SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - The Latest on the inauguration of a newly elected Democratic governor in New Mexico (all times local):
1:50 p.m.
Newly inaugurated New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is urging greater state spending on education, higher pay for low-income workers and a shift toward renewable energy production in here first public speech as governor.
In her inaugural address on Tuesday, the Democratic governor urged New Mexico residents to reimagine the state’s future and tap into multibillion-dollar state savings to expand early childhood education.
The top concerns outlined by Lujan Grisham include global warming. That marks a sharp departure from departing Republican Gov. Susana Martinez.
Lujan Grisham says she wants New Mexico to provide a “national example of what a clean-energy revolution looks like.”
She also has announced a goal to double film and television production within the state.
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11:00 a.m.
Political supporters are attending the inauguration of incoming Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham with expectations for change in the state’s approach to public education, gun safety, cannabis regulation and more.
Spectators from across the state filed into Santa Fe’s downtown convention center on Tuesday to the sound of mariachis and northern New Mexico folk music to hear Lujan Grisham’s first public address as governor. Lujan Grisham succeeds termed-out Republican Gov. Susana Martinez.
Deann Garcia of Santa Fe arrived early with her husband and two children to catch a glimpse of a governor she hopes will help legalize recreational cannabis to ensure full access for medical patients. The 30-year-old childcare worker also wants to see increases in teacher pay to improve public education.
A campaign volunteer for the new governor named Lorna Samraj wants to see action on issues of climate change and gun control.
The schedule for the inaugural includes comments from two “dreamers” who immigrated to the U.S. as children. U.S. Sen. Tom Udall’s wife Jill Cooper Udall plans to introduce Lujan Grisham.
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8:20 a.m.
Michelle Lujan Grisham has been sworn into office as the 32nd governor of New Mexico.
The Democratic governor took the oath of office in the Capitol rotunda shortly after midnight on Tuesday in a private ceremony attended by about 200 family members and friends.
The oath was administered by retired state district court Judge Sandra Grisham, who is the governor’s sister-in-law. Lujan Grisham concludes her third term in Congress as she takes over New Mexico’s top executive post from termed out Gov. Susana Martinez.
A public inauguration ceremony was scheduled Tuesday in Santa Fe.
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1 a.m.
The reins of New Mexico state government are passing from one Latina governor to another as Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham prepares for her inauguration at noon on New Year’s Day.
Lugan Grisham planned to take the oath of office in the pre-dawn hours on Tuesday at the state Capitol before attending a public inauguration ceremony inside a convention center in downtown Santa Fe amid forecasts for a winter snowstorm. Ballroom parties were scheduled afterward.
Lujan Grisham succeeds termed-out Republican Gov. Susana Martinez amid a wave of Democratic election victories to statewide offices. Lujan Grisham campaigned on promises to reform public education, provide universal access to preschool and modernize an oil-dependent state economy.
Cabinet appointments are pending at agencies overseeing public education, prisons, environmental regulation and child protective services.
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