Elections

New Mexico Gov. Martinez says no to VP speculation

Alexis Levinson Political Reporter
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New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez threw cold water on speculation that she could be the running mate for the Republican presidential nominee, telling the Albuquerque Journal Sunday that family concerns would keep her in New Mexico.

Martinez’ sister is developmentally disabled, and the governor is her guardian. Their father also suffers from Alzheimer’s.

“The family has to be a consideration, and for me to take (my sister) to Washington would be to separate her from … the family that’s down there, and that would be devastating. I just couldn’t do it,” Martinez told the Journal.
Her father still recognizes who her sister is, Martinez said, despite his Alzheimer’s.

Martinez is the first female, Hispanic governor in the United States — and the first female governor New Mexico has ever had —putting her into several wildly-coveted categories for a vice presidential pick: Female, Hispanic and elected statewide in a swing state.

But she has repeatedly laid down outright rejections when asked if she might become the vice presidential nominee – unlike other potential picks such as Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who has repeatedly said no in a way that sounded a lot like saying yes.

Martinez has said she is committed to finishing out a full term as governor. Following her election in 2010, she said that leaving in the middle of the term to pursue the vice presidential nomination would set a bad example for young girls who looked up to her as the state’s first female governor.

“If I don’t do this (job as governor) right, then what are they going to think of me and the path that I’ve paved for them?” Martinez said at the time.

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