New top NM House Republican relying on rural roots, common sense in leadership post

MAGDALENA — As she travels her sprawling House district that stretches from the Rio Grande to the Arizona border, Gail Armstrong is equally at home talking about heifers and filibusters.

The first woman to be elected as New Mexico House Republican leader in state history grew up on a ranch between Datil and Pie Town.

Long drives, bumpy roads and spotty cellphone service are parts of everyday life in Armstrong’s district, and she says, only half-jokingly, that AI to her usually refers to artificial insemination of cattle, not artificial intelligence.

“We love this way of life,” Armstrong said during a recent interview at the ranch that she and her husband built their home on.

“I think it’s my mission in life to teach people about rural New Mexico,” she added.

Since being appointed to the House in 2017, Armstrong has been a staunch defender of rural ways, including local schools that use four-day school weeks.

She has also been a reliable Republican vote against bills dealing with firearm restrictions and abortion rights.

But Armstrong has, at times, teamed up with Democratic lawmakers in proposing changes to New Mexico’s child welfare agency and foster care system.

Now she’s in charge of a caucus energized by the November election results but still significantly outnumbered at the state Capitol.

As House GOP floor leader, Armstrong said she’ll be open to compromise with majority Democrats in the Legislature, citing a positive working relationship with House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, and others.

House Majority Leader Reena Szczepanski of Santa Fe said in November she saw a ”lot of potential” to work with Armstrong on issues.

But Armstrong also said she’s not afraid to butt heads with Democrats and members of her own party.

“Being the leader, I have to be a little more aggressive than I’ve been in the past, and I’m willing to do that,” Armstrong said.

“I’m not the bombthrower, but I’m not afraid to stand my ground,” she added.

An unlikely path to politics

While growing up, Armstrong and her siblings had to travel about 90 minutes each way to school, a journey that included driving to the bus driver’s house and then continuing on to school.

“We were the first ones on and the last ones off,” she said. “It was dark when we left and dark when we got home.”

She met her husband, Dale Armstrong, at Quemado High School and the high school sweethearts got married when Gail was 18 years old.

She gave up a full-ride basketball scholarship to a college in Kansas in order to start a family, and juggled duties as a new mom, ranch overseer and bookkeeper when her husband started a new business in Albuquerque.

That business, TLC, a plumbing and utilities corporation, eventually grew into one of New Mexico’s largest such firms with offices in Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

Armstrong and her husband also own about 10 other businesses, including a hotel and a gas station in Magdalena.

The two, who have four adult children, have about 1,000 head of cattle on their ranch, which has a conservation easement on it that prevents future development.

The ranch has several full-time employees and uses a pipeline system to maintain watering stations for wildlife.

“When you call 911 out here, you’ve got to be able to figure it out yourself,” Armstrong said, adding that deer, mountain lion and other animals are frequently spotted near the ranch.

The road to the Roundhouse

The House District 49 seat that Armstrong represents had previously been held by Don Tripp of Socorro, who served two years as House speaker after Republicans won control of the chamber for the first time in 60 years.

Armstrong jokingly blames Tripp for launching her political career.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be in politics,” she said.

She said Tripp recruited her to be his successor, and she eventually relented and agreed to go to work for him for two years in Santa Fe.

When Tripp stepped down after Democrats regained control of the state House in 2016, Armstrong was ready to fill the void.

“It is an addiction that is hard to suppress,” Armstrong said of politics.

For his part, Tripp recalls taking Armstrong to political fundraisers and said he valued her opinion during his two-year stint as House speaker.

“She brings some common sense on how things should work,” he told the Journal. “I think she’s ideal to be in leadership.”

He also said that Armstrong was drawn to the legislative process, but not as a way to boost her sense of self.

“It wasn’t to fill her ego, it was to do good,” Tripp said.

After several years as a legislator, Armstrong experienced several leadership changes in the House Republican caucus as Democrats gained seats in the Albuquerque metro area and solidified a comfortable majority in the 70-member chamber.

Given that backdrop, she started a political committee called Lead New Mexico Action Fund that spent more than $115,000 during last year’s general election cycle targeting five contested House seats.

While a Republican only won in one of those five seats, Armstrong said it represented a starting point.

“We didn’t lose them overnight and we’re not going to gain them back overnight,” she said, referring to the GOP loss of 13 House seats from 2016 to 2019. “But we’re chipping away.”

She also said the political committee was not intended to curry favor for her bid for a caucus leadership post, but rather to try to bring more of a political equilibrium to the state House.

“We need more balance,” Armstrong said.

The political committee got roughly half of its money from the California-based oil company Chevron and from her husband, Dale. It spent most of its money on campaign mailers, digital advertisements and door-knocking for five different GOP legislative candidates.

A common sense approach to government

When it comes to her approach to politics, Armstrong said it’s not all that different from being a mom.

“You cannot keep listening to the noise,” she said. “Just bring back common sense.”

She bristles at some stereotypes of rural New Mexico, including that ranchers do not value conservation, but she said some rural communities have become too reliant on specific industries.

“I tell people, we learned from doing things wrong,” she said, referring to the economic devastation the town of Reserve experienced in the 1970s after the declaration of the spotted owl as an endangered species led to the closure of the town’s sawmills.

Armstrong values relationships and attended the Roundhouse training for new legislators before the start of this year’s 60-day session in an attempt to get to know new Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike.

She also knows the waiters and most patrons at the Eagle Guest Ranch restaurant in Datil, where she and her husband held their wedding reception and recently celebrated their 40th anniversary.

Over a cheeseburger lunch, Armstrong talks about her grandkids, the latest New Mexico political news and what to expect during the 60-day legislative session.

She said she knows she won’t be able to return to the ranch often during the busy session, but will carry some basic rural values with her.

“You can get your point across and not be a jerk,” said Armstrong.