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Thursday, November 04, 2010
A New Role Model
By Leslie Linthicum
Journal Staff Writer
It was a foregone conclusion that New Mexicans were going to make history Tuesday and elect the state's first female governor.
As it turned out, New Mexicans also made American history by electing the nation's first Latina governor.
Susana Martinez, a 51-year-old lawyer, made little of being Hispanic or of being a woman as she sought the governor's job. As far as I know, she never volunteered either quality as a reason for voting for her. And when asked about how she thought her gender or ethnicity might shape her outlook, she deflected the question and instead talked about wanting change in Santa Fe.
But on Tuesday night in her victory speech, she took time to savor the historical importance of her achievement.
"This victory tonight says something, that someone who grew up in a working-class family a few miles from the border can achieve anything," she said. "I hope the message sent to all those children watching tonight is: The American Dream is alive and well, and with hard work, dedication and honesty, everything and anything is possible in the greatest state in the greatest nation on earth."
Regardless of party affiliation, Hispanic women were enjoying the moment on the morning after election day. I stopped in at Garcia's Kitchen north of Downtown Albuquerque to talk to some wise Latinas about one of their own breaking through another barrier.
There was 17-year-old Cristal Tovar, another working-class girl from Las Cruces, who was fiddling with her iPod and smiling from ear to ear. The message she took from the election?
"It's motivating. You can do anything you want if you set your mind to it. It makes me, like, happy because it makes me think I could do something big like that now."
Theresa Baca and Josie Maurino, two 50-something Albuquerque government workers, were feeling good, too.
"It's about time, you know," Baca said. "Not just the fact that she's Hispanic but that she's a woman. I think women need to start taking a stronger presence in government, because it does affect us all."
Maurino, a Democrat, started out supporting Denish but switched to Martinez, although she said ethnicity wasn't the reason. She said she was looking for someone she thought would help struggling families and liked what she saw in Martinez.
Baca pointed out the obvious challenge for anyone breaking through a gender or racial barrier — you get held up as an example.
"It can make or break us," she said. "It will be a test, really, for her. The test will be the next four years."
Maria Elena Chavez, a medical center supervisor, voted for Martinez and was happy about history being made.
"I think it's great," she told me. "It sets a good example."
Her luncheon companion, Aracely Aragon, who was raised in Mexico, was feeling mixed emotions. "I really wanted Denish to win," she said. "I think (Martinez) is going to do a lot of bad things to Mexicans, like taking their driver's licences away and things like that."
She likes the idea of a Spanish-speaker in the Governor's Office and a Latina in a high position. She just wishes it were someone else.
I heard that sentiment echoed by several Hispanic women who are Democrats.
Laura Gomez, a professor at the University of New Mexico Law School, is a Democrat who supported Denish, but she's also a Latina who likes to see Latinas succeed.
"I can't say I'm totally enthusiastic, given my politics," she told me. "But it is still exciting, and it is still a wonderful thing." She was imagining how she would feel on inauguration day when it became real: "Wow, a Latina is governor."
Even Mary Jane Garcia, a Democrat and longtime state senator from Las Cruces who hammered Martinez pretty hard during the gubernatorial campaign, was seeing a bright side of Martinez's victory on the morning after when I reached her on the phone.
"I'm proud that New Mexico made history in that fashion with the first Latina," Garcia said. "We all have to be proud about that."
If you had asked me 10 years ago if I thought New Mexico would elect a Hispana governor, I would have said of course, and I could have given you a handful of names of women I thought might eventually win the seat. Martinez — not a Democrat, not in statewide politics, not a native New Mexican —would not have been on the list.
But here she is — a working-class Spanish speaker with family roots in Mexico and 25 years in southern New Mexico — and she's made history.
Haley Barbour, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, came out early Tuesday night, predicting even bigger things for Martinez.
"Susana Martinez was a star for Republicans this cycle," Barbour said. "The Democrats threw everything they had at Susana, because they recognized the bright future she has in the Republican Party."
Martinez, even back in law school, told people she'd like to be president someday.
UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Leslie Linthicum can be reached at 823-3914 or llinthicum@abqjournal.com.
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