Governor Martinez – Understood Policy Success Is Linked to Political Success
Governor Martinez was an exceptionally strong political force during her tenure in office, winning critical elections in a blue state and working to promote common-sense policy reforms.
Martinez won election in 2010 as an underdog candidate, first winning a five-way primary and then defeating the incumbent Lieutenant Governor in the general election.
Unsurprisingly, leftwing special interest groups immediately set their sights on destroying the Martinez governorship and blocking her policy reforms. These groups spent millions of dollars attacking Martinez and even went so far as disseminating stolen emails.
Martinez refused to allow these attacks to go unanswered. Understanding that policy success is directly related to political success, Martinez formed and supported political committees to support her agenda and help elect like-minded allies to support and enact her agenda.
Governor Martinez became a founding member of the Future Majority Project with the Republicans State Leadership Committee. This committee focused on recruiting female and minority candidates for state legislative offices nationally and with a strong focus in New Mexico.
In 2012, her political action committee was active in both primary and general elections for the legislature. Correctly anticipating an aggressive challenge by leftwing progressives against more moderate Democrats, the Martinez-backed PAC was active in eight Democratic primaries, winning seven of them. Many of the moderate Democrats she backed became crucial to passing historic tax reform in the 2013 legislative session.
During the 2012 general election, the Martinez PACs defeated the Democrat Senate President Pro Tem, the Democrat Senate Whip and finished the cycle with the highest number of Republican legislators following a presidential election in state history. New Mexico was one of only four Obama-carried states to see an increase in Republican legislative representation.
Also in 2012, Governor Martinez gave a primetime address at the Republican National Convention that was widely praised from pundits across the country.
Martinez’s re-election campaign won re-election with 57% of the vote, carrying 28 of 33 counties and winning 49% of the Hispanic vote in the state. This was the biggest landslide victory for a Republican running for governor in New Mexico in modern history.
Not satisfied with a lonely victory, Martinez was very active helping to elect Republican state house candidates. Her political efforts were crediting with winning Republican control of the state house for the first time in 60 years.
In 2015, Martinez was elected Chair of the Republican Governors Association for the 2016 election cycle. With Martinez as Chairman, the RGA set fundraising records and saw unparalleled electoral success, with Republicans holding 34 Governorships following the 2016 general election.
In New Mexico in 2016, her political team defeated the Democratic Senate Majority Leader and helped elect the first Republican state Supreme Court Justice in 30 years and the first ever female Republican to be elected to the state’s highest court.