Dem. Party process likely to delay decision on nominee for Congressional seat

Published March 29th, 2021 at 7:54 am

DAILY DIGITAL EDITION | MONDAY | MARCH 29th
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Republicans have picked State Sen. Mark Moores as their nominee for the special election to fill Deb Haaland’s former congressional seat. Democrats, for their part, start allowing their state central committee members to vote online tomorrow. With 8 candidates and a rule requiring someone to get a majority (not just a plurality like Republicans), the Democratic decision will likely go to a runoff (maybe two) later this week. For an explainer on that process, see yesterday’s e-edition of The Paper.

Legislators head to Santa Fe tomorrow for the special session to finish the job of legalizing cannabis and bringing more than 11,000 new jobs to the state.

Expect to see a package of bills — not just one — focusing on how to legalize and social justice investments. Why? Senate leadership believes they can get a few GOP votes to legalize without social justice components and that they can get the few skeptical Democrats to at least vote for social justice even if they won’t vote to legalize. Advocates say you can’t split the issues but if the governor and leaders get the votes few will care how they got there. At least that’s the idea. Tune in here tomorrow for the rundown on the bill, the issues and whose vote to watch when.

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