With early voting underway in the midterm elections, and Election Day fast approaching, the race for governor remains competitive between Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and her Republican challenger Mark Ronchetti. While Libertarian candidate Karen Bedonie is polling in the single digits, and didn鈥檛 appear in either televised debate, if she pulls enough votes from the major candidates, her support could affect the election鈥檚 results.
At Coronado Mall in Albuquerque, Bedonie said she鈥檇 been enjoying being 鈥渁mong the people鈥� for an afternoon amid a busy campaign. She asked to meet outside the mall鈥檚 bookstore because she鈥檚 a big reader.
鈥淚t's always non-fiction because I want to know the truth about things and perspectives,鈥� she said. 鈥淓specially with history, American history 鈥� how it ties into Native American history.鈥�
Bedonie is a citizen of the Navajo Nation and lives on the New Mexico portion of the reservation. She says the difficulty of providing for her eight children is what pushed her into politics.
鈥淥ur family is the most important thing in my life, and that's what really put me on the political trail because politics began to impact our lives when we couldn't make enough money,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o then I started to branch out into small business, trying to supplement, and that's when I ran into politics head on 鈥� the red tape that stops you, the one that taxes you to death.鈥�
She started out studying engineering at Northern Arizona University. But it was high pressure, and she says there were liberal studies prerequisites that taught ideas she didn't support, including theories about gender. So, she decided to take a vocational path instead.
鈥淚 ended up going into construction technology and I became a supervisor. So, I was building homes in the early 2000鈥檚,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd we already own our own plumbing company, me and my husband. We've been building it from the ground up.鈥�
When asked what message she鈥檚 trying to get out to voters ahead of the Nov. 8 election, she said it鈥檚 that she鈥檚 the option on the ballot that 鈥渋s the pure representation of New Mexico.鈥�
鈥淚 am about oil and gas. I'm about the agriculture. I'm about creating jobs,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e need to stop depending on the government and supplements. But then we need to start enriching and creating generational wealth.鈥�
She said it was those economic ideas, as well as the fact that she is conservative on social issues like opposing abortion access, that made her gravitate toward the Republican Party. She initially tried to run for Governor as a Republican, but said she faced opposition from the party itself.
鈥淭hey were going to do whatever they could to make sure I didn't make it through into the primaries,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o I thought, 鈥榃ell, why do I keep fighting this?鈥� And so I thought about it and I thought, 鈥極kay, there's three major parties in New Mexico, and the Libertarians don't have a candidate.鈥欌��
So she switched sides. However,like New Mexico's sole Republican Congressional Representative Yvette Herrell, Bedonie has cast doubt on the validity of the 2020 presidential election.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency the 2020 election to be the 鈥渕ost secure in American history,鈥� and have found fraud claims unsubstantiated.
Bedonie bases her skepticism on her own personal observations. When asked if she believes Joe Biden rightfully won the 2020 presidential election, she said no.
鈥淣o, because we were on the ground campaigning and 鈥� you know what 鈥攚e didn't see any Biden very much of anything,鈥� she said. 鈥淗e didn't even campaign. He didn't even have a team on the ground.鈥�
She also said that she believes that Dominion vote-counting machines are not certified correctly and that she witnessed ballot harvesting in 2020, echoing widely disseminated fraud theories that have been debunked by .
Bedonie is also not vaccinated against COVID-19, believing the vaccine causes strokes among other ailments. While recent clinical studies published in and have shown an increased risk of certain strokes after receiving the Pfizer vaccine, the risk is actually substantially higher for those who come down with a COVID infection. Bedonie was hospitalized with the virus herself and fought to be treated with Ivermectin, which the FDA has not authorized for use against the virus and is not shown to be effective.
One of the highest profile moments in her campaign came when a Republican party official filed , alleging that her campaign illegally coordinated with a group not registered with the state鈥檚 campaign finance system that paid for a billboard in support of her. She denies the accusation.
Though have her garnering the support of between three and seven percent of likely voters, she says she鈥檚 determined to keep campaigning.
鈥淭he polls aren't necessarily accurate,鈥� she said. 鈥淥n the ground, you got people flying flags. You have so many people out there that, yeah, I'm seeing an actual difference between the polls and what's really happening in reality.鈥�
While elections do bring surprises, a Bedonie win is far-fetched. But that doesn't mean her run doesn't matter, as any votes she鈥檚 able to win could make an impact on the election overall.
鈥淵eah, we鈥檙e going to make an actual statement in New Mexico,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd I think the people are ready for that.鈥�
The Your New Mexico Government project is a collaboration between 九色网 and New Mexico PBS with support from the Thornburg Foundation.
