Quick Reads

Bernalillo County District Attorney Raúl Torrez wins Attorney General race

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Democrat Raúl Torrez won the New Mexico Attorney General’s race, leading easily over Republican Jeremy Michael Gay according to unofficial election results as of 10:45 p.m.

New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas termed out so the Attorney General race was open in 2022. Torrez defeated Brian Colón, who is the current state auditor, in the Democratic primary. 

Torrez is currently serving as Bernalillo County District Attorney. He won Bernalillo County by 61 percent of the vote as of 10:45 p.m.

Torrez was not available for comment Tuesday night but through a news release, that he is “honored and humbled” by the win. “Nasha and I want to thank every single person who helped this campaign and supported my vision for New Mexico. I want to thank Jeremy Gay for stepping up to run for elected office and serve the people of New Mexico. 

“This election is just the beginning as we embark on the work to make our state a safer and more prosperous community for the future.

News

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

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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.

2022 elections

Democrats continue to lead in AG, SOS races

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Democrats lead in the key statewide races for attorney general and secretary of state according to a NM Political Report poll conducted by Public Policy Polling. The closer of the two races is the open race for attorney general. The poll find Democrat Raúl Torrez, the current 2nd Judicial District Attorney, leads former  special assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Gay, a Republican, 45 percent to 37 percent, with 18 percent who said they are not sure. This is almost identical to the results of a June NM Political Report poll, when Torrez led 44 percent to 37 percent. The seat is open because incumbent Democrat Hector Balderas is term-limited and cannot run for a third consecutive term.

News

Poll: Lujan Grisham widens lead over Ronchetti

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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.

Jeremy Gay

AG candidate Jeremy Gay’s residency qualifications challenged in court filing

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With about two months left before New Mexico’s general election, a candidate for state attorney general is facing a legal challenge to his candidacy qualifications. On Wednesday, a Bernalillo County resident filed a request asking a Santa Fe state district court judge to order attorney general candidate Jeremy Gay off the ballot. 

James Collie, who served a short stint as a Bernalillo County commissioner, filed a petition with the court alleging that Gay has not lived in New Mexico long enough to qualify as a candidate. 

Collie’s attorney, Ryan Harrigan, wrote in the court filing that voting records from both Florida and New Mexico, as well as Gay’s military records, show that Gay was not a resident of of New Mexico until 2019, about two years shy of what’s required by the New Mexico Constitution to run for public office. 

“Nothing in Mr. Gay’s record suggests that prior to his move to Gallup, New Mexico in 2019, he had established any semblance of a residency in New Mexico,” Harrigan wrote. “Nor is there any evidence that he was part of the New Mexico community or had knowledge of issues affecting the State of New Mexico.”

Among the exhibits Harrigan filed were records that show Gay was registered to vote in Florida from 2008 through 2018 and military records that show Gay was stationed in California as a JAG officer from about 2015 through 2019, just before he was admitted to the New Mexico State Bar. According to Gay’s LinkedIn profile, he attended a boarding school in Pennsylvania and attended college and law school in Florida. 

But Gay’s campaign manager, Noelle Gemmer, dismissed the court filing as a baseless attack on a U.S. military veteran. 

“Jeremy and his family have called New Mexico home since 2014, and his wife was born and raised in Gallup, NM. Jeremy and his family temporarily left NM on active duty orders with the U.S Marines and returned as soon as he entered the Reserve Forces,” Gemmer wrote in a statement.

News

Poll: Lujan Grisham leads Ronchetti by 7 points, Dems lead other statewide races

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A new poll conducted by Research & Polling for the Albuquerque Journal found that incumbent Michelle Lujan Grisham leads her closest opponent by 7 points in the upcoming general election. The same poll found that Democrats have larger leads in the other statewide races this fall. The poll found that Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, has the support of 47 percent of likely voters, while Republican Mark Ronchetti has the support of 40 percent and Libertarian Karen Bedonie has the support of 5 percent. Another 8 percent were undecided. The Journal said that female voters and Hispanic voters are driving Lujan Grisham’s lead in her attempt for reelection.

2022 elections

Torrez wins Democratic Party nomination for attorney general

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Raúl Torrez won the Democratic nomination for state attorney general, defeating Brian Colón. Torrez is a former federal prosecutor whose resume includes attending both Harvard and Stanford universities. He currently serves as the Bernalillo County district attorney—a position he has held for five years—and that county provided him with a healthy advantage. As results came in, Torrez took 57.7 percent of the early and absentee voters in Bernalillo County. 

As the district attorney, Torrez announced last year a memorandum of understanding with the state Indian Affairs Division to form a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives Task Force subunit within the district attorney’s office. Torrez also served as assistant attorney general in 2008 and 2009 where he handled cases of police misconduct and exploitation of children.

News

Debate heats up over pretrial detention

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Jennifer Burrill, a public defender in Santa Fe, said she represented a client in recent years who was jailed for 11 months on a charge of attempted armed robbery until his trial — when jurors acquitted him. “He’s out 11 months of his life,” she said in an interview Monday. “He didn’t have contact with his child for 11 months. He was in jail during COVID for 11 months.” Burrill, who is president-elect of the New Mexico Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, is a critic of House Bill 5, lauded by the governor and some lawmakers as an effort to rein in rising rates of violent crime.

Fair and Just Prosecution

Bernalillo County District Attorney signs statement that he won’t criminalize abortion care

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Raúl Torrez, Bernalillo County District Attorney, signed a joint statement from elected prosecutors around the country who pledged not to criminalize abortion care. Bernalillo County is home to most of the clinics that provide abortions in the state. An additional clinic exists in both Santa Fe County and Doña Ana County. The statement, produced by Fair and Just Prosecution, a fiscally-sponsored project of a public charity called The Tides Center, stated that the 62 prosecutors who signed it would neither prosecute nor criminalize abortion care. “What brings us together is our view that as prosecutors we should not and will not criminalize healthcare decisions such as these – and we believe it is our obligation as elected prosecutors charged with protecting the health and safety of all members of our community to make our views clear,” according to the statement.

2nd Judicial District Attorney

Bernalillo County DA to halt in-person hearings to protect attorneys from COVID-19

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Starting Monday there will be significantly fewer prosecutors in Bernalillo County’s district court. Raul Torrez, the 2nd Judicial District Attorney, issued a letter to the state Supreme Court Thursday notifying justices that Torrez’s staff will not appear in person to any proceedings that can be done over video conferencing.  

“As of Monday, March 23, 2020, my attorneys and staff will not appear in person for any hearings which can be constitutionally conducted by video conference technology,” Torrez wrote. 

His announcement came days after the state Supreme Court added additional restrictions for court proceedings amid a growing number of positive COVID-19 tests in the state. 

In his letter, Torrez said his office took part in a test video conference with public defenders and a state district court judge. He argued that the test was proof that current technology will allow courts to preserve constitutional rights and public safety. 

“Unfortunately, despite viable technological alternatives, in-person hearings continue to be set for routine matters that do not legally require the physical presence of any of the parties involved,” Torrez wrote. “Courtrooms continue to gather too many people into confined spaces, unnecessarily placing my employees, their families, defendants, court personnel, and the entire community at risk.” 

Torrez’s letter echoed concerns he and others in the justice system sent to the Supreme Court last week. Both the state’s District Attorney’s Association and the Law Offices of the Public Defender issued their own letters to the Supreme Court.