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Real News For Real New Mexicans.
The Chile Wire with Abe Baldonado. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to The Chile Wire. This week, I have as my guest, Mira O'Connell, who is actually seeking candidacy as an independent for the US Senate race against Ben Ray Lujan.
Abe Baldonado:Mira, thank you for coming on the Chile Wire.
Mira O’Connell:Thanks for having me.
Abe Baldonado:My pleasure. Mira, before we get started, as a tradition here on the Chile Wire, I have to ask red or green?
Mira O’Connell:Probably neither.
Abe Baldonado:Oh, ouch. Ouch, everyone. Ouch. That's the first we've heard. Neither.
Abe Baldonado:Ouch. Alright, Mira. Well, we're gonna ask the audience to forgive you on that one.
Mira O’Connell:I just the as you get older, you get heartburn, and it's That's that's fair. It's just no fun anymore, so you just kinda say I'd rather not have to deal with it for hours afterwards. That that's fair.
Abe Baldonado:Mira, you're running as a candidate as a independent, also known as decline to state or DTS. We'll refer to it as DTS in the conversation. Just wanna get folks to know who you are, why you're running, and what motivated you to jump into this race against Ben Ray Lujan as an independent?
Mira O’Connell:Well, I'm Mary O'Connell, and I am a local business owner in the county of Torrance County, and I also was in law enforcement about fifteen years in New mainly with the Albuquerque Police Department where I obtained the rank of sergeant. And I just I'm definitely on the more conservative side as an independent. And the thing about independence, of course, it's it's a range. So and you can't really put us in a box, which is often why people are independent, because things are maybe often not black and white. But I just was, I was actually at the roundhouse, and I was, advocating against SB 17, which was the gun ban that they were proposing.
Mira O’Connell:And that's when the news broke that for the first time in statehood, there was not gonna be a Republican candidate likely to be in the race. So I was actually someone said to me, well, you should try to run, and I said, well, I'm not a Republican. And and I said, plus the deadline's already passed for that. But then when I started looking it up, the deadline had not passed for independents to run. Because in New Mexico, the major parties start around October, and they run through February.
Mira O’Connell:They have some different deadlines for, like, a second chance kind of thing. From my understanding, the gentleman that was trying to put in from Rio Rancho some of his wet signatures were disqualified, so he didn't quite meet the signature requirement, which is what led to what the news reported on that we weren't gonna have anybody. We know things have kinda turned out a little differently. Obviously, there's some other rules that are in place with the secretary of state for third, fourth chances for parties to get on the ballot, so they they went a different route. But that's what started it.
Mira O’Connell:But I will tell you, when I started looking into it, I felt like I was part of The Wizard of Oz, I pulled back the curtain, and I can never go back to realize how unfair and unjust it is for independents to try to run-in this state. I mean, it's across the country, but New Mexico is one of the worst states to run as an independent. We're in the bottom like four. I know it's probably surprising to hear that New Mexico's in the bottom of something, but we're in the bottom four for running, and so they make it very difficult, and one would probably argue impossible to run. So that's what started it all.
Mira O’Connell:I definitely was looking at trying to get a voice for independents I mean, and a voice for conservatives because I feel like there are conservatives, especially in the Democratic Party, that have left the Democratic Party from the rural area that are now independent. So it's hard to exactly pinpoint why people are independents because there's so many different reasons, it's very personal. But I do know that a lot of conservative Democrats that grew up Democrat for 15 generations have left because they feel like maybe the party doesn't suit their family values and their beliefs anymore. So to try to tap into that, I think, is super important for us as conservatives in New Mexico. And I had this idyllic idea, which of course is very naive, but what part of making change in life is not naive, but that we can maybe try to bring the conservatives together, Democrat, independent, and Republican, to try to see if we could get a conservative voice in Washington DC again.
Mira O’Connell:Since Domenici left, we haven't had anyone conservative in the Senate. And then of course in District 2, Yvette was there in 2016, So I I hear a lot and I feel I worked down in Lee County for a while, but they get very frustrated in the Southeast corner of our state as we hear through different things in the news. But it's basically taxation without representation. They get very frustrated affording the bill for the state. I think those three counties, Lee, Eddie, and Chavez, make up over half of our general revenues.
Mira O’Connell:Same budget?
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. That's correct.
Mira O’Connell:Then they of course have Pat Boone and the different people representing them at the roundhouse the best that they can, being in a minority, but they're not getting representation in DC. And so it's so frustrating to them, and I can understand that. And so I thought maybe this might be another way to look at it, try to be innovative, and try to be strategic. Political science is about strategy. We've seen many, over the years, strategies that different teams have had, and people have to come together that maybe don't like each other, maybe have different views, like LBJ and JFK and things like that, to strategize, to bring the bigger group together to have representation for a larger group.
Mira O’Connell:I thought that may work out. Obviously, it did not work out, and I definitely was not supported by you know, the Republicans were not very I don't think that they were very happy that I ran. But going into it, I thought maybe we could try to do something different, but it's hard to do things differently. People are very worried about change or fearful of change, especially the unknown, and independence are a real wild card. And so people, I think, generally tend to go towards fear.
Mira O’Connell:I started this out with that kind of in mind, but I did stick it out because I wasn't sure what was gonna happen at the primary, if they were gonna get their write ins, but I did stick it out more for trying to make change with independents, to run it for office in this state because it is so unjust, and it's such a huge disenfranchised group of people that I felt like we we need to try to start doing something. And and I appreciate that they've opened up the primaries semi open, but I think we have a lot of work to still do. So that's kind of why I stick it out. I did not get my signatures. We had to turn them in on the twenty fifth.
Mira O’Connell:So I did not get my signatures. I got 1,350 signatures, which I'm very proud of considering that largely they were my signatures. I got shut out from a lot of funding from people that we thought were gonna be, helping me and funding me due to partisan pressure. And we so I was mainly family and friends that were funding me, and then I did a lot of legwork while I was still running at my own company. So, you know, I was I've I had a great time, though.
Mira O’Connell:I will tell you that I had a great time. All the people I got to meet, I went to 11 different counties. I was able to get to 11 counties from March. We not start till March 2, and then we went to June 25. Then one weekend I was sick, but every weekend I was in a different county, more or less.
Mira O’Connell:I did bop into Burlington County a few times since it's the largest voting pool. Yeah. So
Abe Baldonado:Well, on that note, as we talk about independence, as you travel around the 11 counties, what were the feelings like from independents? Are they motivated? The are are they maybe low propensity voters right now that just haven't been engaged? Looking at the primary election, you know, I think there was this big assumption, by Sam Braigman, who was trying to really appeal to independents and some Republicans. I I think with some of his stances on certain things, he lost a lot of Republicans.
Abe Baldonado:But independents, I think he was really counting on them to show up for him. Looking at the numbers, it looks that maybe about 10%, maybe a little under, showed up during the primary election. I'm I'm guessing that during the general, we may see a little bit more. As we were chatting a little bit earlier before we started, maybe some of that is attributed to folks not being aware of semi open primaries. It seems like some folks maybe knew about it, but would love to get your thoughts, like what you experienced on the campaign trail.
Abe Baldonado:Where where are independents right now? And also, you know, loaded question, but why the independents that you've engaged with? I think the Democratic Party in New Mexico is so far gone, and I think they have lost a lot of like, they do not relate to moderate or conservative Democrats any longer. I think we're starting to see the New York effect here in New Mexico with the Democratic socialists taking over, and I think that is very dangerous. It's dangerous for America.
Abe Baldonado:It's dangerous for our values, and we'll go a little bit deeper in, but I know you're a big two way defender of that right that is given to us by our constitution and rightfully so.
Mira O’Connell:God given right.
Abe Baldonado:God given right. However, there are socialists out there that are really going after this. And, you know, I know a lot of people are saying, hey, that that's a bit much. Just call them socialists. And I'm like, no.
Abe Baldonado:They are. Like, they will tell you that they're proud to support socialism over capitalism. And unfortunately, they're misleading a lot of voters and a lot of folks who don't understand what socialism entails and why other countries have failed because of that system. But I I'll just turn it over to you. I know that was a pretty loaded question.
Mira O’Connell:There's about 12 questions in there.
Abe Baldonado:Questions. But maybe let's just start off your experience with independents. Are they motivated? How are they feeling?
Mira O’Connell:Well, on the campaign trail, I mean, just had an absolutely wonderful time. I mean, I I never would have thought that I would have had so much wonderful experiences campaigning for public office, but I really did. I and I I can't tell you that I per se had contact with independents versus Democratic Republicans because I just had contact with a lot of New Mexicans. You know? And sometimes they disclosed to me which party they were, and sometimes they didn't.
Mira O’Connell:So I knocked on doors. I stood outside of stores when a store would let me. I went to farmer's markets and festivals and things like that, wherever I could get access to people. And some of the more independent counties, such as Los Alamos and Dona Ana, I definitely had more people identifying as independent for sure. Los Alamos is very interesting because I think a lot of lay people might think it's blue, but if you actually look at the demographics from Secretary of State, it's almost like a third, a third, and a third.
Mira O’Connell:So when I was knocking on the doors in Los Alamos, obviously highest per capita Ph. D, so we had a lot of great conversations, a lot of civil discourse. I was very much impressed, and I left so many of these cities. Santa Rosa was really similar. So many cities feeling like such great interactions.
Mira O’Connell:We are being taught that we cannot get along, we're all so different, everything's so divided, but when you actually talk to people, know, knocking on the door of the Sanchez's, you know, and talking to the florist who's outside the grocery store, they're people. We're just people, and we want the best for New Mexico.
Abe Baldonado:What's best for our families?
Mira O’Connell:Best for our family. We want jobs. We want security. We want safe communities. And when you start actually identifying things that we have in common, they tend to be greater than what we don't have in common.
Mira O’Connell:I will say I had a lot of Democrats sign my petition, I had Republicans sign my petition, and Independents. Like I said, they often didn't tell me which party they were. And when they did tell me which party they were, it was usually because they weren't going to sign it. And so when they led with that, it was usually going to be a battle. Had people straight up, I'm Democrat, I've been a Democrat since forever.
Mira O’Connell:That didn't always preclude them from signing. As an independent, I could get any signatures, so that's one of their justifications to get so many. But the independents that I ran into but I I wouldn't say it was just independents. I would say people in general are just frustrated. They feel like they're being left behind in politics.
Mira O’Connell:The politics The politicians are not representing what they are anymore, what their communities are anymore. They're so far gone, and and in all reality, they don't have to care about their communities anymore because they don't get elected by the communities. They're getting elected by the parties. So they might go out and do this grassroots thing like I did the first time they run for office, and then you never see them again. And I think that is such a disservice, not only to the community, but to the candidate.
Mira O’Connell:Unless you're sitting there they do do town halls, obviously. But unless you're sitting there talking to these people and finding out the issues they have in Santa Rosa, the issues they're having in Vaughan and Encino and Berlin and Busquet Farms, then you're not really finding out what your constituents need and what they deserve and what they want you to represent them for in Washington DC or at the Roundhouse or wherever you're going to represent them. And I think that we have to get back to that. We have to get back to having those hard conversations. I went and walked seven hours around Nob Hill.
Mira O’Connell:You could have told me a year ago that I was going to walk around Nob Hill, and I was walking, like, you know, by Zinc and, you know, the co op and for seven hours and talk to people about politics. I would have said, no way. I would have been so scared, but as one Los Alamos lady said, she goes, you're brave. You know? Going door to door, talking to people about politics is not for the faint heart, And for but I I just have this I didn't take it personally.
Mira O’Connell:Very few people were rude to me. Very few. And it was mainly because I knocked on their door.
Abe Baldonado:So why are you bothering me?
Mira O’Connell:Well, you know, was just like, ring the doorbell. Was like, well, I did, but I you know? And so those were just a few people, but people and even in stores I would see I was in Las Cruces just the last weekend before we had to turn in everything, and I'm out in the 100 degree weather with my little canopy and my sign and my table. People just blow past you, but I always say, Are you a registered voter? And they say, Yes or no.
Mira O’Connell:I say, Would you be interested in helping an Independent get on the ballot? And it takes a minute to register, and some of them, they literally stop and turn back around. I saw that so many times. Yeah, I'll support an independent. I even had couples that went in and they came back out, Now, what are you talking about?
Mira O’Connell:And then they signed. But I think that one of the reasons, and these were not often independents that were supporting me, but they are tired of not being able to go to Thanksgiving and talk about politics to anybody, not being able to talk to their daughter anymore who's in college, having it affect our families, our communities, our churches, that we can't talk to each other, or we decide we're not going to talk anymore. And so I think people are tired of being pulled in two different directions. They often vote, not necessarily because they support that platform, but they feel like they don't have any other choice. And they don't want to support this far to that side, so they just support that side.
Mira O’Connell:And they don't have a choice really in what's going on with the platform, and they feel very I wouldn't say hopeless, but I would say that they just feel like they don't have much of a say in anything. I think that's why voter turnout is so low, and I think voter registration is so low. And we're seeing a greater and greater amount of registration every month, and it's largely independent because and I told one of my friends who's running for office for another spot, I said, why do you think people register as independent? They don't get any candidates. They don't you know, you can't get any funding.
Mira O’Connell:You don't get any cool parties like the Republicans and Democrats. So why did they do it? It's because it's a statement. I don't have control over anything else in my political life except how I register. And by me registering independent, I'm saying something.
Mira O’Connell:I'm saying, I don't agree with you and I don't agree with you, and I would really like it if y'all would start getting back on track with what most people are interested in having the politics about, which is about Middle America. Most people fall into middle Common Common sense. Pragmatic. I'm a very pragmatic person, and they just can't relate to a lot of what's going on on either side. I know I'm definitely more conservative, but both sides I feel like are becoming unrelatable to their main constituents, and they're mainly just focusing on the donors and the political party.
Mira O’Connell:I'm hoping that this might be kind of a reality check, this statement for both the parties, especially the Republican Party I would wish, since I'm a little bit more conservative, is that I hope that they're having conversations and saying, why are people voting independent? Why are people leaving the Republican Party? Or if the other party is asking the same question, why are they not when they're registering new people, why are they not registering with this? And I think that often the solution is, well, we gotta get out there and convert them. And I would hope that they would just say, why don't we just try to work with them?
Mira O’Connell:We are independent in thought, mind, and action. We're Americans. And we have over 200 Christian churches in this country. Why do we not just have Catholic and Protestant? Because people, everything is a little different.
Mira O’Connell:I like this one a little bit different. These are maybe a little different. This group does things a little differently. We like to have choice in this country. We like to have variety, and we thrive on diversity.
Mira O’Connell:I wish the political parties would understand that and try to cast a broader net, I guess is the best way to put it, instead of keep getting further and further in like a pigeonhole of this is you're not a true conservative unless you do x, y, and z. You know, the gatekeeping just gets very tiresome.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. Well, and I don't think anyone's ever true everything. I think we all have our issues that we have a different stance on. And so to say like I am just true 100% conservative all across everything, that that's probably unlikely. That that that's very hard to say.
Mira O’Connell:I agree.
Abe Baldonado:I I mean, I am conservative. I'm a Republican. But depending on the issue, you know, I I will have a probably a different perspective on education than you because I've been an educator. So my thought process on education policy might differ a little bit. And it doesn't mean that we have a different outcome.
Abe Baldonado:Think we want the same outcome. We want students to be successful. We want priority to be on students, not adults. I think we can agree on something like that. It's just how do we get there?
Abe Baldonado:And so I'm glad you brought it up because that was going to be my pitch is, you know and and I don't know how much of the independent block is also related to the automatic voter registration, how many people are actually disengaged and really don't care about politics. And so when they go do their MBD stuff, you know, they're just like independent. I don't you know, I'm not either wanted, but they're also not a high propensity voter either. So but it's just their thing of like, I'm not into politics, so I'm not Republican or Democrat and, you know, maybe they're they're not gonna vote. And so I don't know how much of that is attributed to the automatic voter registration.
Abe Baldonado:I do believe though that the democratic party, especially in New Mexico, is drifting further away than per se the the republican party. I think the Republican party in New Mexico has been very consistent on the issues in comparison to the Democratic party. My biggest question and what I wanna know, and this is why this is a great conversation to have with you as an independent, is you haven't felt the the appeal yet to even move over to Republican. And so what do Republicans have to do for those walk away Democrats? Not to go to the independent side, but say, hey.
Abe Baldonado:You know what? The Republican Party is happy to bring you in, and we wanna hear you. We wanna represent you. I know you said that really hasn't happened yet, but what would it take? What from your standpoint as an independent, because I really want Republicans to listen to this.
Abe Baldonado:I I I want them to hear from an independent that says, hey. Here are my expectations. Like, if you want me to join your movement and what you all are doing, and I guarantee you probably agree with them on most issues, but you're not a 100% compelled to say I'm a republican. I think there's a lot of folks out there that would feel the same way. How do republicans recruit them to say, hey, you know what?
Abe Baldonado:Vote for republicans. Go out. It's important. Right now, you you have to vote for Greg Hall because you're gonna get stuck with Deb Haaland, and that is terrifying.
Mira O’Connell:We definitely want Greg Hall. You know, I I think the key is conversion versus collaboration. And I think, you know, at being out in in the I hear lots of complaints about both parties from people. I think they feel, like, kinda safe with me or something. But, you know, I think maybe we should back off of the conversion.
Mira O’Connell:Let's work to try to get the vote, like you said. I I talk to candidates all the time. I encourage them. And and I'm not trying to be rude, but, I told, you know, one of the candidates on their their Facebook page, I said, you know, I see so many parties. They they have the party all the time.
Mira O’Connell:The Republican Party, Torrance County Publican Party, Don Hanna. You know, it's like that is when you're doing fundraising. You need other Republicans when you're fundraising. But when you're trying to get votes, you need to get more people involved. You know?
Mira O’Connell:Because an independent I don't wanna go to a Republican party. I don't wanna do that. I probably wouldn't have even invited one, so I wouldn't have even known about it. And but because I follow so many different kinds of candidates, I hear about them. So you're just basically targeting the group that's already going to vote for you.
Mira O’Connell:So we don't need to convince Republicans to vote for Republicans. We need to convince independents and conservative Democrats. And if you're a statewide election, you need to get up north to Mora County, San Miguel, Guadalupe. And I guarantee you, if you go talk to the Sanchezs like I did, the Flores is not going to top his door, they are going to talk to you because you did. I had so many of them say, We're going to vote for you because you came here.
Mira O’Connell:You talked to us. You cared about our community enough to spend time here and listen to us. And I think that's how you get across the bridge of politics, the partisan part, is go back to people. We're people. This Korean War vet came up to me in San Miguel County.
Mira O’Connell:I was outside of the grocery store. He said, I'm so and so, and I've been a Democrat since before I was born. I said, I have no doubt, sir. I said, I'm sure 15 generations you've been a Democrat. But if you sat down and talked to him about some of the platform issues, he may not get that, that that's what it's all about these days.
Mira O’Connell:Right? And so I think breaking down some of those barriers, going to the Fraternal Order of Eagles in Sammy Geller, the VFW up in Moore, these different places where you see these community members that have been hardcore into one, situation. And and I've heard about people trying to switch, it's super difficult in some of those communities. But when we have for the primary, since they're closed, you can't vote for whoever you want. You have to vote down the party line.
Mira O’Connell:But at the general election, your neighbors don't know if you voted for so and so or so and so. But until we get open primaries, you do have to pick. And so then you're missing a lot of people that could have voted for you. And as a conservative Democrat or a Republican, they could have voted for this conservative candidate regardless of what their party is. So I think that breaking down those boundaries, but I also think just and this is hard to hear.
Mira O’Connell:I mean, I'm not a republican. I've never been a registered republican. I've been a non party a third party since, '99 or something like that. So I've always been in the fray, you know? And but for Republicans, it's gonna be hard to hear.
Mira O’Connell:I'm sure some of your people on Instagram are gonna dog me on this, but I told I've told them. I said, gotta get more women involved, Especially in New Mexico, if you want to be strategic, you need conservative women involved.
Abe Baldonado:And
Mira O’Connell:don't get me wrong, we've got great ones.
Abe Baldonado:Have Bill Armstrong, Rebecca Dowds.
Mira O’Connell:Sure, sure. But you've got to run them for candidacy. When I was actually asked to do this, I sent the person who asked me a text message, and I listed Rebecca Dow and all these other women that could run. So you need more women conservatives. And guy that asked me that in Lea County, he said, Oh, well, we had Nelly Domenici.
Mira O’Connell:I said, Yeah, that's great. And then he proceeded to tell me all the things that were wrong with Nelly Domenici. And I said, see, that's why you don't have women in the party and you don't have women in candidates because you have to not only run them, you have to get them funding. Women are historically funded less than men across the board. Doesn't matter, Democrat or Republican.
Mira O’Connell:You've got to get them support, and you've got to respect them. You can tell when somebody talks about someone, Oh yeah, that lady, she's kind of crazy. You can tell they don't have that level of respect, So you kinda gotta bring it up. We gotta bring it up. Just by clear numbers, if you look at our legislation, I mean, 75% of New Mexico House of Representatives is women Yeah.
Mira O’Connell:But they're mainly Democrats. And 50% of the Senate is women. Like I said, we've got great ladies over there. Stephanie Lorde's my representative. She's a fiery kick ass woman, you know, and she works hard for us.
Mira O’Connell:So I think that's part of it. Would say people don't want this either. But to me, it just makes sense logically. The Republican Party would have to probably get a little bit more moderate.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. Well, and I do believe and I think we need to get younger people involved.
Mira O’Connell:Sure.
Abe Baldonado:We need younger men and women, conservative men and women to get involved. And so I hope people that are out there with moderate to conservative views or even just common sense, you know? I don't even want to say moderate anymore, liberal, conservative. I kind of even want to end that conversation. It's like, can we just restore common sense and common sense?
Abe Baldonado:Let's talk about what actually impacts you, the role of government, going back to the ideals of what separates Republicans and Democrats, historically. Right? Do you believe in limited government? Do you believe that government should be involved in everyday life? Okay.
Abe Baldonado:Well, if you do, then you're probably gonna like the Democratic Party because they wanna tell you how to live your life. Right. But if you believe in limited government, you believe in upholding the constitution, the rights given to you, then, yeah, you'll probably lean republican or conservative and, but it doesn't categorize you as to, like you know, and that's my biggest frustration, because even when I started this, I am republican. Now does that little letter next to my name automatically make you think what you know of me? You know?
Abe Baldonado:And I started this podcast almost two years ago now. It was interesting as I started speaking out on issues, how I was categorized as an individual, you know, and I think a lot of people that I've known over the years started seeing more of the r by my name rather than that's Abe, that's Abe, that's Abenicio, I've known him. You know, I trusted my kids to be babysat by him once upon a time while, you know, we were out or whatever, you know. And now it's like, oh my god, he's this mega, you know, white supremacist. And it's like, no, man.
Abe Baldonado:Like, I I care about issues. I'm I started this podcast to talk about issues to bring people together to find out how can we make New Mexico better because we're not on the right path. And I think we can agree on that, that we're not on the right path. Under a Deb Haaland administration, we will be on a very terrible path. It will not be, ideal for New Mexico.
Abe Baldonado:You can't elect a governor who wants to end the industry that provides the the money and resources necessary for our government to run and still believe that, hey. I'm gonna kill oil and gas, but I'm also gonna, you know, put more money into universal childcare. No. You can't have it both ways. That that it doesn't work that way.
Abe Baldonado:And so we just need some common sense to say, hey. Is this policy good or bad? And and what what's the long term impact of this? And and again, you know, even on social welfare programs, like, I I've told people, I know Republicans and conservatives for a long time now have gotten a bad rap that, you know, we're not empathetic enough. I and I actually argue.
Abe Baldonado:I said, no. I'm not empathetic. I'm compassionate because I believe that the people who need these programs should have access to it and it shouldn't be abused by people who shouldn't be on it.
Mira O’Connell:Sure.
Abe Baldonado:And that that to me is not not being compassionate. That is me being a realist and saying, look, these systems are unsustainable if we let them get plagued with abuse and waste and that that's our entire government. If we let it get filled with corruption and waste and abuse, we're gonna have a bigger problem on our hand. And so, again, I I just I have seen though the other side and, I mean, CNN did a poll on this that, you know, Republicans are still likely to be friends with their friends who are Liberals or Democrats. However, on the other side, if you are Republican, Democrats will refuse to be your friend.
Abe Baldonado:Like, they will disassociate with you. They will, you know, they won't have they won't look at like, hey. Mira is just a person. Abe is just a person. They're my friend.
Abe Baldonado:Now it's like, oh, no. They're they're they're Republican. They're fascist now.
Mira O’Connell:They're Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:They're terrible people. You know? And that's Absolutely. That that that's not doing us any favors. It's not helping us.
Abe Baldonado:It's not helping us locally. It's not helping us No. And who does that serve? Yeah. And it doesn't Who does
Mira O’Connell:that serve? Who is it serving for us to be that way? And, you know, like, who's driving this? I mean, I think that's the biggest thing we have to wonder is that you know, and I saw out on the campaign trail is that I mean, there were some Republicans that were rude to me. They were like, I'm Republican.
Mira O’Connell:I don't have anything to do with you,
Abe Baldonado:but what I often say about
Mira O’Connell:that's like More
Abe Baldonado:was people. I'm like, look. There's racism on all sides. I've been in circles with Democrats that have said very racist things. I've actually felt more uncomfortable in Democratic circles than I have in Republican circles.
Mira O’Connell:Yeah. But what I saw more was when I was talking to someone who was more left, they would usually ask me one question about something, and I couldn't even finish my sentence, and they were like, we're done. And I'm not sure. I was like, are they teaching you this thing? Because I saw it so mean, it it didn't happen so many times.
Mira O’Connell:And when it happened, they all said, I'm done. And I'm like, who's teaching you? The one lady in San Miguel, she said, I'm done. All I said was, I'm definitely more conservative. And she's, I'm done.
Abe Baldonado:The moment you said conservative, she's like, yeah. No.
Mira O’Connell:And I said, well, thanks for being so open minded. And so she went into the store, she came back out, she goes, well, I'm sorry, wasn't trying to be rude. I just said, I just wanna waste your time. And I said, well, to me it's concerning that we can't even have civil discourse. We can't even talk about things.
Mira O’Connell:And then she and I talked, she didn't sign my ballot, or my petition, but it's very concerning that people feel like they can just disregard individuals so easily.
Abe Baldonado:Well, would expect you to respect their opinion.
Mira O’Connell:Right.
Abe Baldonado:But the moment that you share yours, it's like, no, I'm done. Well, okay.
Mira O’Connell:That's always strange because, you know, I definitely have people that said from both sides, no, I only vote this way or that way, but this I'm done thing was definitely always they always had these left questions and as soon as I didn't say something that they didn't like,
Abe Baldonado:you didn't use the key phrase.
Mira O’Connell:I didn't use the key phrase. Didn't, you know, like I said, there was only one guy that actually we talked back and forth a little bit. Most of them, I could barely even get a sentence out.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. Are you inclusive? Are you empathetic? You know, those are their key words.
Mira O’Connell:Well, just ask the strangest questions.
Abe Baldonado:What are your pronouns?
Mira O’Connell:You you're like, What does that have to do with anything? You know, like, some of these questions were so strange, but they were like these trigger questions you could tell. They're just trigger questions. And so I just thought that was kind of interesting, but it was very rare that I couldn't have some kind of conversation with somebody. And Often I'm not just trying to convince them to sign my petition.
Mira O’Connell:To me it was greater than that. Is about maybe if we could understand each other better, then maybe we could have better relationships at work and in our families, and in, you know, the general public and being politicians have better relationships because it's very concerning to me, like, that all of our DC officials boycotted the last state of the union. To me, that is that was so disrespectful. And the way that I was raised and the you know, I have a very political family. Yeah.
Mira O’Connell:And we definitely do not agree on everything. I have both sides.
Abe Baldonado:But you respect The
Mira O’Connell:chief of command.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. The the commander in chief. Look. I I didn't agree with everything Biden did. You know?
Abe Baldonado:I probably didn't agree with most of it, actually. Same with Obama. But I real I still respected that they were our president. They were our commander in chief. And I had always hoped and prayed that they would lead The US in the right direction, that they would make the right decisions Right.
Abe Baldonado:On behalf of Right? Like, put Americans first, you know, always have that in mind. And regardless of who it is, you know, I didn't throw a temper tantrum in 2008 when I supported John McCain over president Obama. I didn't not show up to class the next day just to make a statement. No.
Abe Baldonado:I still went about my business. I respected the process, the electorate that said, hey. We want Obama. Okay. Well, Obama's our commander in chief.
Abe Baldonado:I hope and pray that he does the right things for America and that he leaves it in a better position than he found it. You know? And same goes with every president. And I I agree with you that it is unfortunate when you see elected officials kind of just spit in the face of that respect for the office, the the positions that they hold. Like, you were elected for the people by the people, and so there's this professionalism that we expect, and we don't see a whole lot of that anymore.
Abe Baldonado:We don't see that professionalism.
Mira O’Connell:How does that help New Mexico? How does that help us if you can't even work with opposition?
Abe Baldonado:And and what is it what's the trickle down effect is telling younger generations those actions are Absolutely. You know? Because then they'd say, well, in the workplace, I can do this because my representative, my congresswoman, my congressman, my senator did this and or to a teacher or to a parent, whatever it may be. They're saying, well, they said it's okay. Like, it's okay for them to do that.
Abe Baldonado:Like, why is it not okay for me? And I'm like, that's not the standard.
Mira O’Connell:No. It you know, and I feel like that's just this is what is happening in New Mexico is that we have and just if you look at the last presidential election, I think it was they say there's, like, 45% voted, red, and there's no representation in DC for this big group of people.
Abe Baldonado:Of the New Mexico voted for Donald Trump, which means that they had a not that they like Donald Trump, but the policies they agreed with more on the conservative side. And so they voted for Donald Trump over Kamala Harris, which I would, you know, pretty much say Kamala Harris, Deb Haaland pretty much the same. You know? Hey. Half of New Mexico, the 46% that showed up for Donald Trump, I hope you show up this election in in more numbers against Deb Haaland because that is a similar situation that we have here on a level that really impacts us.
Abe Baldonado:I I believe state level politics affects affects us more than the larger Washington DC. Like, yes, there's some impacts there, but, like, some of the hard hitting stuff really happens here at a local level. And so when you let your local politics get out of control, it can get very bad really quick because then there's state policies that impact you. You know, you can move to another state and say, hey. I'll be fine in Texas or I'll be fine in Arizona or somewhere else.
Abe Baldonado:Absolutely. And so a lot of our problems here in New Mexico aren't really rooted in DC. They're rooted here with the politicians we elect here. Yes. There are things that Washington DC, some decisions actually do impact, New Mexicans.
Abe Baldonado:I mean, the supreme court ruled on many things today. They woke up and they they made some a lot of decisions today that will have implications for people here in New Mexico. So there is that, but I want New Mexicans to understand that you have to get involved here because here, your governor, your state representatives, your state senators, your shoot, all the way down to your county commissioners, your city councilors. That's where the the real stuff happens and where you get a lot of the consequences. And so you have to get engaged, there there needs to be some accountability broken in.
Abe Baldonado:But you also have to pay attention to what people are saying and what they're doing.
Mira O’Connell:Well, I think the biggest thing that I saw, you know, I probably had contact with at least 3,000 people, is that people just bring up the hot spots and they're being hijacked. Both parties have these hot spots that people bring up, and not one person asked me what I wanted to do to help
Abe Baldonado:change education. Why are we not asking those questions? Like, what are the solutions? Right? And I I think
Mira O’Connell:this everyday for people. Like, people like you ask those questions, but not the person I'm talking to. They care about these hot button Mhmm.
Abe Baldonado:Issues that they see on media. Right? Exactly. See on the newspapers, on their news outlets. Like, those are the hot button issues.
Abe Baldonado:Oh, I gotta ask this because this is what CNN said or this is what Fox News said.
Mira O’Connell:Well, it's hijacking the whole platform because those are almost all completely done issues, one. And two, they don't affect day to day lives, right? Your children being able get a good education, or maybe going to college, or not being mugged when you go down to a certain part of Albuquerque, or not getting your car jacked, or not having water in Estancia, or not having any doctors, and not having any lawyers in rural New Mexico. These are all issues that they should be most concerned with. Occasionally when you actually sit down and talk to them about, and I usually had to ask them, What issues are important to you?
Mira O’Connell:Then I could get into some of the deeper ones. But when people were like, Tell me what's your view on this? They were always the hot button topics, and I was like, As a junior senator in the US Congress, I'm probably not going to have much say in any of those things that you're bringing up. I have funding. You have to be realistic.
Mira O’Connell:That's one of the things I see candidates do, especially junior candidates do a lot, that they say what they're going to do. But you should never say what you're going to do. You can say, I'm going to fight for. I plan on working on. I would love to see these changes.
Mira O’Connell:Because you have no idea which committee you're going get put on. Well, you should make
Abe Baldonado:promises that you can't keep. That's always been one thing that has, like, irked me is when I see a candidate say, I promise to do this and this. I'm like, dude, this isn't high school where you're you're gonna get you're gonna get Pepsi removed and bring in Coca Cola because I love Coca Cola products far more than I do Pepsi, so you'd have my vote. Yeah. For sure.
Abe Baldonado:But that that's not how this works. They're it takes time to it is hard to pass a bill. Yeah. Even at the state level, at the roundhouse, it is difficult to pass a bill. And you would be naive to believe that I'm just gonna go in and make all these changes.
Abe Baldonado:No. I'm gonna fight. I'm gonna be a voice. If I disagree in a particular piece of legislation, I will defend you. Like, I will fight And for if I know something that you don't, I'm going to come back.
Abe Baldonado:If you may be mad at me if I vote on this, I'm going to come back and tell you why I voted yes on this. I'm going to tell you what I saw in there because you're going to hear from the news media that, you know, a Baldonado and Mero O'Connell voted on this and not give the full context. Well, yes, I did vote on that. And I know it goes against what we what you care about, but let me tell you how that was gonna impact you if I voted the other way.
Mira O’Connell:Sure. Sure.
Abe Baldonado:You know? And we don't see a lot of that. We don't see the statesmanship or stateswomanship that we should expect of, hey. You know what? You're more at the forefront as an elected official to the policy, to to the wording in a bill.
Abe Baldonado:You know, I don't expect everyday New Mexicans to take time out their day to read a bill. So when they hear like, oh, you voted against us and I hear it's terrible. Well, I voted for it because this is how it would impact you. And let me and educate. Educate your constituents.
Abe Baldonado:And I don't see that anymore. Their their town halls are totally rigged most of the time, for very softball questions, you know, nothing hard hitting. I do believe that there is a diligence there that is required by our elected officials to educate your constituents that if you vote on a particular matter in any way, that you go back and you tell them why you did that because we don't see a lot of that. And a lot of times, there are gonna be constituents of yours that are mad that if you voted on a certain bill, but they need to really understand why you did that, and they deserve to know. And hopefully, would understand like, hey, you know, mister Tafoya, let me break this down for you.
Abe Baldonado:Why I I know you're hearing that, you know, I did something that you find that may hurt you. Actually, if I would have voted this way on it, it would have hurt you even more because this was in the bill. And this would have hurt you, and that's why I voted yes or no on this. Right. And I wish we saw more
Mira O’Connell:of that. We don't thing with funding. I think, especially with the senate, funding is huge. And so, you know, helping people understand why did you get funding for this project and not that project? Often, didn't have a lot of say in it.
Mira O’Connell:I see a lot of them taking credit for getting funding, which is probably part of a bigger bill, of course, and something that they maybe didn't have so much say in it, but they want to say, We got this funding. But you could help people understand, well, we had to allocate funding this time, and we're going work on this funding next time for that. And I think that that just doesn't happen, like you said. I feel like the reason it doesn't happen is that so many of the politicians don't have to worry about what their constituents thinks because they're not getting elected by the constituents. They're getting elected by the party.
Abe Baldonado:And that's what happens when you have low voter turnout, and that's why it's so important as a civics teacher. Absolutely. Once upon a time, voters have to go in. You know? It's a it is true.
Abe Baldonado:You know? Too big to rig. Right? Like, you can't rig it if you because it is the elector. It is the people.
Abe Baldonado:But if you only have the same voting block voting the whole time, then, yeah, you know, you can get this certain people elected. I think we the Democrats did that just now. Right? Like Mhmm. The Stephanie Garcia Richard endorsement, she was already handpicked.
Abe Baldonado:You know? Deb Haaland already knew she was gonna pick her. Harold Pope doesn't stand a chance. You know? And Maggie dropped out.
Abe Baldonado:And so it was already the electorate didn't make that decision. The state central committee is gonna make that decision to put Stephanie Garcia Richard in. And that should frustrate people. That should frustrate a lot a lot of individuals. Democrats, my friends who are Democrats, that should absolutely just irk you right now that they're doing that.
Mira O’Connell:You know? Pope supporters are very frustrated.
Abe Baldonado:And I and I I had a a former he wasn't a professor, but he worked at the college that I worked at. You know, he said both sides do this. I said, tell show me where Republicans have actually done this recently. Like, you know, can can you say that Republicans vote for certain Republicans? Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:Perhaps. But you don't see the state central committee making the decision on candidates on the Republicans. Right? Not right now in New Mexico. I mean, yeah, if someone happened to drop out, then, yeah, they would be forced to.
Abe Baldonado:But what we're seeing here is this, you know, to put it in New Mexican terms, it's it's a by Deb Holland's team to get who she wants and selected, not by the electorate, but by her to be her running mate to run the most progressive agenda, campaign. And, you know, they're they're gonna really double down on that. And so that should frustrate people. And so, yes, I I I think democracy is only as strong as the people defending it. Sure.
Abe Baldonado:And, you know, our our republic is only as strong as the people willing to defend it. And so we have to continue these conversations. And, Meera, I know we're we're coming up on time here, so I just wanna thank you. I I I hope you I know you didn't get enough petition signatures, but I hope you stay proactive Sure. To rally independents.
Abe Baldonado:I I hope that Republicans who listen into this, just listen in and maybe even extend an olive branch to you to say, Mira, here what can I do to win over independence? Can you help me? You know? Because I think those are conversations we have. And, honestly, right now in New Mexico, Republicans can't win without appealing to independents, and that's just the reality.
Abe Baldonado:And so how how do you talk to if you're a Republican, how do you talk to independents? How do you persuade them to at least vote for you? I'm not saying convert them, but have an honest conversation about the and have them vote for you to say, hey, you know what? Greg Hole will lead New Mexico. Him and David Gallegos will lead New Mexico far better than Deb Haaland and Stephanie Garcia Richard.
Mira O’Connell:Well, and don't get me wrong. I mean, I'm definitely you know, a lot of friends who are Republican. Yeah. And Well, that's all
Abe Baldonado:of us. Right? We have friends that are Republican and Democrat.
Mira O’Connell:And, I mean, I want the best for them. I mean, the the candidates that I feel like will do the best for us right now at a statewide election are Republicans. And I think that but I think the best thing is to ask. I mean, as an independent, I got five text messages before the primaries, and they were all Democrat people asking me to vote for them as an independent. So I think asking and getting out there and talking to us and not worrying about whether we're going to become a Republican or not, but worrying more about the vote.
Mira O’Connell:Because Greg Hull I mean, the numbers the math just does not math for Republicans for a statewide election. There's just not enough Republicans to win any statewide election, and that's just physics. I mean, it's just like, you can't say you're gonna throw the ball up and it's gonna stay up. It's gonna come back down. And so you have to get independents.
Mira O’Connell:You have to haul, you know, Cunningham.
Abe Baldonado:And you also have to steal some Democrats too. Yeah. Like, some Democrats that
Mira O’Connell:are best interest is steal some Democrats too.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. I mean, they may not be independents, but they're saying, hey. You know what? I'm not aligning with this Democrat party right now where it's at. So you have to appeal to them as well of, hey.
Abe Baldonado:You know, your party's leaving you. Vote for me. Like, I understand that we may not agree on everything, but here are some of the key issues that I care about, and I bet you we agree on them, and I would
Mira O’Connell:love to get your vote. I get that. Get outside your comfort zone, and I would also say, and I've told this to them too, is that I would stop with the Democrats did everything. Democrat. Democrats.
Mira O’Connell:Because I understand they're upset with the Democrats in the legislature, like the New Mexico GOP. But when they say that, they're really ostracizing just Yeah. Registered you know, say I'm frustrated with, you know, the majority leader or we're frustrated that this in this committee in it, but so often on the New Mexico, you know, house or what the Instagrams and Facebooks, it's always like, the Democrats did this, the Democrats. And I understand that they're frustrated and they are a minority and I it's very difficult to get things done, but they're putting off regular people by just and and they don't like it when they do it with Trump either. Like, they hate that the all the Democrats can say is Trump.
Mira O’Connell:Trump.
Abe Baldonado:Anti Republican. You're you're a Trumper. You're a MAGA. Right.
Mira O’Connell:So let's just try to say I'm frustrated with majority leader or the committee members stonewalled us or Yeah. You know, instead of just constantly dogging on them. I understand they think that they're appealing to people, but they're only appealing to more Republicans. So they need to appeal to people that are in between because most Gen Zers, they haven't left a party. They just have never picked one.
Mira O’Connell:So they have to decide. So you're trying to get them to come to you, and people really don't like the name calling. They really don't. It's very common in politics these days, but most people really don't like it. But I thank you so much for your time.
Mira O’Connell:Thank I'm excited for independence. We had 24 turned into candidacy, and as of this morning, 11 got verified as qualified, we're they're still qualifying. So, you know, we're at an all time high, and I think we're gonna see more and more independent voters and candidates. And, you know, I think it's a great way to put a, you know, third leg on the the stool instead of having a teeter totter. So I'm definitely pro, like, let's get more choice, give people more of a choice.
Mira O’Connell:And
Abe Baldonado:And earn a vote. I'm always all about earning a vote. You gotta earn the
Mira O’Connell:vote. Exactly. When people get complacent from either party, they don't earn your vote anymore. They don't earn the constituents' votes. They just get reelected over and over again, and then they are not serving us the best that they can as elected officials.
Mira O’Connell:So it's great to have competition. Competition breeds excellence.
Abe Baldonado:Well, and the thing is, Mira, you you hit a good point there, is when you're elected, you no longer just represent Republicans. You represent all New Mexicans. And so I think it's so important for our elected officials to always remember that is that you when you are elected, you represent your entire district, that's, you know, the Democrats and Republicans. And regardless of which one's the majority, you know, your your job is to represent them all to to the best of your ability. And, you know, obviously, there are tough decisions that have to be made sometimes at the roundhouse, and that's why I believe that component of educating your constituents is so important.
Abe Baldonado:I'll tell you, if I ran for office tomorrow, I I would make a commitment that, you know, I would meet with my constituents and I would tell them why I vote a particular way on a bill because that that is true transparency and that's what you should be because they are my bosses. You know, the people that elect me are my bosses. They're the ones that got me there. I work for them. And so you have to answer to So those
Mira O’Connell:That's how it should be. Absolutely. And shareholder input going into the vote. Like, we should get shareholder input. I feel like more of that should happen so that you know what they actually feel about the situation or the project or the windmill project or the solar farm.
Mira O’Connell:Instead of just saying, I know what's best for you, maybe let's get some shareholders in here from the community that can tell us the pros and cons or maybe from another project what has happened in that community that has caused problems afterwards that were unforeseeable or that they didn't realize that would happen. So I'm really big into community involvement and I'm an average person. I went out, I said, I want to try to do something different. I went door to door. I got 1,350 signatures.
Mira O’Connell:I mean, to me, I'm very proud of that, and that sends a big message that people can actually make changes. Absolutely. You know, if you want to make change, we we can try. I mean, you know, we get shut out and it gets hard for independence, but we're going to try to work on that too.
Abe Baldonado:Amen to that. Well, Mara, thank you so much for We stopping by The Chile look forward to seeing you staying proactive and appreciate it. And just thank you for even just taking that leap of faith to run for office. You know, everyone that's running, anyone that we've brought on to the Chile Wire, I I truly appreciate it. I know our team here appreciates it because it's not an easy thing to do.
Abe Baldonado:It's it's a big commitment. It's also one that, you know, I don't wanna say it's dangerous, but in the political world, the climate that we're in, there there are some times where it can look very grim and and very dangerous. And so to put yourself out there like that takes a lot of courage and, you know, just thank you for even just taking that leap of faith. We need more folks to get engaged, have conversations, and it just helps spark people to be more aware, like, hey. You know what?
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. Absolutely. I need to listen to more of what's happening. I need to have my finger on
Mira O’Connell:the pulse. It was a blessing and an honor, I will say. I just felt I think everyone should try it, should do it. Was such an amazing experience for me. And I don't know if I'll do it again, but I know I'll stay active.
Mira O’Connell:I've been active for a long time, and I'm sure that it's not the last they're going to hear of me.
Abe Baldonado:Mira's going to hold you accountable, everybody. Well, thank you so much. God bless you. You too. Y'all, that's it for this week's Chile Wire.
Abe Baldonado:We'll see you next time.