Around the Roundhouse

A local who was elected Santa Fe County sheriff in 2018, Adan Mendoza’s eventful two-term tenure has included efforts to improve staffing, managing the department through the COVID-19 pandemic and multiple stints under the national media microscope. Mendoza’s time in office will concluded at the end of the year when he will likely be succeeded by current Santa Fe police Chief Paul Joye...

Even before legislation was passed to form New Mexico’s “truth commission” to investigate the activities and potential crimes of Jeffrey Epstein in the state, Marianna Anaya said she spent time digging through the publicly released files related to the financier and convicted sex offender. With a background in advocacy for sexual assault survivors, the Albuquerque state represent...

State Sen. David Gallegos won a three-man race for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor earlier this month and will be the running mate for gubernatorial candidate Gregg Hull on the GOP ticket in November’s general election. A longtime resident of the town of Eunice in the Permian Basin, Gallegos said if he and Hull win he’d use the office to bolster the voices of rural Ne...

Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, made headlines Tuesday with the announcement that he will not seek reelection in 2028 for a sixth term in the Senate and that he will relinquish his position as floor leader. “An important part of leadership is knowing when to hand the baton to the next generation,” Wirth said Wednesday in an interview with  Santa Fe New Mexican &nbs...

All eyes will be on the midterm elections come November as control of Congress is up for grabs, and a national spotlight will once again be on New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District. Republican Greg Cunningham is vying to unseat incumbent Democrat Gabe Vasquez, who defeated Yvette Herrell in tightly contested races in 2022 and 2024. In the latest episode of the “Around the Roundhouse&...

From slinging newspapers, to shipping solar cells for the International Space Station, to leading the third-largest city in New Mexico, Gregg Hull’s professional experiences in the state have run the gamut. The former three-term mayor of Rio Rancho is now eyeing New Mexico’s highest office. Hull secured the Republican nomination for governor with a double-digit victory in Tuesday&rsquo...

A self-described “America First” candidate for U.S. Senate, Larry Marker first has some work to do to get on November’s general election ballot. The Republican with roots in Hobbs and Roswell needs to get at least 2,531 voters to write his name on the June 2 primary ballot to advance as his party’s official candidate. In the latest episode of the “Around the Roundhous...

New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District has been one of the most hotly contested seats in the country, drawing a national spotlight in recent races to fill one of the state’s three seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Amanda López Askin says she experienced that increased attention firsthand shortly after she took over as county clerk in Doña Ana County, the distri...

A U.S. Air Force veteran and the first African American elected to the New Mexico Senate, Harold Pope Jr. is pursuing a new avenue of leadership as he seeks his party’s nomination for lieutenant governor. The Albuquerque Democrat is running for statewide office for the first time in a race against Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver in the June primary. In the latest episode of the &ld...

Earlier this week, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled in favor of state Rep. Rebecca Dow when it reversed a state district court ruling that had disqualified Dow’s nominating petitions and would have kept the Republican from Truth or Consequences off the ballot in the June primary. In the latest episode of the “Around the Roundhouse” podcast, Dow joins  Santa Fe New Mexican...

Katharine Clark’s third day in office as Santa Fe County clerk was January 6, 2021, the day the U.S. Capitol was attacked by supporters of Donald Trump in an effort to overturn the presidential election. Clark said the election denialism spurred by Trump has defined an era of being an election official as those who administer elections have had to battle a barrage of misinformation. Calling...

Stephanie Garcia Richard took over as New Mexico state land commissioner in 2019 and later that year put an end to a decades-long lease that allowed Jeffrey Epstein to use over 1,200 acres of state land around his Zorro Ranch property south of Santa Fe. Epstein, though his company Cypress Inc., leased the land for livestock grazing, but the State Land Office canceled those leases in part on suspic...

A 13th generation New Mexican with a 5-month-old daughter, Juan De Jesus Sanchez III says he’s running for state land commissioner with an eye toward the future. The farmer and conservation advocate who lives in Valencia County was the first candidate to announce an intention to succeed Stephanie Garcia Richard as leader of the State Land Office and he received the most votes from delegates...

With 24 years of experience in the FBI and well over 30 years in law enforcement, New Mexico state Rep. Bill Hall has spent much of his life in the pursuit of justice. Now, the retired FBI agent is part his home state’s investigation into criminal acts of abuse that took place at Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch south of Santa Fe. In the latest episode of the “Around the Roundhouse&...

U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury has been a vocal critic of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and the U.S. Department of Justice over the handling of millions of files related to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation. This week, she joined U.S. Rep Summer Lee in filing articles of impeachment against Bondi, saying Bondi and the Department of Justice have failed survivors, obstructed justice,...

Jonas Moya has a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it. Over the weekend, the Democratic Party of New Mexico held its pre-primary convention where party delegates voted to designate candidates for the June ballot. Candidates needed to receive at least 20% of the vote to earn a spot on the ballot. Those who failed to meet the threshold need to submit additional petition signatures by nex...

Albuquerque-based radio host Eddy Aragon has spent several years looking into what went on at Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch and has received calls from listeners who he says have provided insight about the workings of the property south of Santa Fe. In 2019, Aragon received an anonymous email alleging the bodies of two foreign girls were buried near Epstein’s property. “Both died...

An opportunity to connect with survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein prior to the State of the Union address Tuesday had a powerful impact on Andrea Romero, a New Mexico state representative who co-sponsored a resolution to create a so-called “truth commission” to investigate Epstein’s activities at Zorro Ranch in southern Santa Fe County. The Santa Fe Democrat, who...

The 2026 30-day legislative session came to a close Thursday with Democrats largely touting it as a success following an overhaul of the state's medical malpractice law, the funding of universal child care and more.  One of the bigger news items to come out of the final full day of the session was an omnibus tax package with 1% raises for state employees. Rep. Derrick Lente and other House De...

With just over a week left in New Mexico’s 30-day legislative session, a handful of bills have been passed and signed into law but there’s still a lot up in the air for lawmakers. Some of the bills passed so far have had bipartisan support, but others have faced strong opposition by the Republican minority in both chambers. In the latest episode of the “Around the Roundhouse&rdqu...

New Mexico made national headlines last year with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s announcement that it would be the first state in the country to offer child care to all families at no cost. Elizabeth Groginsky, secretary of the state Early Childhood Education and Care Department, was at the governor’s side during the news conference and has been a key figure in the landmark initiative....

Cristina Parajón’s first day at the Roundhouse as a lawmaker got off to a bit of an awkward start when the  sergeant-at-arms initially wouldn’t let her in her seat in the House chamber because he thought she looked too young to be a legislator. With some notable early legislative successes, the now 28-year-old is relishing the opportunity to have a seat at the table an...

During his years serving in the Legislature, state Sen. Jeff Steinborn has championed and passed a wide variety of legislation including the creation of an independent ethics commission, setting campaign contribution limits and banning the storage of high-level nuclear waste in New Mexico. This year, some of the bills Steinborn is working to pass bills involve increasing lobbyist transparency and...

Residents in communities across New Mexico have felt the impact of a physician shortage that has led to patients facing long wait times and a struggle to schedule appointments. A bipartisan group of state legislators has been working to help improve access to health care through the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, which would allow fully licensed physicians in one member state to obtain lice...

New Mexico’s 30-day legislative session is less than two weeks away and the Legislative Finance Committee just released its budget proposal for fiscal year 2027. The committee’s $11.1 billion spending plan is similar to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s but doesn’t fully fund the governor’s free universal child care initiative. In the latest episode of the “Around t...