Governor endorses former Taos mayor for return to office

TAOS — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham weighed in on another 2025 New Mexico mayoral race this week, lending her support to former mayor and state legislator Dan Barrone, who is vying against three other candidates to lead the Town of Taos.

“Experience matters,” said Lujan Grisham, who attended St. Michael’s High School in Santa Fe with Barrone. “As a mayor, county commissioner, and state representative, Dan Barrone knows how to get things done. He’s worked at every level of government and built partnerships that have delivered concrete results for the Taos community.”

Barrone, a local business owner, served as Taos mayor for two terms, from 2014-2022. He lost his bid for a third term to Pascual Maestas, who announced early in his tenure he would not be seeking re-election.

Maestas’ time in office was marked by a reintroduction of paid parking downtown, new field and event fees, the more than $2 million purchase of a shuttered bank building on Taos Plaza, and the exodus of key town staff, including a town manager and marketing director.

A longtime local politician, Barrone himself is no stranger to public scrutiny. He told the Journal he’s running on a platform that emphasizes “listening more and bringing our community back together.”

“You know, since COVID, our community has become fractured, and nobody really talks about that anymore,” he added. “Nobody communicates, and I’d like to rebuild that trust in government and in our people. It’s one big family.”

An endorsement from the state’s top executive, he said, was meaningful not only for his campaign but for the municipality if he’s elected.

“It’s very exciting when you have a governor that supports you,” he said. “You know there’s support through the state. We’re all competing for state money, for additional monies for our community.”

In 2019, Lujan Grisham picked Barrone to fill the District 42 New Mexico House of Representatives seat vacated by longtime Taos County politico Roberto “Bobby” Gonzales, who the governor appointed that same year to serve out the term of late Sen. Carlos Cisneros, D-Questa. Gonzales was reelected to the District 6 position in last year’s election, and Kristina Ortez now represents House District 42.

Other candidates in this year’s Taos mayoral race include Judi Cantu, current chair of the town’s Historic Preservation Committee and a former town councilor; former Taos County Commissioner Candyce O’Donnell; and Marietta Fambro, a town councilor, mayor pro-tem and former finance director for the town.

“This mayoral race has been challenging because I am not your typical political person,” Fambro told the Journal. “I am a worker bee down to the roots, a home-grown girl who just wanted to run for mayor because she feels that she has the experience, especially the financial piece, plus everything that I’ve been through, to lead this town.”

Early and absentee voting opens Oct. 7.