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Much of Dow’s campaign consisted of advertisements notable only for nastiness and deception.

For instance, Dow in a broadcast ad claimed “Jaramillo voted to allow radical, irreversible transgender surgeries on minors without parental consent.� No such vote occurred in the state Legislature. If it had, the story would have led the morning news of CNN, NPR and Fox.

Dow constructed another of her broadcast ads to claim Jaramillo was guilty of unethical or perhaps even criminal conduct. Dow’s paid narrator intoned: “How did Tara Jaramillo afford a mansion, a vineyard and a ranch in Socorro? By funneling over $1 million in taxpayer dollars from state contracts into her pocket. Tara Jaramillo, too greedy and self-serving to send to ·è¿ÍÖ±²¥ Fe.â€�

Jaramillo’s businesses in Socorro include a preschool with state contracts. Dow ran a faith-based preschool that also received government contracts.

Jaramillo was never accused of wrongdoing in her business dealings with state government. Dow cannot say the same.

When Dow was a state legislator years ago, she was paid by her school while representing it before state agencies.

That led to allegations of official misconduct against Dow. She resolved them by paying $500 in civil fines for two violations of the Governmental Conduct Act. Dow also paid more than $4,100 in court sanctions for refusing for seven weeks to testify in a court-ordered deposition.

Despite that backdrop, Dow claimed Jaramillo was the one who could not be trusted. Dow’s accusation of Jaramillo “funneling� seven figures into her pocket was baseless but effective.

Dow for three terms represented a different version of House District 38. She gave up the seat to run for governor two years ago.

After Dow lost badly in the Republican gubernatorial primary, Jaramillo won a close race for the redrawn state House seat.

In a devious move after the last U.S. census, majority Democratic legislators redrew District 38 to cut Dow’s home out of the territory. She had to move to reenter the district, composed of parts of Doña Ana, Sierra and Socorro counties.

Jaramillo ran a cleaner campaign than Dow. But politics is a dirty business, and Dow did whatever she deemed necessary to win. It’s not a badge of honor, but for Dow, the end justifies the means.

In another section of Southern New Mexico, Democrats botched their chance to hold the seat in Senate District 28.

The sitting senator, Democrat Siah Correa Hemphill, withdrew her candidacy after the primary election. Legislators in New Mexico don’t receive a base salary, and Correa Hemphill needed to go back to a paying job to help support her family.

In her place, a group of eight Democratic Party Central Committee members chose Grant County Commissioner Chris Ponce as the replacement candidate.

Ponce had the support of the most influential member of the committee, Lt. Gov. Howie Morales. That helped Ponce secure the nomination over a young female applicant.

Ponce was a flawed candidate. He had a personal bankruptcy in his background. Worse, a 20-year-old old lawsuit by female police lieutenant in Silver City finally received media attention this fall.

The lieutenant claimed she was harassed by high-ranking male officers, including Ponce, who was a captain, and for a time interim chief of police. Beyond that, the woman in her federal lawsuit accused Ponce of participating in a romantic relationship with a police department clerk and threatening over a police radio to harm the clerk.

Ponce told me he didn’t remember much about the lawsuit except it was settled out of court. Silver City officials said they destroyed the settlement agreement.

All of this was a bonanza for Republican Senate candidate Gabriel Ramos, also of Silver City. He used to be a Democrat. Ramos briefly represented District 28 as a Democrat who was appointed to the seat.

Ramos as a Democratic senator voted to keep on the books a 1969 law criminalizing abortion. Correa Hemphill trounced him in the Democratic primary of 2020. Ramos bolted to the Republican Party after that.

Republicans hungry for legislative pickups will celebrate their two big winners.

Dow bludgeoned her foe with false claims. Ramos sat back and watched while the Democrats fed him a patsy.