{"id":25120,"date":"2011-01-18T09:48:25","date_gmt":"2011-01-18T16:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=25120"},"modified":"2011-01-18T12:47:46","modified_gmt":"2011-01-18T19:47:46","slug":"gop-divided-over-cervantes-coalition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/01\/gop-divided-over-cervantes-coalition\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP division hurts Cervantes\u2019 chances"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Rep. Joseph Cervantes (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

Faced with pressure from tea party groups, a number of Republican House members have decided they aren\u2019t willing to support a coalition to make Rep. Joseph Cervantes<\/a> the speaker of the House.<\/p>\n

Sources say a number of House Republicans have decided they\u2019re not willing to vote for Cervantes or any other Democrat for speaker. They instead plan to vote for a Republican \u2013 even, potentially, if the Republican they nominate refuses the nomination.<\/p>\n

There are also a number of Republicans who want to support Cervantes, the sources confirmed.<\/p>\n

That GOP division hurts Cervantes\u2019 chances of securing the votes to overthrow Speaker Ben Luj\u00e1n<\/a> later today. Cervantes needs the support of most House Republicans to win the race.<\/p>\n

But some say things are still up in the air. Though he wouldn\u2019t go into detail about the division in his caucus or even confirm that it exists, Minority Leader Tom Taylor<\/a> said there are \u201ca few things still in the works.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere isn\u2019t any news at this point,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are still some discussions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starting in Las Cruces, tea party groups from around the state<\/a> have passed resolutions in recent days opposing Republican involvement in a bipartisan coalition to overthrow Luj\u00e1n. Here\u2019s the language they\u2019re using:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe, the citizen members of the following TEA Parties,\u00a0strongly\u00a0recommend that the New Mexico Republican Legislators nominate from within their own caucus, a\u00a0candidate for Speaker of the House and vote in unison for that candidate. We do not support any coalition with progressives nor with those with a voting record\u00a0which contradicts our conservative values.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The sources said that has had an effect, and a coalition that some thought was fairly solid days ago is now on shaky ground. Republicans held a caucus meeting Monday evening, and it became clear that there was no unity.<\/p>\n

\u2018It will happen shortly\u2019<\/h3>\n

Though most Republicans contacted by NMPolitics.net declined to comment, Rep. Mary Helen Garcia<\/a>, D-Las Cruces and Cervantes\u2019 aunt, said it\u2019s her understanding that a number of freshman Republicans are refusing to support a coalition. She said many fear the tea party will go after them in the 2012 election if they support Cervantes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they don\u2019t want to do it, then I don\u2019t think we have a chance,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cWe might have Luj\u00e1n in again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Andy Nu\u00f1ez<\/a>, D-Hatch and, like Garcia, a supporter of a coalition, said things are still up in the air.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still waiting to see what some of them Rs are going to do, so we\u2019re still in limbo,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The sources said there may also be two or three Republicans planning to support Luj\u00e1n. Rep. Jeanette Wallace<\/a>, R-Los Alamos, is one who was considering that possibility because her district is adjacent to Luj\u00e1n\u2019s. But she was tight-lipped this morning in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think any of us want to talk about it. It will happen shortly, so then everyone will know,\u201d Wallace said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Faced with pressure from tea party groups, a number of Republican House members have decided they aren\u2019t willing to support a coalition to make Rep. Joseph Cervantes the speaker of the House.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[107],"class_list":["post-25120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25120\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}