(AP) — Candidates for governor of New Mexico are making last-minute appeals for support at polling places and restaurants in Albuquerque. Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham stopped at a coffee house in the Barelas neighborhood Tuesday to eat and shake hands. Campaign spokesman James Hallinan says Lujan Grisham voted in the afternoon along with family members at …

Thanks mostly to oil and gas, legislators will have $1.2 billion or more in new money to divvy up in the next session. After the bruising budget cutting of just a couple of years ago, it’s enough to make legislative finance people giddy. But they’re not giddy. They and we have gotten a lot more realistic about the cycles of …

Ex-Democratic governor backs GOP’s Pearce Democrats say the endorsement of Republican gubernatorial hopeful Steve Pearce by a former Democratic governor is connected to the former governor’s son losing the Democratic nomination for governor. However, in a news release issued Sunday by the Pearce campaign, Pearce said former New Mexico Gov. Jerry Apodaca, a Democrat, is a great New Mexican and …

Pearce would replace teacher evaluations By MORGAN LEE, Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Pearce said Thursday he would immediately suspend New Mexico’s embattled teacher evaluation system if elected. He said educators are being judged unfairly as the state struggles to improve student academic performance. Pearce, currently a U.S. congressman, said he would he would devise …

Oil and gas lobbyists spend big on campaigns, PACs By Steve Terrell The New Mexican Oil and gas industry revenues pay a huge share of the money that goes into the state budget. And lobbyists for big oil companies pay a huge amount of campaign contributions to New Mexico politicians. An analysis of lobbyist expense reports filed in recent days …

Court gives Congressman Steve Pearce access to campaign cash SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A federal court is allowing Republican U.S. Rep. Steve to access nearly $1 million in campaign funds that he collected while in Congress to use in his run for governor of New Mexico. A U.S. district court judge on Tuesday blocked enforcement of limitations on campaign …

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Republican Congressman Steve Pearce kicked off his campaign for governor of New Mexico on Monday, giving up a firm hold on a vast congressional district along the U.S.-Mexico border. He is the first to seek the GOP nomination to succeed second-term Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, who by law cannot seek re-election in 2018. Pearce will …