Gwaltney wants to continue serving in DNC role

Mary Gail Gwaltney says she has spent decades working hard for the Democratic Party, and she wants to continue doing that in her role as the national committeewoman from New Mexico.

“I want to continue in my role so that we can elect a president, so that we can elect a senator and three congressmen, so that we can elect our local and state Democratic candidates,” Gwaltney said. “That’s all I do.”

Gwaltney, who has been the state’s national committeewoman to the Democratic National Committee for 13 years, is being challenged this month for that position by state Rep. Mary Helen Garcia, D-Las Cruces. Garcia says Gwaltney hasn’t done a good job of communicating with local and state Democrats about what’s happening on the national level or of taking the state’s issues to the DNC.

The vote will be held at the Democrats’ statewide presidential delegate convention on April 26.

Gwaltney said she’s known in Democratic circles as a passionate worker. She works full-time, traveling around the state and nation at her own expense, to elect Democrats.

She recalls with pride bringing former President Bill Clinton to New Mexico State University in 1996. She said it was the first trip by a sitting president to Las Cruces in at least 50 years.

Gwaltney chaired and organized the visit during Clinton’s re-election campaign. Though organizers said 30,000 people showed up at the Horseshoe to hear Clinton, Gwaltney said they stopped counting at some point and the actual number was closer to 50,000. Either way, it was the second largest crowd for Clinton that year.

Gwaltney had tears in her eyes as she described the scene during our interview – a crowd that stretched all the way from the Horseshoe on campus to Interstate 10, with the sun setting behind it. She recalled standing on the stage and seeing the president’s motorcade drive up the street toward the crowd.

“That was the most thrilling thing for me,” she said. “It was just a wonderful experience.”

Four years later, Gwaltney was instrumental in bringing Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore to Las Cruces. She said “that’s what you can do with seniority,” and it took her years to build such influence. She said those visits helped the presidential candidates win New Mexico and motivated local Democrats to vote, which helped down-ticket candidates as well.

Starting at the local level

Gwaltney’s work for Democrats started long before she helped bring presidential candidates to Las Cruces. She volunteered with Democratic campaigns for years, including that of her husband, former state Sen. Lamar Gwaltney, and the campaign of former Gov. Jerry Apodaca. She became chair of the Democratic Party of Doña Ana County in 1987 and served in that role for eight years.

When she first took the reigns of the county party, Democrats were coming off a year of tough losses. Republican Garrey Carruthers was elected governor in 1987 and helped the GOP pick up a number of local seats in Doña Ana County. Gwaltney said Democrats took almost every local seat back during her tenure as party chair.

Gwaltney has since become a national force in the Democratic Party. In addition to being the state’s national committeewoman, she’s vice chair of the western region for the DNC and, since 2000, has been on the DNC’s executive board. She was appointed by Clinton to an advisory committee on the arts. A room in her house is full of pictures and other memorabilia from visits with Clinton, Gore, Bill Richardson, Jeff Bingaman and other well-known Democrats.

In response to Garcia’s claims, Gwaltney said she has represented New Mexico and western issues to the DNC and said she regularly communicates with the state party’s central committee and local county parties. Her two phones rang several times during our interview at her Las Cruces home. Those who called included a state senator and the state party’s vice chair.

“My job is electing Democrats everyday,” Gwaltney said. “I’ve got the phone ringing, and the cell phone, and the fax, and now I’ve got the e-mail too.”