New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham says Democrats have room to improve when it comes to Latino voter outreach.
“I think we can do better,” Lujan Grisham tells Mary Louise Kelly. “So I would give us a C+ in COVID, which I think is a strong response, but there’s room to be an A+.”
Lujan Grisham is the first Democratic Latina governor in the country and has been praised for her management of the coronavirus pandemic in New Mexico — which likely helped her land a spot on presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s short list for the vice presidency.
She says she was impressed by the messaging out of the convention’s first night, but says the Biden campaign needs to go further.
“You have to remind people what’s at stake,” she says. “They’re doing that, but they also have to motivate us about why we can make a difference. When we talk about racial injustice, we have to make sure that you’re talking about all communities of color who want to talk about racial injustice — talk to the Hispanic communities in New Mexico and immigrant communities and Native American communities.”
Some activists have been upset at the relative lack of Latino speakers at the Democratic convention. Lujan Grisham is set to address the convention tomorrow night.
Lujan Grisham says ensuring Hispanic-owned small businesses get their fair share of federal procurement contracts would be a good policy starting point. Lujan Grisham says that would be a game-changer, particularly in a state like New Mexico that relies a lot on federal funding.
“We have a lot of federal dollars flowing through here, but are they getting the women-owned — in particular Hispanic women-owned — businesses? No, they’re not. And if they’re going to dedicate their efforts to doing that across federal government, that can make the difference between real equity in a business and businesses with that kind of equity could have survived in COVID.”
Looking ahead to November, Lujan Grisham also tells NPR that New Mexico is prepared to handle the onslaught of mail-in ballots expected to flood election clerk offices this fall.
“We had a primary that had a thousand percent increase in absentee ballots,” she says. “We’re announcing today that members of our congressional delegation are personally inspecting post offices, so I think we are one of the most prepared states. But federal interference isn’t something to take lightly, which is why we’re going to do these independent inspections. We think states who don’t do that are putting themselves at great peril.”
