Mary Herrera
Outgoing Secretary of State Mary Herrera says she’s “at peace” with her blowout loss to Republican challenger Dianna Duran in last week’s election and she’s “ready to move on to bigger and better opportunities.”
“Things happen for a reason,” Herrera wrote in an unsolicited e-mail to NMPolitics.net. “God wants me somewhere else and I am looking forward to that.”
Duran defeated Herrera 58 percent to 42 percent, at least in part because of media coverage of controversies that have plagued Herrera’s tenure. But Herrera wrote in her e-mail that New Mexico “had another great election” on Nov. 2.
“I am leaving soon with a great audit, no findings, cut the budget in half from the day I took over in 2007, $6.2 million to $3.4 million, implemented a new campaign financial system, and had to take the hits that my staff are not qualified,” Herrera wrote in her e-mail. “All of these great accomplishments would of never happened if the staff and myself were not qualified.”