Still Key Players

Mary Helen Garcia

NMPolitics.net - Group plans to use influence to force bipartisan cooperation. ‘Those who dig in along party lines are not going to be passing legislation this session,’ Cervantes says. Though they weren’t successful in overthrowing Speaker Ben Luján, a group of four Southern New Mexico Democrats who crossed party lines to try to oust the House’s leader still wield a great deal of power in the Roundhouse. Those four – Las Crucens Joseph Cervantes and Mary Helen Garcia, Dona Irwin of Deming, and Andy Nuñez of Hatch – benefit from their willingness to cross the aisle, and from the new reality in the House that it takes fewer rogue Democrats to help Republicans win a fight.

Donna Irwin

 “Voters said they wanted change,” Irwin told NMPolitics.net. “This may be the way to make that happen.” Democrats have long held a large numerical advantage in the House, but not any more. The GOP picked up several House seats in the November election, and there are now 37 Democrats and 33 Republicans. With Nuñez considering becoming an independent, the numbers for Democrats are even less solid. Consider some of the ways in which the four southern lawmakers could influence things: Read full column here:

Still Key Players