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Election uncertain, Trump manages to stay in play for now

Election Day ended with a cloud of uncertainty as Trump pulled ahead in southern swing states. The election now hinges on Great Lakes-adjacent states, including Pennsylvania, which are expected to continue processing mail-in ballots for the next few days. Trump sped ahead in Florida early on Nov. 3 as the state reported voting results at breakneck speed. North Carolina followed suit; as the majority of results poured in, Biden’s comfortable lead vanished and left the Democratic candidate lagging behind. Trump is projected to win in Ohio, Iowa and Texas, states that he led by a small margin in FiveThirtyEight’s polling averages.

Bacon, Thomson retain state Supreme Court seats

Nov. 3, 2020 may become in retrospect one of the most consequential days in U.S. political history, as 131 million voters turned out to vote on not only the presidential election but the smaller statewide races that happened across the country. This includes New Mexico, where voters weighed in on a number of judiciary members and state Supreme Court candidates. While the races within the judicial branch had multiple Republican challengers, the Democratic candidates still managed to hold on to their seats — in some cases, by the slimmest of margins.

Luján defeats Ronchetti to secure Senate seat vacated by Udall

In a congressional competition that was closer than expected, Democratic candidate Ben Ray Luján won the 2020 New Mexico Senate race over Republican opponent Mark Ronchetti and Libertarian Bob Walsh. The race was called by the Associated Press at 10:25 p.m. in New Mexico. Luján garnered 51% of the vote compared to Ronchetti’s 46% as of 9:30 a.m. on Nov. 4 with all precincts reporting. Walsh earned a meager 3% of the vote. Luján’s win ensures that the seat remains firmly in the blue, as the assistant speaker of the House is set to replace New Mexico statesman Tom Udall, who’s retiring after six terms in office.

Herrell wins hotly contested 2nd Congressional District seat

A historic election by any measure saw another milestone in New Mexico on Tuesday night, as the state will send the first all-women of color congressional delegation to the capital in January. The 2020 election marked another fierce faceoff between Democratic incumbent Xochitl Torres Small and Republican challenger Yvette Herrell after the two locked horns in the 2018 election. Herrell won the seat with 54% of the vote, ousting Torres Small by just over 20,000 votes in the sprawling, largely rural district. The results marked a shift back to power for New Mexico Republicans, who had previously occupied the traditionally conservative congressional seat.

UNM Dean of Students Office lifts ‘no contact directive’ on Daily Lobo editor

After seven days, blistering community critique and a Daily Lobo editorial condemning a “No Contact Directive” issued from the University of New Mexico to one of its editors, the University has reversed course and rescinded the order. On Oct. 28, Daily Lobo data editor Joe Rull was issued a No Contact Directive by the office of Dean of Students Nasha Torrez, an order that prohibited Rull from communicating online or in person with Student Fee Review Board (SFRB) undergraduate member Sall Ahmadian.

New Mexican filmmakers shine on the outdoor big screen

As night came, the silver screen glowed, outshining the stars and towering over the dozens of cars sprawled across the abandoned horse track at the Downs in Santa Fe. These moviegoers, who have long been deprived of their cinematic fix for more than half a year, found refuge in the hilarious, tragic and powerful short films created by local New Mexican talent on Tuesday, Oct. 20 at BITE SIZE, a drive in movie event by Jenn Garcia with Arabela Films and Alexandra Renzo. The evening at Motorama, a drive-in event series hosted at the Downs, started with the uncompromising voices of live poets and musicians like Ashley “SayWut?!” Moyer and Hakim Bellamy from the Albuquerque Poet Laureate Program. Other musicians like TwoLips orchestrated a groovy jive to the event with her sensuous funk and energetic soul.

UNM graduate Joel-Peter Witkin reflects on controversial photography career

Joel-Peter Witkin is a University of New Mexico graduate with a prolific profession as a photographer of taboo subjects. Witkin is known primarily for his ornately composed photographs of subjects ranging from socially outcast figures to deceased persons or body parts. One of Witkin’s most well-known pieces is “Le Baiser,” an image of a severed and halved head whose pieces have been faced toward one another in an apparent kiss. Such subject matter has led Witkin to face his fair share of critical lambasting, with a 1993 article in the New York Times claiming his “prettified and pretentious images do little to illuminate the issues of life and death they raise.” A later profile in the Seattle Times noted his work had been deemed “the snuff film of the art world.”

Nov 2, 2020 Comics

LETTER: The value of transparency

The University of New Mexico’s Student Fee Review Board (SFRB) was created to add the voice of our University’s students to the budgeting process. Through this board, the students’ representatives voice concerns and make adjustments to the use of the community’s student fees. The goal of the SFRB is to enhance UNM’s academic and intellectual environment by supporting student activities and organizations. While there are tough budget and management questions to be answered each year, this year presented difficult decisions based on a continued decline in student enrollment.

Harris’ VP candidacy carries torch for Albuquerque Asian community

Senator Kamala Harris was selected as the running mate for presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden on Aug. 11, after months of speculation between potential nominees. Following the announcement, the Daily Lobo met virtually with a number of local Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community members to talk about Harris’ cultural heritage and the connections her Indian ethnicity creates within and across the local AAPI community. Harris was born to Shyamala Gopalan and Donald Harris on Oct. 20, 1964 in Oakland, California. Her parents immigrated to the U.S. from India and Jamaica respectively in the early 1960s, a decade defined by the civil rights movement, according to the Los Angeles Times.

EDITORIAL: UNM administration flouts First Amendment with gag order on Daily Lobo reporter

Let it be known that there is no doubt that Daily Lobo data editor Joe Rull could quite easily “break the ankles” of any student government representative, for Rull is an absolute beast in the post, his footwork is immaculate and he knows every move in the book. In addition to reaffirming our data editor’s skills on the court, we must also make clear that when the University of New Mexico Dean of Students, Nasha Torrez, violated the First Amendment rights of a member of the student newspaper, she violated the rights of the newspaper as a whole.

UNM football returns, 38-21 defeat in San Jose extends losing streak

It’s been 335 days since the University of New Mexico football team last took the field, and a lot has changed since their last game. The most noteworthy change that occurred during the offseason was the departure of former head coach Bob Davie, who was later replaced by Danny Gonzales, a defensive coordinator for Arizona State and former UNM football player. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic initially canceled the 2020-21 Mountain West football season and delayed the start of the Gonzales era. The first game in the Lobo’s truncated season, meant to be played on the road against Colorado State on Oct. 24, was canceled due to the surging coronavirus case count in Bernalillo County.

UNM students divided over election

As the 2020 presidential election inches closer, the staunch political views of students amongst a hyper-politicized electorate have sparked tensions at the University of New Mexico. From Democrats to Republicans to every party in between and on the outside, UNM students are voicing their concerns about the upcoming election. Many individuals have said neither major party candidate — President Donald Trump or former Vice President Joe Biden — is their ideal choice. However, many have settled into voting for one of the two. Daniel Klause, a senior political science major, said Trump has his vote in November.

‘Sexual Citizens’ advocates for sexual assault reduction through campus redesign, better sex education

“Every single Black woman who we interviewed had experienced unwanted touching...and had had an experience that signaled to them that their bodies were not deserving of respect, ”Jennifer Hirsch told her audience of University of New Mexico staff and students on Oct. 21 during a virtual book talk on “Sexual Citizens: A Landmark Study of Sex, Power, and Assualt on Campus.” Elizabeth Dwyer Sandlin hosted the conversation where the discussion of race as one of several forms of power imbalance involved in sexual assault was just one of the many topics discussed. 

The Daily Lobo election guide: Bonds and the art of city maintenance

With early voting well underway — and set to end on Saturday ahead of Election Day — New Mexicans have a lengthy list of choices on the ballot designed to make improvements to the infrastructure, resources and livability of the city of Albuquerque itself. The following is a breakdown of what general obligation bonds are for, where the money would go if approved by voters and whether or not you should vote for a particular allocation of taxpayer-subsidized funding.

NMSU film festival takes aim at decolonization, oppression from feminist perspectives

Developed on the campus of New Mexico State University, the Feminist Border Arts Film Festival (FBAFF) has recognized the capacity of cinema as a creative platform to discuss social justice issues and representations of identity and difference for the past five years. Laura Anh Williams and Dr. M. Catherine Jonet, the creators of the film festival, originally partnered with 516 ARTS and the Guild Cinema to hold the first screening in-person at the Guild, which canceled early in the pandemic.

Albuquerque murals reinforce value of voting

Voting-themed art has been popping up around Albuquerque from local artists that want to remind New Mexico residents of the importance of voting in the general election. Murals and small paintings on buildings cover the avenues of downtown Albuquerque and Nob Hill, as well as some spots near Los Ranchos de Albuquerque. Artist Felicia Montoya, along with her husband Markus Wall and their daughter Eva and artist Kema, recently painted a mural on Fourth Street. The mural is colorful, with a Black Lives Matter portion and a voter registration box that sits next to large letters on the mural that read “vote.”

Potential Biden win floats possibility of Governor Morales

If the presidential election swings in favor of Democratic nominee Joe Biden and Donald Trump is forced to vacate the White House, New Mexico’s highest political office may see another transition in power soon after. In an August interview with Vogue, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham was asked if she’d be interested in the position of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary under a hypothetical Biden administration. “Like in the context of being vetted for vice president, I want them to look to governors, because the HHS secretary is going to have to immediately deal with COVID and a whole different strategy for public health,” she replied, floating the very real possibility that Lujan Grisham could exit the Governor’s Residence for a Biden cabinet position with two years left in her first term.

Oct 28, 2020 Comics

LETTER: Daily Lobo should remain independent and funded

For as long as Lobos can remember, the Daily Lobo has served a vital role in bringing thoroughly researched, necessary information to the student body. For nearly as long, we have seen this fundamental University function be threatened by the student leaders who are charged with representing us. These leaders have entertained defunding the Lobo. These representatives have accused the Daily Lobo of bias at times when their coverage accurately reflected political differences. In an era of “fake news” and populism, it is important to ensure that our government, down to the University level, is not involved in the media which aims to hold it accountable.