{"id":509907,"date":"2018-01-26T21:01:02","date_gmt":"2018-01-27T04:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=509907"},"modified":"2018-01-26T21:01:02","modified_gmt":"2018-01-27T04:01:02","slug":"bill-would-change-nominating-process-for-lieutenant-governor-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/01\/bill-would-change-nominating-process-for-lieutenant-governor-candidates\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill would change nominating process for lieutenant governor candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_509837\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-509837\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Rotunda-771x509.jpg\" alt=\"Roundhouse Rotunda\" width=\"771\" height=\"509\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Rotunda-771x509.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Rotunda-336x222.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Rotunda-768x507.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Rotunda-1170x773.jpg 1170w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Rotunda, the central gathering space in the state capitol building in Santa Fe.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Under New Mexico law, the state&#8217;s governor and lieutenant governor are forced to coexist in a sort of arranged marriage.<\/p>\n<p>Each runs in a separate primary election. This means major-party candidates for governor have no direct say-so about who becomes their running mate in the general election.<\/p>\n<p>More important, says state Sen. Mark Moores, the system creates the very real possibility that the governor and lieutenant governor might not get along or agree on policy.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.santafenewmexican.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a>. NMPolitics.net is paying for the rights to publish articles about the 2018 legislative session from the newspaper. Help us cover the cost by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/donate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">making a donation to NMPolitics.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>So Moores, R-Albuquerque, and Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto, D-Albuquerque, have introduced a bill to change the way lieutenant governor candidates are selected.<\/p>\n<p>Their proposal, <a href=\"https:\/\/nmlegis.gov\/Legislation\/Legislation?Chamber=S&amp;LegType=B&amp;LegNo=178&amp;year=18\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Senate Bill 178<\/a>, would eliminate primary elections for lieutenant governor.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, after a major party has nominated its candidate for governor in a primary, the party would establish a method of its own to select the lieutenant governor candidate.<\/p>\n<p>Moores said the party might call a convention to make the selection, or it could empower the gubernatorial nominee to choose his or her own running mate, similar to what happens with presidential tickets.<\/p>\n<p>The new system would be based on the premise that a party&#8217;s nominees for governor and lieutenant governor should be compatible, Moores said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It would be more of a team running, not this forced marriage that we have now,&#8221; he said\u00a0<span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1122373789\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Friday<\/span><\/span>\u00a0in an interview.<\/p>\n<p>If the bill by Moores and Ivey-Soto is approved by the Legislature and signed into law by the governor, it would go into effect in 2022. This year&#8217;s election would not be affected by the change, Moores said.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The fact that a senator from each party is sponsoring the bill might improve its chance of passing.<\/p>\n<p>That is because party leaders have seen rancorous fallout after a governor and lieutenant governor were elected separately, then expected to function as a team.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the most famous case occurred in 1994, when then-Gov. Bruce King ran for re-election.<\/p>\n<p>King&#8217;s sitting lieutenant governor, Casey Luna, challenged him in the primary election for governor. King won narrowly.<\/p>\n<p>Then, in the general election, a former lieutenant governor of King&#8217;s, Roberto Mondragon, ran for governor as the Green Party candidate. Mondragon took 10 percent of the vote, and King lost to upstart Republican Gary Johnson.<\/p>\n<p>The bill by Moores and Ivey-Soto is to be heard first in the Senate Rules Committee, though no date has yet been scheduled.<\/p>\n<p><em>Contact Milan Simonich at\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:msimonich@sfnewmexican.com\">msimonich@sfnewmexican.com<\/a>\u00a0or (505) 986-3080. Follow his Ringside Seat column online and in\u00a0<span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1122373790\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Monday&#8217;s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1122373791\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Friday&#8217;s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0print editions.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The change would eliminate primary elections for lieutenant governor and let parties pick their own process after a gubernatorial candidate is nominated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":509837,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[3634,107],"class_list":["post-509907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2018-legislative-session","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509907","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=509907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}