9-09-2023 4:51pm

Otero County NM Republicans and Democrats a National Lesson

Chris Edwards Editor

Individualism, Open Space and Country. The old West perceived by those on the coastal cities and in the urban areas is a notion of wide-open spaces, rugged individuals, cowboys, horses, bison and deer running the open space and spread far beneath the big, open sky.

New Mexico, especially south of Albuquerque and Santa, is just that: wide pen spaces. For anyone driving the empty high-desert expanse between Albuquerque and Santa Fe can attest, most Westerners live in cities.

In fact, a greater percentage of residents are urban dwellers ; 90%, than anywhere in the country. New Mexico’s population, about 2.1 million residents, is not a whole lot more than it was in 2000. With the exception of the thriving southeast oil patch some refer to as “Little Texas,” most of the meager growth has been in and around its largest cities.

That’s boosted the strength and influence of Democratic-leaning Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Santa Fe at the expense of New Mexico’s rural areas, which tend to vote Republican.

That divide is most visible in counties such as Otero County, New Mexico and towns such as Alamogordo, which was once a political powerhouse of leadership within the state. Otero County, and Alamogordo as the County Seat, hosting the convergence of 3 military bases, the White Sands National Park, the Lincoln National Forest and on the border to El Paso, Texas in the 50's and 60's was at a peak of importance to the state. At that time it was comparable in size to Las Cruces and could have grown to the size of Las Cruces.

However, during the 90's to present there has been a brain drain, jobs drain and with that; extremism has taken hold of leading elements of the Republican Party. The Republican Party of Otero County New Mexico has made the national news over the last few years with characters like Couy Griffin, a former Commissioner removed from office under a 14th Amendment lawsuit. Otero County is deep red Trump Country.

In Otero County, the local Democratic Party is all but dead.

The local chapter of the Democratic Party has been ineffective in placing viable candidates with the rare exception and is so embroiled and embattled with infighting, a state leader claimed that the Otero County Democratic Party is now "dissolved." Their office was shuttered last week, access to state party databases has been revoked and the state ended all local meetings. The local organization once known as DPOC is dead.

Alamogordo and Otero County going into November 2023 municipal elections is a one party town.

The strength of the Republican Party in Otero County and the death of the Democratic Party in Otero County is not typical of the state of New Mexico, and Demographics don't favor Democrats in Otero County? Or do they?

The population shift from rural to urban has boosted the strength and influence of Democratic-leaning Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Santa Fe at the expense of New Mexico’s rural areas, which tend to vote Republican such as Otero County and Alamogordo.

The same political and demographic shift has happened throughout the region of the old West. The country’s urban versus rural political divide dates back more than 150 years, to the Industrial Revolution, with people in cities historically more inclined to vote more liberal.

The question is whether those choosing to live amid the close quarters and diverse populations and cultures of a city are, by nature, more likely to vote Democrat or more liberal or whether living in a city makes an individual become Democratic over time?

Republicans in rural New Mexico and elsewhere haven’t helped themselves in building strength in the urban areas attacking the cities, opposing diversity and adopting a dated message intimating things were better when the West had fewer people. The West of yesteryear was deeply white and the economy was ruled by ranching and industries such as mining and logging. With the exception of ranching in Otero County, New Mexico mining and logging is dead. The military and support services for the military is the business without the government jobs in Otero County it would be poorer and the population would further shrink. However the local Republican Party holds on to the messaging of those jobs from the past and deepens it grasp on those seeking the, "good ole days," and the Democratic Party; statewide is growing, but in Otero County is dead.

The demographic shift of New Mexico in the mid-1990 was the beginning of state Democratic Party strength. New Mexico passed an invisible line and became a majority-minority state.

A substantial Hispanic population has been deeply woven in the state’s culture and politics for centuries. Some families trace their lineage to the 16th century conquistadors. As a result, there isn’t nearly the same degree of animosity toward Mexico and immigrants that fires much of the Republican Party and its political base excepting for the poorer and rural border counties such as Otero County, New Mexico.

But it’s not just the bellicosity of build-a-wall Republicans that puts off many New Mexico voters to the north but it's also the GOP’s messengers, Couy Griffin, Steve Pierce, Yvette Herrell.

These visible leaders are old school white nationalist, in their messaging, (NOTE Herrell is of Native American lineage, yet her rhetoric leans toward and is favored by white nationalist and big oil.) The message of these leaders is out of sync with the diverse population of urban dwellers.

As the Hispanic population expands the proportion increases about 2% every five years in New Mexico. There are few Hispanic's with clout in the Republican Party, their clout has grown along with their population in the Democratic Party. Today, New Mexico has more elected Hispanic officials than any state, most of them Democrats. 45% of New Mexico's Democratic voters are Democrat, 22% Republican and 36% are independent, Green or other.

New Mexico is one of the poorest states in the country. Depending on the survey it’s either first or second, behind West Virginia, in its reliance on federal spending. For every tax dollar sent to Washington in 2022, $3.69 came back to New Mexico. The Republican message of not accepting Federal money does not jive with the reality of New Mexico. There’s not much benefit in New Mexico for urban political leaders to bite the hand that shovels billions each year into Medicaid, food stamps and three major national security labs, the multiple military bases and the national parks and B.L.M. lands, which employ tens of thousands of well paid workers.

Excepting for the Republican Party of Otero County and a few southern counties, New Mexico has become Democratic bedrock, part of a politically crucial base in the reconstituted West.

Today, the congressional delegation is entirely Democratic, (in 2024 CD2 Gabe Vasquez versus Yvette Herrell will be heavily contested.) Excepting for that one position of power. the New Mexico State Democratic party holds all statewide offices and controls the Supreme Court and both houses of the Legislature by significant margins.

The trends of New Mexico and most especially Otero County, New Mexico versus the urban areas, provides a lesson for both parties, upcoming politicians, political and social scientist.