History Made: New Chair Elected for DPOC Youngest in State

A new generation of leadership is stepping into roles within the Democratic Party.  County’s such as Otero County, New Mexico and states such as North Carolina have struggled with wins and positive Democratic results.

Otero County, New Mexico’s Democratic Party has been embroiled in a deep review, with significant soul searching within the party, on how to move forward toward a path of relevance in the sleepy highly conservative military enclave of Otero County, New Mexico. 

Otero County, specifically Alamogordo, is famous for its conservative leanings, known as the cradle of the first atomic bomb tests, and recently has been in the national spotlight due to the political character; Couy Griffin, founder of Cowboys for Trump.

The state of New Mexico is led by Democratic leadership in all 3 branches of state government.

Yet, Otero County is an island of Red, with only one elected Democrat; Alamogordo City Commissioner, Sharon McDonald.

Mrs. McDonald doesn’t get deeply involved in partisanship and works diligently to serve her constituents.  Few pay attention to her party, as she is viewed as a nonpartisan hard worker focused on community and business growth.

The Democratic Party of Otero County recently restructured to comply with state party rules and implemented a ward chair system. The party elects and leadership appoints up to 135 members of its County Central Committee. That CCC was then tasked this weekend with electing a new Chairperson and Vice Chairperson.

The race was contentious creating significant public mud slinging between factions of the old guard verses those considered operating a “coup attempt.” 

The race for chair was a face off of two Latina women as the front runners. A party outsider, Monica Davalos, challenged the party insider, Brianna Martinez, with a war between the factions behind each.

The candidates remained respectful to one another. However, their supporters slung significant mud at one another, and at independents who voiced interest in either candidate. A significant level of anger and distrust was made public via divisive social media posts by the waring factions, which drained on the patience of moderates and those considering membership. 

The election was held within the CCC and Sunday at 4 pm the winners were announced. Brianna Martinez was elected Chairwoman.

Glen Melton was elected Vice Chair.

The party insiders won the race and must now mend fences with the factions at war with each other and rebuild the party brand. 

The election of Brianna Martinez is historic for Otero County and the state of New Mexico as at age 21 Ms. Martinez becomes the youngest county party chair within the state of New Mexico. She also joins only a handful of County Chairs nationwide of such as young age and Latina. 

Nationally, there is a trend forming within the Democratic Party; to toss out the elders of leadership, and to reach to a younger generation of leaders.  The goal of these young leaders is to use technology and grass roots efforts, to retake power, in states or county’s that have consistently delivered loosing results.

North Carolina 

The state of North Carolina made history in March, with the election of Anderson Clayton, as the youngest party chair ever elected in the state, age 25.  Many observers have witnessed North Carolina is becoming more reliably red, given how Republicans succeeded in federal races over the past few cycles, including three consecutive presidential races that all narrowly leaned right. 

North Carolina Democratic State Chair Anderson Clayton Photo by Jenna Williams, Cosmic Media Company

In February, Clayton was elected to a two-year term as the new chair of the state party, ousting first-term chair Bobbie Richardson, 48 years her senior and the first Black person in the role.

The upset made Clayton the youngest state chair of the Democratic Party in the country. Her win came even as Richardson had the backing of the entire state Democratic congressional delegation, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and the Democratic attorney general, Josh Stein, who is running to succeed Cooper.

She became chair of the Person County, North Carolina Democratic Party in 2021 and helped flip control of the local Rockford City Council.

Challenges Ahead:

As the state chair, however, she will face big challenges, as will Briana Martinez, locally in Alamogordo and Otero County, New Mexico.

Both of these bright, dedicated, young women, will have to rebuild a splintered party that is deeply embedded with a tradition of insider maneuvering and bias related to age, gender and experience.

History shows us, these two individuals; one in the state of North Carolina, and the other locally, in Otero County, New Mexico will have to work exceptionally hard. These two young ladies, will not only have beat the odds over the opposing party, but they will have to maneuver around obstacles within their own bureaucracy, in order to deliver positive results. 

AlamogordoTownNews.com asked for a statement from both newly elected local individuals. Vice Chair Elect Melton submitted the following statement:

“Kim and I have been on the road from Colorado all day and just got home. We got the good news on the road!

I want to thank all the members of the DPOC CCC that felt I was the best candidate based on their votes. I want to thank Jeff and Donna Swanson for their incredible efforts and accomplishments leading this party for the last four years, and I sincerely hope Jeff will provide continuity while Brianna, (probably the youngest and brightest Chair in the state) takes the helm.

I wish Monica and Stan the best in their future endeavors. I sincerely hope they will play a role in DPOC going forward to help bring the party together post campaign.

There are many, many others that will be a large part of the decision making process in the upcoming future I want to thank, too.

I look forward to galvanizing our youth and gender diverse democrats to take the reigns and get themselves seen and heard. We must turn back the tide of republicans controlling everything in the county. It may be little by little and bit by bit but that’s how you eat an elephant - one bite at a time!!”

Democratic Party Chair Elect, Brianna Martinez supplied the following statement:

“I’d like to thank all of those who supported me throughout my campaign. I want to thank all of the CCC members for taking part in the Democratic process, and those who voted for me, it is an absolute honor that you felt I could best serve our party. A special thank you to my mother, Monica who was there throughout all of this. Thank you to Jeff and Donna Swanson, who have taught me so much, words can’t express how special you both are to me. Lastly, thank you to my dear friends Denise, Kim, Glenn, Jonece, Matt, Alexis, Jeny, Canon, and so many others who helped me with this journey. Thank you all for supporting me, standing by me, and for having faith in my ability to lead.

I am honored to have the opportunity to serve the Democrats in Otero County. I will work endlessly to get our County on the right track, fulfill our party goals, and promote Democratic Values. 

We have a lot of work to do and we will do it. Our party is full of amazing people, who have so much to offer and we will go far. I am excited to work with everyone, and build our party.

Glenn and I will get to work right away. Our focus will be on education, voter registration, outreach, and overall working to better our community. We will need our fellow Democrats to help us accomplish this, but like always I know they will step up to the task.

Let’s get to work!”

AlamogordoTownNews.com and KALHRadio.org 95.1 FM devoted significant coverage to this election within the minority party of Otero County, New Mexico. We devoted the coverage due to the significant and historic shift in leadership that the election of either Monica Davalos or Brianna Martinez could mean to the local political theater. Congratulations to each for putting a candidacy forward.

At KALHRadio.org 95.1 FM and AlamogordoTownNews.com we wish the best of luck to both Brianna Martinez locally and to Anderson Clayton of North Carolina and to their respective Vice Chairs.

Now the real work begins; the judgement of performance and effectiveness will be written into history, and judged by the press and your constituents; the members of the Democratic Party and the voters. 

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