{"id":8894,"date":"2009-11-03T23:22:26","date_gmt":"2009-11-04T06:22:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=8894"},"modified":"2009-11-05T09:58:32","modified_gmt":"2009-11-05T16:58:32","slug":"voters-give-progressives-a-mandate-in-las-cruces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/11\/voters-give-progressives-a-mandate-in-las-cruces\/","title":{"rendered":"Voters give progressives a mandate in Las Cruces"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"With

With her re-election victory over Jim Harbison, Thomas, right, is one of five progressive-backed candidates elected to the six-member city council. Mayor Ken Miyagishima was also backed in his 2007 campaign by progressives. (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

District 6 Councilor Sharon Thomas<\/a> thinks she knows why progressive-backed candidates won every city council race in Las Cruces on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it says that (voters) want to be involved in their city government and they want opportunities to participate, and that they support our attempts to move toward a really sustainable community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Progressive-backed candidates have now sounded that theme through two election cycles. In 2007, that argument won them the mayor\u2019s race and two council seats. They picked up another seat when Thomas won a special election in early 2008, and that gave them a slight majority on the council.<\/p>\n

With Tuesday\u2019s victories by Olga Pedroza<\/a> over\u00a0incumbent Dolores C. Archuleta, Gill M. Sorg<\/a> over incumbent\u00a0Gil Jones, and Thomas<\/a> over James Harbison, candidates who were backed by the progressive movement now hold the mayor\u2019s office and five of six seats on the council.<\/p>\n

Do\u00f1a Ana County Commissioner Scott Krahling<\/a>, a Democrat whose district includes parts of Las Cruces\u2019 east mesa, wrote on a New Mexico Independent live blog<\/a> that while the progressive movement is clearly well organized, the real reason for its success is its focus on more sustainable growth policies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Las Cruces we\u2019ve seen a strong movement toward better planning and tonight we see that the movement is still strong,\u201d Krahling wrote. \u201cRight or wrong, those that won represent the hope for better planning for the growth here. The voters in the community are demanding a better plan for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Voter turnout was better than it has been in some past elections. In the District 6 race won by Thomas, it was 22 percent. In the District 5 race won by Sorg, it was 15 percent. In the District 3 race won by Pedroza it was 10 percent.<\/p>\n

When Thomas first won the office last year, turnout in her district was also 22 percent. The last time all three districts were up for grabs \u2013 in 2005 \u2013 overall turnout was just under 6 percent. Before that, in 2001, it was 10 percent.<\/p>\n

Noting that turnout wasn\u2019t as high in her district as some others, Pedroza said District 3 residents still want good representation.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople in the district seem to be a little less politically involved but I think that, nevertheless, given the opportunity to vote for somebody who will make a difference, they will vote for them \u2013 and I think that\u2019s what happened here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Sorg echoed Thomas\u2019 sentiment about voters supporting the progressive agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it makes a statement about what\u2019s going on here in Las Cruces,\u201d he said. \u201cThere needs to be a change — a change for better planning, smart growth.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

District 6 Councilor Sharon Thomas thinks she knows why progressive-backed candidates won every city council race in Las Cruces on Tuesday. \u201cI think it says that (voters) want to be involved in their city government and they want opportunities to participate, and that they support our attempts to move toward a really sustainable community,\u201d she said.<\/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":[145],"class_list":["post-8894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-las-cruces"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8894","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=8894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8894\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}