{"id":37459,"date":"2012-03-01T10:14:17","date_gmt":"2012-03-01T17:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=37459"},"modified":"2012-03-02T06:50:56","modified_gmt":"2012-03-02T13:50:56","slug":"sen-nava-retiring-cervantes-seeking-her-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2012\/03\/sen-nava-retiring-cervantes-seeking-her-seat\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Nava retiring; Cervantes seeking her seat"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"State<\/a>

State Sen. Cynthia Nava, D-Las Cruces<\/p><\/div>\n

Nava cites frustration with a deadlock in the Roundhouse over education reform as a factor in her decision.<\/h4>\n

Cynthia Nava<\/a> joined today the growing list of state senators who aren\u2019t seeking re-election, and Joseph Cervantes<\/a> quickly announced that he\u2019ll try to replace Nava in the Senate instead of seeking another term in the House.<\/p>\n

Nava, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, cited frustration with a deadlock in the Roundhouse over education reform as a factor in her decision, and said she\u2019ll look for other opportunities to make a difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just seems like we\u2019re kind of spinning our wheels in that regard because of the partisanship,\u201d Nava, a Las Cruces Democrat, told NMPolitics.net. \u201cI\u2019m just looking for an arena where I can make a positive difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gov. Susana Martinez<\/a> has considered Nava an ally in her efforts to reform education, including a proposal to put an end so-called \u201csocial promotion.\u201d Nava worked this year, without success, to find compromise between many Democrats and the governor on that issue.<\/p>\n

Nava has represented District 31, which includes Southern Do\u00f1a Ana County and part of Las Cruces, since 1993. She\u2019s a former superintendent of the Gadsden Independent School District.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s the sixth senator to decide not to seek re-election this year. Others include Albuquerque Democrats Dede Feldman<\/a>, who is retiring<\/a>, and Eric Griego<\/a>, who is giving up his state Senate seat to run for\u00a0the 1st Congressional District seat<\/a>\u00a0in the U.S. House; and Republicans\u00a0Clinton Harden<\/a>\u00a0of Clovis, Vernon Asbill<\/a>\u00a0of Carlsbad, and Mark Boitano<\/a> of Albuquerque, who are all retiring (read more about Harden\u2019s departure\u00a0here<\/a>, Asbill\u2019s here<\/a> and Boitano\u2019s here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

They\u2019re joined by several House members \u2013 all Democrats \u2013 who are also not seeking re-election. In addition to Cervantes, they are Speaker\u00a0Ben Luj\u00e1n<\/a> of N\u00e1mbe and\u00a0Danice Picraux<\/a> of Albuquerque, who are retiring;\u00a0Al Park<\/a> of Albuquerque, who is running for a seat on the Public Regulation Commission;\u00a0Bill O\u2019Neill<\/a> of Albuquerque, who is running for the Senate seat being vacated by Feldman<\/a>; and\u00a0Joni Gutierrez<\/a> of Mesilla, who is instead seeking the political position of Democratic national committeewoman<\/a> for New Mexico.<\/p>\n

Cervantes committed to improving public education<\/h3>\n
\"State<\/a>

Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p>

State Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

Cervantes said in a news release that Nava was aware of his candidacy for her Senate seat and \u201casked for and received my commitment to continue her work improving our public education system, and her dedication to the Gadsden School District.\u201d Cervantes is another Democrat who has sided with the governor on the social-promotion issue.<\/p>\n

Cervantes, who has represented House District 52 since 2001, has developed a reputation as an independent Democrat and a reformer. He was twice involved in unsuccessful attempts to unseat Luj\u00e1n and spent much of his time sponsoring legislation related to transparency and reform.<\/p>\n

Successes his news release cited in those areas include \u201cthe proposed constitutional amendment for increased qualifications of Public Regulation Commissioners\u2026 legislation to assure government reforms, whistleblower protections, open legislative committees and measures to recover millions of misappropriated tax dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cervantes said he and Nava \u201chave enjoyed a strong and cooperative working relationship representing many of the same communities in both the House and Senate over the past decade.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI look forward to representing these same communities in the Senate, and to new opportunities representing those border areas best positioned to lead our state in economic development and job creation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Nava: \u2018future can only be addressed by working together\u2019<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

Nava said she is \u201cproud of what I\u2019ve been able to do with our constituents\u201d and said serving 20 years is \u201ca good, long record.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just time to move on to different opportunities,\u201d Nava said. \u201cThe mistake a lot of people make is they get in there and they never leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nava married former Environment Secretary Ron Curry last year. She said that also factored into her decision.<\/p>\n

But in a prepared statement, like in her interview with NMPolitics.net, Nava focused on education reform.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy passion has been and remains in the area of education and reform, because it is through education that our communities are improved and enriched,\u201d she said in the statement. \u201cOur children are our future, and that future can only be addressed by working together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Update, 10:30 a.m.<\/h3>\n

Andrew Moralez said he\u2019ll run for the House seat Cervantes is vacating. He\u2019s a former Sunland Park city manager, N.M. Border Authority executive director, and constituent services director for former Gov. Bill Richardson. He said a formal announcement will come later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATED: Cynthia Nava joined today the growing list of state senators who aren\u2019t seeking re-election, and Joseph Cervantes quickly announced that he\u2019ll try to replace Nava in the Senate instead of seeking another term in 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],"tags":[156,125,107],"class_list":["post-37459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2012-election","tag-education","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37459","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=37459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37459\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}