With strong poll ratings and loads of money, first-term Gov. Susana Martinez seems poised to withstand a challenge from the well-known but not-as-well-funded politician hoping to unseat her.
The Republican governor holds a 54 to 36 percent advantage over Democrat Gary King in the latest Research and Polling, Inc., poll published in a copyrighted Albuquerque Journal article on Sept. 14.
The governor’s campaign also dominates King’s in terms of campaign funds. According to information released Sept. 10 by the Secretary of State’s office, Martinez has $3.8 million in the bank while King has only $157,730 in balance for campaign funds.
“She’s the incumbent. She has more resources to bring to bear to this campaign than King,” UNM political science professor Lonna Atkeson said. “All of those factors weigh into to an incumbent advantage going into the general elections.”
The first-term governor was the Doña Ana County district attorney before her gubernatorial win. She spent 25 years as a prosecutor before becoming district attorney in 1996, where she served three terms.
Martinez said on Sept. 10 that New Mexico has made strides under her leadership. She points to her work so far on balancing the state’s budget each year in office and cutting taxes 24 times in order to draw new industries to the state.
As an example, Martinez pointed to the arrival of a Union Pacific rail facility, which had its official grand opening in May. The governor said the $400 million hub brought 3,000 jobs including 600 permanent positions to Santa Teresa.
Her campaign website also touts among her accomplishments the sale of the state’s luxury jet and a 2013 jobs package, a bill passed the Legislature that cut business tax rates from 7.6 percent to 5.9 percent.
“There’s a very crystal-clear choice, and two very different ones: one that will go back to the days of (former Democratic Gov. Bill) Richardson and unwind all the successes we’ve made, or continue to go forward with all the reforms we’ve put in place,” she said.
Martinez said New Mexico’s education has improved under her administration as well, and the state now has the highest high school graduation growth rate in the country. The rate went up 15 percent between 2007 and 2012, rising from 59 percent to 74 percent, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
Yet there’s more to be done in that department as well, she said.
“With education, we have to make sure we’re not pushing kids from one grade to another when they cannot read or do math at the level of that grade because we’re setting them up for failure,” she said. “And that’s not compassionate.”
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Some national pundits have suggested she could be among the potentials for the 2016 ticket as a Republican vice presidential candidate.
J.R. Oppenheim, Priscilla Banuelos and Marcus Jaramillo are journalism students in the Communication and Journalism Department. Oppenheim is also the managing editor at the Daily Lobo. This story first appeared on the New Mexico News Port.
