SEIU doesn’t list NM as battleground state

June 23rd, 2012 | Add a Comment

SEIU, one of the most politically powerful unions in the country, unveiled its list of states where they will be putting their GOTV resources. And, in what should now be a familiar refrain to New Mexicans, New Mexico was not on the list of battleground states.

All indications are that President Barack Obama will easily defeat former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in November and pick up New Mexico’s five electoral votes.

From the SEIU announcement:

The majority of SEIU’s efforts will be focused in Colorado, Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.

“There is a lot at stake for my family in this election and the difference between where President Obama stands and Mitt Romney’s policies couldn’t be clearer,” said SEIU member Samara Knight, a nursing assistant from Cleveland, Ohio.

With the presidential decision in New Mexico looking like an almost-certain Obama win, the attention will instead go towards the Senate race. Already hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on the race — and we are still four and a half months away from election day.

The 1st Congressional District, in the past a key battleground district that was decided by thin margins, now looks to be a safe Democratic district. Interestingly enough, the district’s current U.S. Rep. Martin Heinrich is facing off against his predecessor, Heather Wilson, in the high-profile U.S. Senate race.

Wilson looks to make a Republican hold the district again after Tom Udall took the open seat from retiring Sen. Pete Domenici in 2008.