Socialist U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is now weighing in on local New Mexico politics, throwing his support behind a progressive Democrat running for the Doña Ana County Commission.
According to the Albuquerque Journal, Sanders, the Vermont independent who twice sought the Democrat nomination for president, endorsed Daisy Maldonado, a Las Cruces Democrat running for an open seat on the county commission. The district includes Mesilla, portions of Las Cruces, and surrounding colonias and agricultural communities, including La Mesa, San Miguel, and Mesquite.
Maldonado was one of 81 candidates across the country included on Sanders’ latest endorsement list, part of his effort to elevate younger left-wing candidates in federal, state, and local races. Sanders recently told the New York Times, “We’re building a movement for the future.”
That “movement” now apparently includes local government races in southern New Mexico.
Maldonado is running on a platform centered around water concerns, pollution, housing, economic opportunity, and government transparency, according to the Journal. Before launching her campaign, she became known as an opponent of Project Jupiter, the massive hyperscale data center being built in Santa Teresa for use by Oracle and OpenAI. The project is backed by a $165 billion industrial revenue bond approved by Doña Ana County commissioners last year — a vote critics have attacked as rushed and lacking transparency.
Her campaign framed the Sanders endorsement as part of “the national conversation about the unchecked expansion of AI infrastructure, the influence of billionaire tech corporations in local government decision-making, and the urgent need for community-centered leadership at every level of government.”
In other words, the race has become another front in the progressive left’s broader fight over technology, development, energy, water, and local control.
Maldonado is facing Angela Garcia in the Democrat primary. Garcia, a child development advocate who operates childcare centers in Las Cruces, has focused her campaign on childcare, education, juvenile crime, and health care. While Garcia has received support from some lawmakers who backed Project Jupiter, including state Reps. Sarah Silva and Nathan Small, she has also criticized how the project’s public financing was approved, calling the process “very rushed” in a radio interview cited by the Journal.
Garcia told the Journal her own endorsements reflect trusted local relationships.
“They know their districts better than anyone and that’s why their support means so much to me,” Garcia said. “The leaders our community trusts to represent them trust me. … On the County Commission, I will bring these trusted relationships to help solve some of our county’s most challenging issues.”
Maldonado, meanwhile, has drawn backing from progressive Democrats and left-wing organizations, including state Rep. Angelica Rubio, Las Cruces City Councilor Johana Bencomo, Conservation Voters of New Mexico, Semilla Action, and Young Democrats of New Mexico.
Garcia has lined up support from more establishment Democratic figures, including House Speaker Javier Martínez and Lt. Gov. Howie Morales, along with unions representing Doña Ana County sheriff’s deputies and electricians.
The Journal noted that national endorsements are more commonly seen in major statewide or federal races, not county commission contests. But political analyst Brian Sanderoff told the paper that endorsements can matter more in down-ballot races, where voters may know less about the candidates.
“Endorsements help the voters make decisions without studying the candidates’ positions,” Sanderoff said. “Knowing a person has received Bernie Sanders’ support, one could then assume that candidate is a very progressive candidate, whereas if a candidate is receiving all the endorsements from state party leaders, then that candidate may be more aligned with the local and state Democrat party structure.”
That contrast appears to be playing out in Doña Ana County, where Maldonado is running as the progressive insurgent while Garcia has consolidated more traditional Democrat support.
Garcia has also outraised Maldonado by a wide margin. According to the Journal, Garcia reported raising more than $39,000, while Maldonado had raised $7,060, much of it from smaller donors. Maldonado ended the reporting period with $5,240 cash on hand, compared with Garcia’s $30,712.
“Being an underdog is nothing new to me,” Maldonado told the Journal, “but I know this community and I know I have the knowledge and experience to lead on the County Commission.”
The winner of the Democrat primary will face Republican Samantha Barncastle Salopek, who is running unopposed in the GOP primary, in November.
You know our country is cooked, when an admitted communist US Senator is advocating for even more communism, and no one is stepping up to stop him.