by Claudia Risner, USN veteran

The VMFC’s Bylaws prohibit us from endorsing candidates in a primary election. Once the June primary results are available, the caucus will invite any Democrat an opportunity to seek our endorsement. This is how the 5-step process works:

1. A congratulatory email will be sent to each Democratic candidate for NM House, Senate and any of our Congressional Delegates who are up for re-election explaining the process in mid-June.
2. Candidates who reply, join the caucus, and pay annual dues will be sent a questionnaire regarding priority issues for VMF in NM.
3. Candidates who submit their responses will be invited to a short Zoom interview (10 minutes) in 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 (500-600 members) 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 canvas, call, text, and integrate with the campaign team. Our goal is to complete the process by mid-September.

FAST TRACK

We offer a fast track endorsement to those NM Representatives and Senators who we endorsed in the last election and who voted 100% of the time to support our priority legislation – our Champions.

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.