Susana Martinez
The chairman of the Republican National Committee is touting the fact that Susana Martinez is the first Hispanic woman to be a Republican or Democratic nominee for governor anywhere in the United States.
Talking with Martinez, you wouldn’t know about that distinction.
“We’ve got to talk about the issues, and not the fact that I’m Hispanic. It just is what it is, but that is not what is significant. What is significant is the contrast between Diane Denish and myself,” Martinez said Tuesday evening in an interview conducted shortly after she won the Republican gubernatorial primary.
Martinez didn’t mention her ethnicity in her victory speech – or the fact that she and Denish will square off in what the Huffington Post says is third woman-against-woman gubernatorial race in U.S. history. Martinez jumped right into highlighting the contrast, saying Denish has been part of a failed, corrupt administration.
“Diane Denish has earned a pink slip, and not a promotion,” Martinez told an enthusiastic crowd in Las Cruces. “… I have dedicated the last 13 years of my life to getting results, to taking on the machine, to prosecuting corruption, and serving as the voice for the most defenseless among us. I have delivered results in Doña Ana County, and I will do the same for New Mexico.”
But the fact remains that Martinez’s accomplishment is unique. RNC Chairman Michael Steele called her nomination a “landmark achievement” of “major national significance.” State GOP Chairman Harvey Yates also mentioned Martinez’s ethnicity and gender in his news release, calling her victory “a historic moment” that “serves as a turning point for our state.”
A unique combination
All of it – Martinez’s background and the issues she’s talking about, plus her gender and ethnicity – add up to a unique combination never before seen in New Mexico, according to political analyst Jose Z. Garcia. Republicans tossed the rule book out the window in nominating Martinez to take on Denish.
“She is going to have to think hard and hone out a message,” Garcia said. “There are no models for that message. Female Hispanic Republican in New Mexico. It hasn’t existed before, so she’s going to be breaking the mold.”
“It’s going to be an exercise in creativity, so she has a lot of latitude in where she goes,” Garcia said.
Martinez appears to know exactly where she’s going.
“Hispanic people, and New Mexicans overall, want to work hard, they want to be safe, they want to have a job and support their families,” she said in the interview. “So we just need to talk about issues and how they impact the voters.”
‘Very, very attractive to Hispanics’
Garcia, a self-described conservative Democrat, said many Hispanics are conservative when it comes to law enforcement and military issues – like Martinez – but are more socially liberal, and that’s where they part ways with Martinez. Because of that, he said, victory “isn’t automatic by any stretch of the imagination” for Martinez. But Garcia expects her to compete heavily against Denish.
Historically, many Republicans who have been elected governor have been politically moderate because that’s what it takes to win in a state that leans Democratic. Garcia said Martinez won’t have to do that.
“I think she will be very, very attractive to Hispanics in terms of law and order,” he said. “I don’t think she has to move very far to the center – like many Republican candidates do – to be attractive. She can stay right where she is.”
“So it’s likely that her presence on the ticket will cause Democrats to move to the right,” Garcia said. “And that’s an unusual position.”
Healing division
Martinez won the primary with 51 percent of the vote, but only after going negative and getting into a bitter, divisive battle with primary opponent Allen Weh. In conceding defeat, Weh didn’t pledge to support Martinez. His only reference to their fighting came when he said he “took some hits, particularly in the last month, some of which were not ethical. But we hung in there. And we ran a great race.”
Martinez said when Weh called to concede, she expressed hope that the two could work together, but Weh was noncommittal. Martinez’s other primary opponents, Doug Turner, Pete Domenici Jr. and Janice Arnold-Jones, all pledged to support her.
Martinez said the party must unite to give her a shot at winning.
“I’m hopeful that we will do exactly that. We have to,” she said. “If we want the significant and bold changes that we are hoping to bring to New Mexico, we have got to pull together as party.”
Additional pressure to unite came from Albuquerque Mayor R.J. Berry, a Republican.
“This has been a very spirited primary race, and I would like to thank the other four candidates for their willingness to serve New Mexico,” Berry said. “It is now time for all Republicans to unite behind Susana and bring a fresh approach to Santa Fe by working together and electing Susana Martinez as New Mexico’s next governor on Nov. 2.”
Denish is also focused on the contrast
Lt. Gov. Diane Denish (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
While Martinez is working to portray herself as the agent of change and Denish as the failed politician, Denish is doing the opposite.
“I’m going to be a different kind of governor, unlike any governor or leader our state has seen before,” Denish said during her own primary-night speech. “And how do you know? Because I’ve been a different kind of lieutenant governor.”
“Susana Martinez talks about change; I have a record of delivering it,” Denish said. “She talks about job creation; I’ve helped make it happen. Susana Martinez so far has only offered sound bites and empty promises. I’ve put forward solutions and new ideas for the future.”
Denish said the race will be competitive, and she looks forward to “a spirited contest.”
The state Democratic Party was also quick to hit Martinez in a news release and fundraising letter for being a poor prosecutor and for winning her primary “by pandering to the special interests and showing her far-right wing colors.”
“Once you look past the fancy ads and sound-bytes, Susana Martinez has been an ineffective prosecutor who breaks her pledges and cuts deals with violent criminals,” Democratic Party Chairman Javier Gonzales said. “… Needless to say, a mediocre district attorney does not deserve a promotion.”