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Third candidate may join Cruces mayoral race
Michael Ray Huerta
The dynamics in this year’s Las Cruces mayoral race may be about to change with the entry of a third candidate who would portray himself as an outsider running against two politicians.
Michael Ray Huerta, a longtime Democratic political activist, told NMPolitics.net that he has been encouraged to run by “Las Crucens from all over the city.” He says he’s still considering whether to run, but he sounds like someone who has put a lot of thought into the matter and is preparing a campaign.
“Whether young or old, Democrat or Republican, our community is ready for new leadership that puts results above political ideology and the interests of our city above personal agendas,” Huerta said. “If I run for mayor, I intend to be the candidate to bring that change.”
Mayor Ken Miyagishima is running for re-election on Nov. 8. District 2 City Councilor Dolores Connor is giving up her seat to run against him.
City elections are officially nonpartisan, but Miyagishima is a Democrat and Connor is a Republican, so some will say if Huerta runs that he’s helping Connor. While there is likely some truth to the claim that Huerta would draw support away from Miyagishima, if he runs a credible campaign, Huerta, who is 25 and openly gay, might also draw support from other areas.
He indicated that he would run as the anti-establishment candidate. With judicial and other scandal capturing headlines, Huerta might be able to attract support from people who are tired of politicians, if he can convince people he’s an outsider running against two longtime elected officials.
“We have politicians who have been in office for years,” Huerta said about Miyagishima and Connor. “Election after election, these politicians offer the same rhetoric with no results. This year, Las Crucens should have a choice: more of the same, or new leadership for our city.”
About Huerta
But Huerta is hardly a political outsider. He was a press secretary for former U.S. Rep. Harry Teague, D-N.M., and worked in various roles for Hillary Clinton. He said he is the youngest person in New Mexico history to be elected as a delegate to a national political convention, being chosen as a delegate for Clinton when she ran for president in 2008.
A group of Democrats urged him to run for state party chairman earlier in 2009, but he rejected the idea and backed Javier Gonzales.
Huerta is also a former Republican, and he once worked as a field representative for U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M.
The political experience could be a benefit if Huerta uses it to put together a sophisticated but genuine campaign – it takes both in a growing city like Las Cruces to attract widespread support. At the same time, Connor might be able to box Miyagishima and Huerta both in with the “progressive” label.
Huerta identifies himself as progressive on his Facebook page, and some Las Crucens, upset with the progressive takeover of the city council when Miyagishima was first elected mayor four years ago, are determined to defeat progressive-backed candidates this time around.
Huerta sounds as though he’s hoping to avoid labels.
“I believe in results-driven leadership that puts the interests of our city above personal agendas – leadership that truly embraces growth while focusing on our shrinking middle class, leadership that addresses the nearly 35 percent of Las Cruces children who live in poverty, leadership that understands our city needs a full-time mayor, and leadership that understands more of the same is not an option,” he said.
Huerta is a fourth-generation New Mexican who was born and raised in Las Cruces. His family owns several businesses in the area, including Emilia’s on the Plaza and Coss Real Estate. He’s back working with his family’s businesses after spending two years as the national spokesman for a suicide prevention and anti-bullying organization.
His youth isn’t likely to go unnoticed and may hurt him with some voters. On the other hand, District 4 voters elected Nathan Small to be their city councilor when he was 25.
The bottom line
When Republican Richard Berry was elected Albuquerque mayor in 2009 in a race that included him and two Democrats, Huerta pointed out the candidates’ party affiliations in an interview with me. Some 56 percent of voters picked one of the two Democrats, and he said their split “reveals a divide between the progressives and the more moderate Dems.”
“That’s something that Democrats need to stop from happening,” Huerta told me then, saying the party couldn’t let happen in the 2010 congressional and gubernatorial races the same thing that happened in the Albuquerque election.
“We need for Democrats to come together to decide where our party stands,” Huerta told me.
If he runs, those words may come back to haunt Huerta in this race.
At the same time, I’ve spoken with many Las Crucens who aren’t excited about Connor or Miyagishima and are hoping a third candidate enters the race. Among those who aren’t excited are some progressives, but also some in the business community and elsewhere.
If Huerta or someone else can run a campaign that transcends the standard labels in a nonpartisan municipal race, maybe that candidate can be a factor. But that candidate would first need to establish himself as credible and work to increase name recognition.
For now, even if Huerta enters the race, Miyagishima and Connor are the frontrunners.
But there’s lots of time before November and the dynamics in this race are far from settled. Regardless of what Huerta decides, others might join Miyagishima and Connor in the race.
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Michael Ray Huerta is the perfect third candidate for this race….I have been following him for some time.
I love this statement>>>>>>>The political experience could be a benefit if Huerta uses it to put together a sophisticated but genuine campaign<<<<<<<because that is exactly the one thing i would say about him and his campaign…sophisticated and genuine.
I wish him luck.
Mr Parrot,
I have heard you rant and rave about McCamley and is far out liberalism for so long… will you please specify exactly what you mean by this? It it his:
1) Willingness to push common sense, necessary government reform structures (http://www.nmpolitics.net/index/2011/02/las-cruces-dona-ana-county-getting-ready-for-redistricting/)
2) Open and in-depth stance against corruption (http://www.nmpolitics.net/index/2009/08/fighting-corruption-will-improve-our-lives) and willingness to go after those corrupt officials among us (http://www.nmpolitics.net/index/2007/02/commission-formally-censures-treasurer-demands-restitution-for-illegal-use-of-county-resources/)
3) Willingness to listen to all sides in the political debate (http://www.nmpolitics.net/index/2010/05/we-are-better-working-together-than-apart/) (including, by the way, openly supporting gun owners rights and nuclear power, such extreme examples of “class warfare and socialism” don’t you think?)
4) His ability to articulately and intelligently express his own view of how patriotism (http://www.nmpolitics.net/index/2010/03/what-the-bataan-death-march-means-to-me/) and religious views can be positive for our community (http://www.nmpolitics.net/index/2011/05/why-i-will-miss-bishop-ricardo-ramirez/).
Please sir, back up your statements with facts. This, and other sites, have way to many opinions being spewed out without any sort of reasoning attached.
And, though I don’t agree with McCamley on many things, he has always been willing to sit and discuss issues of the day with me in an intelligent, open, and most importantly passionate manner. How many other public officials out there can do this? If Huerta can show a little of this I will seriously consider supporting him.
I don’t find fault with someone who labels themselves a “progressive” for whatever reason. It can mean a variety of things. My issue is to why he would self identify as a progressive when to many people it implies positions that may or may not be his.
Sure he’s not officially entered the race nor made any specific policy statements but his Facebook page has made a first impression. Either he wants people to have that impression, which I think is poltically risky, or he did not think it through, as many people do with social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc), which is an unforced error in my opinion.
Is that fair? Nope Is that politics? Yep
montysarvo sez:
“I think a progressive is just that, someone who doesn’t tout a party line autonomically, but rather chooses to think for themself.”
That definition sounds more akin to someone who votes “by their conscience”, which usually means that they are following either an ideological viewpoint (“I will act this way because it is the liberal/conservative thing to do”) or their own feelings (“I will act this way in spite of what my party says I should do”.) Another term that could be used is “Independent ____”, filling in the blank with the appropriate party name. For example, John McCain spoke (or still speaks?) of himself as an independent Republican because he sometimes ‘bucked’ the party line.
The term progressive means something else. You can check the wiki page on how contemporary progressivism is defined.
Modern issues for progressives can include: electoral reform (including instant runoff voting, proportional representation and fusion candidates), environmental conservation, pollution control and environmentalism, same-sex marriage, reproductive rights, universal health care, abolition of the death penalty, affordable housing, a viable Social Security System, renewable energy, smart growth urban development, a living wage and pro-union policies, among many others.
In other words, what KennethParrot calls “class warfare and socialism”.
Some contributors find fault with anyone who identifies themselves as a “progressive.” Hmmmm. So I take it they support anyone who is “regressive”? That ought to get this city and state and nation rolling. Seems like we have been regressive to the nth degree already. The article mentions that Huerta was a staff member for Steve Pearce’s campaign. As I remember, Pearce is a Republican teetering on falling completely off the right wing extreme of the party. My question is: Why did Mr. Huerta reject this “regressive” (opposite of progressive) political stance? What converted him? I’m for anyone who is articulate, intelligent, and willing to work for hte people, and not just the party. I think, if he runs, Mr. Huerta will inject some interest from the voters into this election. It will be interesting for him to explain his view on the issues.
I think it is premature to infuse any idealogical attributes to him or accuse him of not taking a stand since he hasn’t technically joined the race. I, for one will look at what his announcement address will contain rather than speculating on heresay, which could simply be a tool of the opponents.
As far as the term “progressive” goes, I don’t think it is a narrow enough label unless you attach it to one of the myriad groups that are often opposite each other on what they deem “progressive”. As an example, “Tea Party Progressives” vs the local Progressive Voter Alliance who put the current Mayor and much of the City Council into office. I hardly think those two groups represent a single label of “progressive”. I am a Republican who considers himself a progressive voter and I for one, do not relate to the Tea Party Progressives or the local Progressive Voter Alliance even though I can see some good ideas coming from some of their platforms. I think a progressive is just that, someone who doesn’t tout a party line autonomically, but rather chooses to think for themself.
I remain open to change and am severely disappointed in the joke street they continue to put in downtown with no reall parking or shaded walkways, while they refuse to build the Plaza they received the money for from the State of New Mexico. That money was redirected by those in office now, along with those who recently left, before the “*$#!#” hit the fan. We are sitting on a rising total of what the New City Hall project really cost us, at over $40 million, when we were told it would only cost $24 million. Councillor Miquel Silva rose as a lone voice asking for an audit of why they went over 30% above the cost with out going back to the City Council for approval (this is called the GAP rule). He was shot down each time by the current City Council with comments that it was a waste of tax payers money to perform an audit of this out of control spending. The request was presented properly and was directed broadly at the several major projects we are all paying for out of our pockets with the same Architect and builders involved in all three, The City Hall, the Aquatics Center and the Convention Center.
I guess we should just go ahead with business as usual and support a City Council that is putting us into deep debt without any real public scrutiny, while they pass laws that make us feel more like a overpopulated coastal city such as installing Red Light/Speeding Cameras (against the state transportation departments recommendations), cell phone laws that now have people looking down at their laps instead of holding the phone to their ears and new rules coming soon that will make you pay to haul yard debris to the dump adding this in a year when everyone has a lot to haul off because of the big freeze.
I, for one wanted change and we got it, just the wrong kind of change.
Thanks Mick…Dyslexia strikes yet again. Won’t be the last time.
Progressive means “advocating change, improvement or reform.” The childhood poverty statistic alone is reason improvement is needed.
Rorschach1492 says:
Yeah Las Cruces, all we need here is another Bill McCamley and more of his far left liberalism. That’s what progressives call “outside the box thinking”. I call it for what it is: class warfare and socialism. Dr. J is right in saying that people around here are too smart to believe that junk.
@ MJM
correction: non partican election
Correction to your correction: nonpartisan election
As ever, Michael J. Flynn (a fellow fat finger typist with a spelling problem)
Heck, I’ll vote for him because he’s gay. Las Cruces could surely benefit from a little spice and color. Count me in!
correction: non partican election
A bit of tire kicking needed to check this fellow out. Competition is great. I agree there is no such think as a partican election.
I agree with Michael Hays and want to see a little bit more depth with this guy, but I would sure be wiling to give him a look. Miyagishima has been a waste, and I haven’t seen Connor offering much more. If Huerta can offer a little more McCamley-type perspective (outside the box thinking and willing to back ideas up with energy and drive) he just might end up getting my vote.
Mr. Huerta will simply play the role of a stalking horse for Dolores Conner. I wonder if our former mayor, Bill Mattiace will throw in his hat. That will really mix things up and turn the mayoral into a real horse race!
It really sounds like he rallied behind the political establishment in 2008, and now he is using the Obama “change” political strategy.
He seems like a smart person with and im sure he has some great ideas, but he is far from a “political outsider” that he is trying to portray himself as. he is an insider who is running for his first office, nothing more, nothing less. You have to be a political insider to even consider running for Chair of DPNM. The party loyalists will not stand for some newcomer trying to tell them what to do. You have to be part of the machine.
“We need for Democrats to come together to decide where our party stands” The democrats are still sharply divided as we saw in the last Chairman race. Gonzales only defeated Bregman by a narrow margin, (192 to 181) and if you count the 9 votes Leticia Montoya recieved you will see that he really only won the election by 2 votes. Half of the party does not like the current leadership, and the majority of that half was from the south. The fact that he endorses a chairman who the majority of CD2 State Central Committee members dislike shows that he might be a little out of touch with his base. The people who voted in the DPNM race are the Ward Chairs and Precinct Chairs, the foot soldiers of the party, and if you dont have the foots soldiers on your side to help you knock on doors and make calls, you cant win an election.
I agree with David’s comment, the City of Las Cruces needs some fresh blood. Miyagishima is bad for this city and Connors would be the same old same old. The Mayor and City Counsel have taken this city in the wrong direction. Let give someone with fresh ideas a chance.
This guy may as well admit he is a left wing liberal and be proud of it. Trying to fool voters about who you really are and what you stand for is usually not a formula for success. And tired platitudes about being non-partisan, concerned about all citizens, and putting the citizens above personal agendas and personal ambition doesn’t work either, people are too smart to believe that stuff.
Let’s drop the non-partisan line, there is no such thing as a non-partisan election.
A younger perspective would be good for the city. Someone not approaching retirement has more at stake in creating a bright future. The challenges that Las Cruces and New Mexico face require more creative, outside the box solutions than we get from the Mayor and Council now.
Regarless of the election’s outcome Huerta in the race will make for a much more substantive andlively debate.
Huerta, the anti-establishment candidate, the not-in-off-long candidate. So what? What are his views on the city and its future? What are his positions on major issues? I appreciate political analysis, but I would also appreciate some policy presentation (and analysis).
Huerta sounds as though he’s hoping to avoid labels.
Yet he identifies himself as a progressive on his Facebook profile. You have to be very intentional to do that so is he trying to have it both ways or is that an an oversight? While many progressives are inclined to shun the party ID or liberal/conservative label, it mostly says liberal democrat to many people.