SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Mark Ronchetti has won the Republican primary for
governor to challenge incumbent Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
The former television meteorologist on Tuesday defeated four other
candidates including state Rep. Rebecca Dow. Ronchetti’s campaign
emphasized concerns about crime, illegal immigration, high rates of
unemployment and underperforming schools. He pledged to deploy 150 state
law enforcement personnel to the state’s remote international border
with Mexico to combat illegal migration and drug and human trafficking.
The proposal echoes National Guard deployments by Republican governors
in Arizona and Texas. New Mexico has alternated between Democratic and
Republican governors since the early 1980s. An incumbent governor last
lost reelection in 1994.