ABQ Journal endorses Ronchetti, snubbing MLG and her ‘sketchy’ record
On Sunday, The Albuquerque Journal, a left-leaning paper, refused to endorse Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham for re-election, instead endorsing Republican nominee Mark Ronchetti.
The news comes as a major snub to Lujan Grisham, who is the only top Democrat on the ticket not to earn the Journal’s endorsement. Democrats, including Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, Second Congressional District candidate Gabe Vasquez, Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez of the Third District, and Rep. Melanie Stansbury of the First District, among others, all have the stamp of approval from the paper. The Journal has the largest circulation of any other print paper in the state.
The paper wrote in its editorial, “Violent crime is harming, traumatizing and quite literally killing too many New Mexicans. Property crime, paired with the national economic downturn and pandemic closures, continues to hurt residents and business owners financially. Not enough of the record billion-dollar revenues from oil and gas has been invested in lasting infrastructure that will improve lives for decades to come. And four years into her administration, our governor’s promised ‘education moonshot’ has yet to launch as our children, especially our minority and low-income children, fall further and further behind. We simply cannot afford four more years of the same.”
The paper chided Lujan Grisham for her failure on education, public safety, the Children, Youth & Families Department, emergency powers, the border, divisiveness, checks and balances, and more.
“Lujan Grisham has contributed to the toxicity of our politics by name-calling those who have disagreed with her policies. In four State of the State speeches, she has never mentioned the contributions of the oil and gas industry or acknowledged its 42,000 direct and 134,000 indirect workers in New Mexico,” wrote the editorial board.
The paper called Lujan Grisham’s education plans “sketchy” while blasting her for going through multiple education secretaries, which has led to uncertainty in the Public Education Department, not to mention lower educational scores for children.
“Ronchetti is a meteorologist and television weatherman who, unlike Lujan Grisham, has not served on a county commission, in a state Cabinet post, in Congress or governed from the fourth floor of the state Capitol. But we have to look at what all her experience has actually delivered. First on too many of the bad lists. Last on too many of the good ones,” The Journal added.
Lujan Grisham has gotten the support of far-left papers that have almost exclusively endorsed Democrats, such as the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Santa Fe Reporter.
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