Candidate Endorsement Process

by Claudia Risner, USN veteran and Chair VMFC

The VMFC’s Bylaws prohibit us from endorsing candidates in a primary election. However, since we have the results of the 4 June election, we have offered any Democrat an opportunity to seek our endorsement. This is how the 5-step process works:

  1. A congratulatory email was sent to each Democratic candidate for NM House, Senate and our Congressional Delegation who is up for re-election explaining the process in mid-June.
  2. Candidates who replied, joined the caucus, and paid annual dues were sent a questionnaire regarding priority issues for VMF in NM.
  3. Candidates who submitted their responses will be invited to a short Zoom interview (10 minutes) early September.
  4. Our Candidate Endorsement team will build a slate, our Exec Comm will vote to approve it, and the slate will be sent to our full membership (+550) for their vote to approve/not approve the slate.
  5. Those who complete the above steps successfully will be endorsed, and we will send out graphics for yard signs and social media. They will be listed on our website and VMFC members in those districts will be invited to help canvass, call, text, and integrate with the campaign team. Our goal is to complete the process mid-September..

FAST TRACK
This year we offered a fast track endorsement to those NM Representatives who we endorsed in 2022 and who voted 100% of the time to support our priority legislation – our Champions. 14 Fast Track candidates have already been endorsed!

COUNTY, MUNICIPAL, AND LOCAL RACES
Democratic candidates for County, Municipal and Local offices who wish our endorsement should reach out to us at nmvetscaucus@gmail.com. Provide a photo, name of the office sought, and link to your website and/or social media.

We are honored to be able to help get supportive candidates first across the finish line in November. We very much appreciate all of their hard work and look forward to working with you.