Democratic Party of New Mexico

Democratic Party of New Mexico
Chairperson	Richard Ellenberg
Senate leader	Peter Wirth
House leader	Brian Egolf
Headquarters	3200 Monte Vista NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Ideology	Liberalism Progressivism Social liberalism
National affiliation	Democratic Party
Colors	Blue
Seats in the Upper House	26 / 42
Seats in the Lower House	38 / 70
Website
www.nmdemocrats.org

The Democratic Party of New Mexico is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the state of New Mexico, headquartered in Albuquerque. The party is led by Chair Richard Ellenberg. New Mexico's Democratic Party has had many historical developments throughout the years to put the state where they are today due to certain groups formed and individual people that have made contributions to the party. New Mexico's Democratic Party leans on the liberal side when it comes to their ideology and how they lean on certain stances throughout their state. New Mexico's Democratic Party tries to hold a certain structure when it comes to the policy committees the party focuses on.

In January 1912 New Mexico joined the Union. Over the years it has participated in 25 presidential election through 2008. Obama won over John McCain in 2008 which gave a shocking new result for New Mexico. New Mexico has always been known to be a swing state but after this election it seems as if the state is starting to begin to lean more Democratic then Republican. This could be a result due to the Hispanic population growing in the recent years.

In the early 1900s Octaviano Ambrosio Larrazolo involved himself in making many contributions to the New Mexico Democratic Party. The contributions he made had many long-lasting effects on the constitution of New Mexico. He worked very hard to make sure that the rights of all Spanish-speaking New Mexicans were upheld through the 1910 document. Octaviano even had effects on the Bill of Rights, he made sure that when writing it with others in the Democratic Party to make sure it protected and guaranteed the political, civil, and religious rights of all Spanish and Mexican descent. This change made their constitution quite different then other American States. Larrazolo even became governor of New Mexico when he was elected in 1918. During his period of time being governor he was well known for making his decisions and laws based on principle rather than on partisan politics.

Although he had many contributions for New Mexico he was criticized by many people for some of the things he did. Labor activists did not like his declaration of martial law during the time of a coal minders strike and corporations were not happy for his supporting s strong state income tax law. He even vetoed a Republican bill passed by the state legislature which condemned the League of Nations. After this, many of his earlier supporters were angry by this decision. After all his negative backlash from his party members and outsiders Octaviano decided during the Constitutional Convention to leave the Democratic Party. This decision was mostly due to opposing the democratic delegates decision to black ratification of the constitution. He later joined the Republican Party and remained a Republican for the rest of his life.

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Wikipedia