digits in reelection campaign; Dems lead in other key races

By |

Two polls in the final days of the gubernatorial campaign show incumbent Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham with a lead over her Republican challenger, Mark Ronchetti. The Albuquerque Journal’s poll, conducted by Research & Polling, Inc. and long considered the best public polling in New Mexico, showed a lead of 8 points for Lujan Grisham. The poll showed Lujan Grisham with 50 percent, Ronchetti with 42 percent and Libertarian candidate Karen Bedonie with 3 percent. Another 4 percent were undecided in the final days of the election. Meanwhile, a poll for KOB-TV, conducted by SurveyUSA, found a 7 point lead for Lujan Grisham.

News

Poll: Double-digit lead for Lujan Grisham in reelection bid

By |

A poll conducted last week for KOB-TV found incumbent Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham with a large lead over Republican nominee Mark Ronchetti. The poll conducted by SurveyUSA for the Albuquerque-based TV station found that 53 percent of likely voters supported Lujan Grisham, compared to 37 percent for Ronchetti and 3 percent for Libertarian nominee Karen Bedonie. Another 7 percent said they were undecided. This is the largest lead shown of any publicly released poll in the governor’s race so far. A poll conducted for NM Political Report at the tail end of the same week found Lujan Grisham led Ronchetti by 8 percentage points.

News

Poll: Lujan Grisham widens lead over Ronchetti

By |

A new poll conducted by SurveyUSA for KOB-TV found that incumbent Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has a double-digit lead over her Republican opponent, Mark Ronchetti in her reelection campaign. The poll of likely voters found that Lujan Grisham has the support of 48 percent of likely voters, with 36 percent saying they would vote for Ronchetti and 5 percent for Libertarian Karen Bedonie. Another 11 percent would not say or are undecided. The poll found Lujan Grisham had a lead of 59 percent to 26 percent among Hispanic voters, while leading by 18 percentage points among women and 6 percent among men. Men are traditionally more conservative voters.

Asian American Association of New Mexico

Signs of rise in racism against Asians and Asian-Americans

By |

People in the Asian community in Albuquerque say they have seen a rise in discrimination since the outbreak of COVID-19. According to Torri A. Jacobus, managing assistant city attorney for the City of Albuquerque Legal Department Office of Civil Rights, there has not been an increase in reported discrimination against Asians or Asian Americans since the public health emergency response to COVID-19 began. But Kay Bounkeua, executive director of New Mexico Asian Family Center, said that doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Jacobus said through a written statement that the department is aware of a couple of incidents, one that happened to a student at the University of New Mexico and one that happened to an Albuquerque small business owner. Members of the Asian and Asian-American community met with Albuquerque’s Office of Equity and Inclusion, other officials and law enforcement to discuss what happened earlier this week. 

The student was the subject of a racist prank, according to KOB-TV.

Bob Walsh

Poll: Lujan Grisham leads Pearce

By |

A new poll shows Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham has a double-digit lead in the gubernatorial election. The poll, conducted by SurveyUSA for KOB-TV, found Lujan Grisham led Republican nominee Steve Pearce 51 percent to 38 percent, with 3 percent backing Libertarian candidate Bob Walsh. The poll asked likely voters who they would vote for if the election were held today. Lujan Grisham leads both among women—55 percent to 36 percent over Pearce—and men—47 percent to 30 percent over Pearce. The poll shows Walsh with the support of 5 percent of men and 2 percent of women.

Richard Berry

Candidates question value of Mayor Berry’s ‘groundbreaking’ ABQ crime report

By |

The “groundbreaking research” Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry commissioned on crime — the city’s No. 1 issue — may sit on a shelf unused when his successor takes office Dec. 1. Why? The two candidates headed for a mayoral runoff election next month, two-term Republican city councilor Dan Lewis and Democratic state Auditor Tim Keller, said the information about crime concentration likely won’t guide their crime-fighting plans if elected.

2017 Albuquerque Mayoral Election

Money out, Money in: Candidates return money to city contractors, then their owners give

By |

Albuquerque bans contributions to candidates for elective office from businesses or individuals who make money from city contracts, but that doesn’t prevent owners of those companies from giving to candidates in a different way. The practice is on stark display in a recent campaign report filed by mayoral candidate Brian Colón, who returned contributions from several companies with city contracts on September 12 and then accepted contributions from the owners of those companies about a week later. This story originally appeared on the New Mexico In Depth website and is reprinted with permission. Owners are allowed to give as individuals or through other companies they own. In his report filed September 22, Colón showed he had returned contributions from contractors identified previously to him by KOB Channel 4, reported by KOB on September 19.

Albuquerque Newsdesk

Polls show ABQ mayoral race that could be headed towards runoff

By |

Two polls are out on Albuquerque’s mayoral race. And it looks like there will be a runoff, with State Auditor Tim Keller running in the lead. If no candidate receives 50 percent of the vote, voters will then decide between the top two candidates in a November runoff election. The first round of voting takes place on October 3. A KRQE-TV poll released earlier this week showed 22 percent of registered voters would support Keller in next month’s mayoral election.

KOB-TV

Gov injured knee during Utah ski trip

By |

Gov. Susana Martinez injured herself while skiing in Utah this weekend. “On Sunday during some downtime, I hit the slopes and took a spill,” Martinez told NM Political Report in a statement. “I’m getting my knee checked out in the coming days. But all is well. I thought I was a pretty decent skier, but there aren’t too many slopes in southern New Mexico….”

Criminal Justice & Public Safety

DA: Allegations of police tampering with video warrant federal investigation

By |

Kari Brandenburg, the outgoing Bernalillo County district attorney, said Monday a federal “criminal investigation is absolutely warranted” into allegations that Albuquerque Police Department employees have tampered with videos that show police shootings. Brandenburg said Monday in a telephone interview she is sending documentation detailing the allegations to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Albuquerque. This story originally appeared at New Mexico In Depth and is reprinted with permission. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s office would not say Monday whether the agency planned to open an inquiry based on the district attorney’s referral. But spokeswoman Elizabeth Martinez wrote in an email “the Justice Department takes seriously all referrals from state and local prosecutorial authorities.”

The allegations

Reynaldo Chavez, the police department’s former records supervisor, swore out an affidavit as part of an ongoing civil right rights lawsuit against APD in which he alleged that department employees had altered or deleted videos showing the events surrounding two controversial shootings by officers in 2014.