{"id":45893,"date":"2021-07-07T13:34:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-07T19:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/republican-lawmaker-enters-race-for-new-mexico-governor\/"},"modified":"2021-07-07T19:34:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T19:34:00","slug":"republican-lawmaker-enters-race-for-new-mexico-governor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/republican-lawmaker-enters-race-for-new-mexico-governor\/","title":{"rendered":"Republican lawmaker enters race for New Mexico governor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"House
House Republican Caucus Chair Rebecca Dow of Truth or Consequences talks during a legislative session March 20 in Santa Fe. Dow says she'll seek the Republican nomination for governor of New Mexico in next year's election. The Truth or Consequences resident made the announcement Wednesday, becoming the fifth Republican looking to unseat Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. (Morgan Lee\/Associated Press file)<\/span>Morgan Lee<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ALBUQUERQUE \u2013 State Rep. Rebecca Dow announced Wednesday that she will seek the Republican nomination for governor of New Mexico in next year\u2019s election, becoming the fifth GOP candidate looking to unseat Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham.<\/p>\n

Dow, who is serving her third term in the Legislature and works as a consultant to early childhood providers, said she\u2019s tired of New Mexico being last when it comes to educational outcomes, child well-being and employment opportunities.<\/p>\n

The state currently has the second highest unemployment rate<\/a> in the U.S. Critics have placed some of the blame on Lujan Grisham for her handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the effects of her public health restrictions on small businesses. Many were forced to close their doors for good over the past year, and the state recently started offering cash incentives<\/a> in an effort to get people back to work.<\/p>\n

Lujan Grisham announced her re-election bid at a June rally in Albuquerque that was derailed by protesters who were mostly upset about her handling of the pandemic, which included some of the nation’s toughest restrictions.<\/p>\n

Dow said during an interview on KKOB radio that her campaign will be a grassroots effort. She also pointed to her ability to win over Democrats in her rural district.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am looking for the everyday New Mexican to join me,\u201d she said. \u201cI don’t care what political party you’re affiliated with \u2013 it\u2019s the people who want to see New Mexico thrive. It\u2019s time,\u201d she said, adding that New Mexico has the potential to do as well as the neighboring states of Arizona and Texas.<\/p>\n

Dow described Lujan Grisham\u2019s policies as radical and said New Mexicans should be allowed to make their own choices.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have rights, we are allowed to take risks and we take personal responsibility,\u201d she said. \u201cThe everyday New Mexican, they’re capable of making informed rational decisions for themselves and for their families. … This governor assumes that we can\u2019t make choices for ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of her campaign, Lujan Grisham is running on her pandemic-related policies, saying they helped to save lives. She also has touted the approval of tax breaks for working families, increases in spending on public education and legalization of recreational marijuana during her first term.<\/p>\n

Other Republicans seeking the GOP nomination for governor include former congressional candidate Karen Bedonie, investment adviser and West Point graduate Greg Zanetti, Sandoval County Commissioner Jay Block and retired teacher Tim Walsh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Republican Caucus Chair Rebecca Dow of Truth or Consequences talks during a legislative session March 20 in Santa Fe. Dow says she'll seek the Republican nomination for governor of New Mexico in next year's election. The Truth or Consequences resident made the announcement Wednesday, becoming the fifth Republican looking to unseat Democratic Gov. Michelle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45894,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[815],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-45893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-associated-press-new-mexico"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45893"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=45893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}