Tonight, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham skewered TV weatherman Mark Ronchetti in the second and final gubernatorial debate. The Governor sharpened the contrast with MAGA Republican and weatherman Mark Ronchetti, delivering a triple knockout on issues from protecting women’s rights, health care, and public safety spending.

“Ronchetti has promised to ban abortion, embraced fake electors who attempted to overthrow the 2020 election, and proposed a budget that would ultimately lead to billions in cuts for classrooms, hospitals, and law enforcement officers – a troubling trifecta for New Mexico,” said Daniel Garcia, Communications Director of the Democratic Party of New Mexico. “These extreme views alone make the choice clear for New Mexico voters: a second term for the Governor.”

Ronchetti during the first debate and in campaign ads has promised New Mexicans he’ll send them a constitutional amendment to ban abortion but has never said what that amendment would include.

“After campaigning with fierce anti-choice advocates like Mike Pence and Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, Ronchetti has left no doubt how much of a hard-liner he would be on reproductive rights, yet he continues to duck and dodge questions about the specifics of his abortion ban,” Garcia said.

Ronchetti has accepted and refused to return thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from fake electors in New Mexico, who signed documents that aimed to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in New Mexico. He even took a contribution from John Eastman, an architect of the January 6th coup attempt. President Biden won the state by 10 percentage points and Ronchetti has given no indication he would stand up for democracy in the face of such attacks.

Ronchetti also tried to spin his own budget plan to no avail in the debate. “Ronchetti’s costly, underdeveloped policy proposals would have to be balanced by draconian cuts to education, public safety, and health care,” Garcia said. “His plan makes it clear: Ronchetti either doesn’t understand how balancing a budget works or just doesn’t care. Either way, his approach is wrong for New Mexico.”

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