Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham faces off against Republican Mark Ronchetti in New Mexico's gubernatorial election
- Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is running against Republican Mark Ronchetti in New Mexico's gubernatorial race.
- The state voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in every election cycle since 1992, excluding 2004.
Democratic incumbent Michelle Lujan Grisham faces off against Republican Mark Ronchetti in New Mexico's gubernatorial election.
New Mexico's gubernatorial candidates
Grisham is the 32nd governor of New Mexico. Prior to being elected governor, she represented the 1st Congressional District in the US House for three terms and chaired the Congressional Hispanic Caucus during the 115th Congress.
Before joining Congress, Grisham was a member of the Bernalillo County Commission and also served as head of New Mexico's State Department of Health from 2004 to 2007 under Gov. Bill Richardson.
Grisham was elected to the governorship in 2018, becoming the first Democratic Latina to be elected governor in the country's history.
Ronchetti, Grisham's challenger, is a certified meteorologist and worked as the chief meteorologist for Albuquerque's CBS and FOX affiliates. He was the Republican nominee for US Senate in 2020, and was defeated by Sen. Ben Ray Luján, then-incumbent representative for New Mexico's 3rd Congressional District.
New Mexico's voting history
President Joe Biden had an 11 percentage point margin of victory in 2020, and the state voted for the Democratic candidate in seven of the last eight elections — in 2004, George W. Bush won the state by a slim margin of less than 1% of the vote.
The money race
According to the Albuquerque Journal, Grisham has so far raised in excess of $11.1 million, as of October 3. Her opponent, Ronchetti, has raised more than $7.8 million, as of October 3.
What experts say
The race between Grisham and Ronchetti is rated as "lean Democratic" by Inside Elections, "lean Democratic" by The Cook Political Report, and "leans Democratic" by Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.