The more things change, the more they stay the same.
A divided country offered a huge surprise in national elections, delivering the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives to Donald Trump and the Republicans. A gerrymandered New Mexico delivered all three Congressional seats and one Senate seat to the Democrats, where just over two-fifths of voters are registered with that party.
The Republican victory wasn't a tidal wave. But in today's polarized times, a popular vote win of 51% plus 277 electoral votes seems massive. President Trump has posted his best results yet. American voters have spoken.
I expected Republicans to take the Senate, and as of this writing, Republicans were on the verge of taking the House. Given the example of New Mexico and one-party rule, I don't believe this is a great way forward for the country. The opposing party's voice should be heard and bring meaningful debate and today's political climate does not allow for that.
I think the most immediate concerns for every day Americans will be in the form of tariffs. If the highest number floated during the campaign is actually passed, 20%, is enacted, we will see almost immediate inflation. Let's hope that was just a campaign promise and not real policy.
We could hope that a unified Congress will act for the first time in decades to enact real immigration reform that reflects current realities and stop the current model of bouncing between executive orders from successive administrations. In addition to relevant-for-our-time immigration policy with regard to a guest worker program and even-handed asylum policy, there is a need for clear communication of these policies in transit countries.
In New Mexico, it appears the legislative supermajority that would have prevented the overturn of a gubernatorial veto has not been achieved. That is something. However, when every statewide office, the governor's office, the state Senate and the state House are controlled by a party in which significantly less than half the state is registered, one has to question the principle of "one person, one vote."
This concern is further exacerbated on both sides of the aisle when one looks at the number of uncontested legislative races. More than half of them – 27 in the Senate and 38 in the House - were uncontested. With no choice at all, voters have no voice at all.
I want to point out a very interesting element in the 2024 New Mexico campaigns. Peter St. Cyr, for New Mexico In Depth, did some excellent reporting on money in this year's races and showed that nearly $2 million went to two campaign consulting firms, one Republican, one Democrat. The money was funneled primarily via the legislative caucus campaign committees and associated PACS.
This sounds like the same old story, right? But let's bring the lens closer. The Republican firm is Rival Strategy Group. Its principals include a former GOP state legislator, Yvette Herrell's former chief of staff and former Iowa Republican congressman Rod Blum's chief of staff. Rival had received $885,000 for this campaign cycle as of the publication of St. Cyr's article.
The Democrat firm is Advanced Legislative Leadership Services (ALLS) and its past and present roster include a sitting Democratic legislator, one of Gabe Vasquez' staff members, and a staffer on the NM House Democratic Campaign Committee and other young politicos. ALLS' campaign earnings had reached over $1 million at the time of St. Cyr's article.
Sure looks like a revolving-door political jobs program to me. Sort of like, I don't know – a machine system. Like Tammany Hall except instead of construction jobs, the contracts flowing out are for content creation and media buys. Regardless of the money spread, I don't like it.
The machines had mixed results. I was so hopeful for Nella Domenici's candidacy. Her experience in global business would have provided her media and crisis training and experience far beyond what her campaign staff seemed to offer. When her own views and personality showed through in her ads and appearances, she shined. Her campaign seemed to get hamstrung in the same old MAGA-lite tropes that haven't worked in New Mexico statewide races for the last few cycles. They didn't work for her.
If you want to fight the machine, you will pay a price. We all saw the lawfare drama around Jeff Apodaca's "dark money" New Mexico Project. The goal of The New Mexico Project was to support pro-business candidates in New Mexico. Quickly an ethics complaint was filed demanding that Apodaca disclose his donors. Strangely, in my mind, Apodaca refused. It seemed a misguided hill to die on because I couldn't imagine what donors could possibly be that shocking.
As it turned out, as the case unfolded and Apodaca finally disclosed the donors, there was nothing shocking. The New Mexico Project's donors were everyone's donors, the largest being – wait for it – oil and gas companies.
We also have seen a machine develop in the RNC – the chairwoman is Donald Trump's daughter-in-law. Before that, it was Ronna McDaniel, Mitt Romney's niece. We need to do better than patronage and nepo babies to represent half the voters in the country.
Nationally, the Democrats needed to look back to the summer of 2023 and make the hard decision they put off until the first presidential debate of 2024. Kamala Harris simply didn't have enough runway to get her campaign off the ground, or let voters get to know her.
Even though I left my party, and I don't care to join the Democrats, I still have hope in the two-party system. I'll continue to share facts in this column as I see them unfold, and work hard for my two businesses to create jobs and help my customers in an ever-changing world. I invite you to do the same – talk about the facts in front of us and keep working hard as well as working smart, as Americans do.
Merritt Hamilton Allen is a PR executive and former Navy officer. She appeared regularly as a panelist on NM PBS and is a frequent guest on News Radio KKOB. A Republican for 36 years, she became an independent upon reading the 2024 Republican platform. She lives amicably with her Democratic husband north of I-40 where they run one head of dog, and one of cat. She can be reached at
