Blue Land of Enchantment Lures Sad Texans : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F6e%2F3d%2F44842b2148e09e43f9bcc25c3a4f%2Fnpr-nmtx-20250409-02.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F6e%2F3d%2F44842b2148e09e43f9bcc25c3a4f%2Fnpr-nmtx-20250409-02.jpg" class="img" alt="A view of Santa Fe from the Cross of the Martyrs monument in Santa Fe, New Mexico." fetchpriority="high"/> A view of Santa Fe from the Cross of the Martyrs monument in Santa Fe, New Mexico. So many Texans have fled to New Mexico's capital that some people are calling it "Austin West". Adria Malcolm/for NPR conceal caption

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Adria Malcolm/for NPR SANTA FE, N.M. — The solar is sinking behind the Jemez Mountains as a gaggle of Texas expats gathers with their pint glasses inside a Santa Fe brewpub to contemplate the state they deserted, and the state they now name residence.

"I used to be very proud to be a Texan and by no means actually thought we might depart, however the political local weather grew to become so conservative it felt oppressive to me," says Nancy Fuka, a licensed quilt choose. Her husband, Kent, a retired enterprise capitalist, provides, "You could not pay us sufficient to maneuver again to Texas at this level. The emphasis of basic faith simply grew and grew."

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb5%2F33%2F21182ad448f7a16401561a930c2b%2Fnpr-nmtx-20250409-74.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb5%2F33%2F21182ad448f7a16401561a930c2b%2Fnpr-nmtx-20250409-74.jpg" class="img" alt="Kent and Nancy Fuka pose for a portrait " loading="lazy"/> Kent and Nancy Fuka pose for a portrait inside Nuckolls Brewing Firm in Santa Fe, New Mexico. "You could not pay us sufficient to maneuver again to Texas at this level," says Kent. Adria Malcolm/for NPR conceal caption

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Adria Malcolm/for NPR One other couple chimes in.

"Politically, I wasn't that conscious of how blue New Mexico was till I moved right here," says Donovan Kolbly, a software program developer.

"I take a look at New Mexico, which is a poor, rural state — sorry, I am gonna get teary," says his associate, Stephanie Bonzek, a household nurse practitioner, choking up a bit, "however they maintain making an attempt to do the precise factor!"

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F70%2Fd6%2F13593bc2434b911dae2b6762f8ef%2Fnpr-nmtx-20250409-66.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F70%2Fd6%2F13593bc2434b911dae2b6762f8ef%2Fnpr-nmtx-20250409-66.jpg" class="img" alt="SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO - APRIL 9, 2025: (L-R) Stephanie Bonzek and partner Donovan Kolby pose for a portrait inside Nuckolls Brewing Company in Santa Fe, NM on April 9, 2025." loading="lazy"/> Stephanie Bonzek and associate Donovan Kolby pose for a portrait inside Nuckolls Brewing Firm in Santa Fe on April 9. Bonzek says they moved to New Mexico as a result of the state is "making an attempt to do the precise factor." Adria Malcolm for NPR conceal caption

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Adria Malcolm for NPR In polarized America, persons are sorting themselves. Conservatives are fleeing California, as an example, for Idaho and Texas. And a few Texas liberals are in search of an exit.

The Land of Enchantment has quietly develop into a blue refuge within the MAGA pink West. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a diminutive, firebrand Democrat now in her second and final time period, has notably welcomed refugees from Texas: girls in search of abortions, households wanting to guard trans youngsters, docs in search of a freer medical atmosphere, and disconsolate liberals.

"Individuals are in search of out states within the West the place the skies are extremely blue," says Grisham, 65, in an interview in her Santa Fe workplace. "We have got 4 seasons, pleasant individuals, free faculty, free common pre-Okay. ... And we'll be a secure haven for reproductive well being for girls and their households all throughout America."

So many Lone Star liberals are fleeing excessive summer time warmth, big-city sprawl and Texas MAGA-style politics that some people have began calling Santa Fe "Austin West".

Based on the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2022 and '23, extra Texans moved to New Mexico—nearly 34,000—than from every other state.

The official Texas response — meh. Final summer time, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, reacted to Gov. Grisham making an attempt to lure Texas docs to New Mexico: "Folks and companies vote with their toes, and regularly they're selecting to maneuver to Texas greater than every other state within the nation."

Certainly, 34,000 Texas exiles over two years is a drop within the bucket in comparison with the 50,000 individuals who transfer to Texas each month.

And within the spirit of don't-let-the-door-hit-you-on-the-way-out, just a few years in the past there was a billboard within the Texas panhandle beside the interstate heading into New Mexico: "Liberals, Please proceed on I-40 till you've got left our GREAT STATE OF TEXAS."

New Mexico authorities is deep blue, which is uncommon for a rural state depending on oil and gasoline, farming and cattle. And, from the governor, to the congressional delegation, to the state legislature, girls dominate elective workplace. In reality, New Mexico has the biggest feminine legislative majority within the nation.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F9f%2Fbf%2Fbc2f314b4198949dc248c7c3fbce%2Fnpr-nmtx-20250409-41.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F9f%2Fbf%2Fbc2f314b4198949dc248c7c3fbce%2Fnpr-nmtx-20250409-41.jpg" class="img" alt="SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO - APRIL 9, 2025: New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham poses for a portrait in her office inside the Roundhouse Santa Fe, NM on April 9, 2025. CREDIT: Adria Malcolm for NPR" loading="lazy"/> New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who has earmarked state cash for 2 abortion clinics, poses for a portrait in her workplace contained in the New Mexico State Capitol, often known as the Roundhouse, in Santa Fe. Adria Malcolm/for NPR conceal caption

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Adria Malcolm/for NPR New Mexico has handed a few of the strongest legal guidelines within the nation to ensure adults and kids entry to gender-affirming care, to guard LGBTQ+ people and to enshrine authorized abortion. In reality, Grisham is utilizing state funds to construct two reproductive well being care clinics that may carry out abortions. One is in Las Cruces, a brief drive from the Texas border.

"Everybody has the liberty to decide on the well being care that is proper for them, and we do not intrude," Grisham says. "We're not going to inform docs who they'll and can't see. We're not going to inform you the place you'll be able to and can't stay, who you'll or won't be in love with. These freedoms exist on this state and I stand firmly and squarely behind that."

However because the saying goes: Poor New Mexico. So removed from heaven, so near Texas.

Undoubtedly not Texas <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fa2%2Fd8%2Fa51b5a5b411aae3b80e641db9813%2Fnpr-nmtx-20250409-30.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fa2%2Fd8%2Fa51b5a5b411aae3b80e641db9813%2Fnpr-nmtx-20250409-30.jpg" class="img" alt="The exterior of the New Mexico State Capitol, also known as the Roundhouse, in Santa Fe, NM." loading="lazy"/> The outside of the New Mexico State Capitol, in Santa Fe. Adria Malcolm/for NPR conceal caption

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Adria Malcolm/for NPR Its archconservative neighbor to the east, run by Republican males, has outlawed abortion by permitting non-public residents to sue abortion suppliers, militarized its southern border, banned books and forbidden gender-affirming look after minors, and is contemplating a raft of anti-trans payments.

"Gov. Grisham has reveled in the truth that we're a extra Democratic state than Texas," says Fred Nathan, government director of Assume New Mexico, a Santa Fe nonprofit. "I feel she matches our state in the identical approach Gov. Greg Abbott matches Texas, and there appears to be fairly a rivalry there."

Final August, Grisham boldly marketed in main Texas cities to persuade Texas OB-GYNs to relocate to New Mexico to have the ability to follow freely. "This ain't Texas," she tweeted. State officers say there've solely been a handful of takers due to the excessive value of medical malpractice insurance coverage in New Mexico.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F6e%2F97%2F48ce85b6433095e8228a741a3de6%2Fnpr-nmtx-20250409-57.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F6e%2F97%2F48ce85b6433095e8228a741a3de6%2Fnpr-nmtx-20250409-57.jpg" class="img" alt="Fred Nathan, Jr., the founder and executive director of Think New Mexico, poses for a portrait outside his office in Santa Fe, NM." loading="lazy"/> Fred Nathan Jr., the founder and government director of Assume New Mexico, poses for a portrait exterior his workplace in Santa Fe. He says Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham "has reveled in the truth that we're extra Democratic state than Texas." Adria Malcolm/for NPR conceal caption

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Adria Malcolm/for NPR In September, when Abbott ordered the Texas Nationwide Guard to put in razor wire alongside the Rio Grande dealing with New Mexico, Grisham shot again: "Gov. Abbott appears to be pushing to make Texas its personal nation with out regard for his neighbors."

"It is not truthful that I am unable to get well being care" New Mexico has develop into an abortion sanctuary state within the inside West, together with Colorado, which additionally votes Democratic. In 2023, 70% of ladies who acquired abortions in New Mexico got here from Texas.

"Yea, I went to Albuquerque in the present day as a result of Texas did outlaw abortion," says 25-year-old America, a canine groomer from Dallas, in a telephone interview, who requested to omit her final identify due to privateness considerations. She drove 10 hours together with her associate to an abortion clinic in New Mexico's largest metropolis. Nonprofits helped with transportation and the process. America says she has a 10-year-old daughter, already lives beneath the poverty line, and can't afford one other mouth to feed.

"Texas lawmakers would by no means care to listen to this," says America, "however I'm a girl of Texas and it is not truthful that I am unable to get well being care in my state that I've lived in for my complete complete life."

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4032x3024+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F7e%2Fbc%2Fbebcaf4a4efaa2a91c20e271c8af%2Fespey-3.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4032x3024+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F7e%2Fbc%2Fbebcaf4a4efaa2a91c20e271c8af%2Fespey-3.jpg" class="img" alt=" Dr. Eve Espey" loading="lazy"/> Dr. Eve Espey, distinguished professor of OB-GYN on the College of New Mexico, says her state desires to be a refuge for girls from pink states. John Burnett/for NPR conceal caption

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John Burnett/for NPR "We need to strike a stability between ensuring that we're caring for our personal peoples' wants, and in addition being a refuge for individuals from Texas and Oklahoma," says Dr. Eve Espey, distinguished professor within the Division of OB-GYN on the College of New Mexico.

New Mexico is often known as some of the queer-friendly locations within the nation.

"New Mexico is exclusive," says Rachelle Vega. The nurse practitioner moved from Austin to Santa Fe 4 years in the past, partly, she says, to stay in a extra welcoming atmosphere for her two grownup trans youngsters. "There's this sense of stay and let stay that's pervasive."

All that is occurring in a state the place the Catholic Church — which formally rejects abortion and transgenderism — is a strong ingredient of New Mexico's id.

"We're a Catholic state. I am Catholic," says Rep. Teresa Leger-Fernandez, the congresswoman from Northern New Mexico. "However what we are saying right here is {that a} well being care choice is one thing you'll make in session with your personal religion, your personal familia and your personal physician."

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4032x3024+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F9b%2F1d%2F4f54c445438a80185ff0d87786f2%2Fteresa-2.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4032x3024+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F9b%2F1d%2F4f54c445438a80185ff0d87786f2%2Fteresa-2.jpg" class="img" alt="" loading="lazy"/> Rep. Teresa Leger-Fernandez, who represents northern New Mexico, says that even in a Catholic state like theirs, well being care selections ought to be a non-public matter. John Burnett/for NPR conceal caption

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John Burnett/for NPR State Sen. Antonio "Moe" Maestas is a veteran Democrat and an Eleventh-generation New Mexican. He likes to level out that Santa Fe was already a European settlement when the Mayflower pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.

"Particular person rights are essential to New Mexicans, like, do not inform me find out how to stay," Maestas says. "You must perceive we have been the farthest outpost of the Spanish Empire. You got here to New Mexico to be left alone. In order that sentiment resonates in the present day."

New Mexico's enchantment is way broader than entry to abortion. The state is famend for cooler summers, cultural richness, high-desert vistas, huge stretches of public land, authorized leisure pot and the aforementioned live-and-let-live perspective.

Austin West and Little Texas Whereas the arrival of so many politically dedicated newcomers is probably not spectacular numerically, they'll make a distinction in a evenly populated state like New Mexico, says Moe Maestas.

"No query. It has been a 20-year inflow of white liberals shifting to New Mexico as a result of, why not?" says Maestas. "You are both fortunate sufficient to be born right here, like myself, otherwise you're sensible sufficient to maneuver right here."

Locals complain about newly arrived Texans and Californians driving up actual property costs in Santa Fe and Taos.

"Quite a lot of the individuals who transfer right here rapidly develop into concerned locally, they're great volunteers in our non-profits," says Rep. Leger-Fernandez, "however the affect on the price of housing inventory is one thing we have to handle."

Maestas says many Anglo liberals who transfer to New Mexico — the nation's most closely Hispanic state — are extra progressive than the typical Democrat.

"I am very grateful to all of the liberal components who've moved to New Mexico," he says, "however they've to know Chicanos like myself, we grew to become Democrats not as a result of we're ideologically left, however as a result of our mother and father have been Democrats. And so there's these tensions inside the native politics."

His remark was borne out one current Saturday in a go to to the Socorro Farmers Market, about an hour south of Albuquerque.

"My dad was a Democrat so I am a Democrat, what can I say?" says Loretta Taylor, who was promoting homegrown apples and yard eggs. Although she's a diehard Democrat, Taylor just isn't pleased concerning the governor utilizing state funds to construct abortion clinics.

"That's rubbing me very unhealthy about New Mexico," she continues. "One's already inbuilt Las Cruces and she or he's deliberate one up north, proper? No, I do not assist the abortion a part of the Democratic factor."

The New Mexico legislature has been dominated by Democrats for a lot of the final 80 years. However how lengthy the blue Land of Enchantment will keep that approach is anyone's guess. Final November Kamala Harris simply carried New Mexico, however Donald Trump has gained floor within the final three presidential elections, together with in "Little Texas." That is what they name the barren, southeastern nook of the state that shares the oil-rich Permian Basin with West Texas.

Extra New Mexico MAGAs Republican state Sen. Jim Townsend is from the town of Artesia, which celebrates wildcatters and roughnecks the way in which Santa Fe does Spaniards and Pueblo Indians. Does he want his state have been extra like Texas?

"I actually want New Mexico would proceed to be New Mexico," he replies, over a salad on the Wellhead restaurant. "And it isn't abortion facilities. It isn't taking away Second Modification rights. It isn't increased taxes."

Townsend thinks that the Trump bump just isn't a fluke and that Democrats in state workplace are much more liberal than most of their constituents.

"There could also be some progressives shifting into Santa Fe. I had a buddy that used to name it 40 sq. miles surrounded by actuality. And that is actually what most individuals in New Mexico take a look at Santa Fe."

The Texas/New Mexico political feud doesn't prolong to economics. New Mexico depends on Texas skiers for tourism {dollars}, and on Texas firms and oilfield staff for a lot of its oil and gasoline manufacturing.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F71%2F91%2F989760314253934939d31b229f50%2Fnpr-nmtx-20250409-17.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F71%2F91%2F989760314253934939d31b229f50%2Fnpr-nmtx-20250409-17.jpg" class="img" alt="SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO - APRIL 9, 2025: Protesters (L-R) Celia Hulton, David Receconi, Richard Folks, and Carol Norris demonstrate outside the New Mexico State Capitol, known as the Roundhouse, in Santa Fe, NM on April 9, 2025. Norris founded the protest group, Resist-Rest-Repeat, two months ago. CREDIT: Adria Malcolm for NPR" loading="lazy"/> Protesters (left to proper) Celia Hulton, David Receconi, Richard People and Carol Norris exhibit exterior the New Mexico State Capitol in Santa Fe on April 9. Norris based the protest group, Resist-Relaxation-Repeat, two months in the past. Adria Malcolm/for NPR conceal caption

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Adria Malcolm/for NPR Each Wednesday, anti-Trump protesters in Santa Fe end up in entrance of the state capital, regardless of it being a hive of Democrats, to rail in opposition to the forty seventh president. The ringleader is Carol Norris, a psychotherapist and longtime activist who says she fled Dallas a long time in the past.

"Rights are being eviscerated nationwide, however Texas is on the vanguard," Norris says, as she and a few mates pack up their indicators and bullhorns. If Texans need to relocate, as she did, she says, "I completely perceive that sentiment, so long as the Texans can honor and respect the place they're."