During her first four-year term in January, state Sen. Crystal Diamond Brantley, a Republican from Elephant Butte, had the distinction of sitting on the powerful Senate Finance Committee, with oversight over how the state budget is shaped, despite being a newcomer to the body. In an interview, she attributed this to her election as a successor to John Arthur Smith, a Democrat who was the committee’s longtime chair.
Brantley has also been a prominent critic of New Mexico’s beleaguered Children, Youth and Families, an advocate for transparency in administering grant funds, for education and agriculture, and for law enforcement and public safety reforms.
She begins her second term in 2025 as a rising star in her party and a mentor for new candidates – though she pushes against that perception. With Democrats holding both chambers as well as the governor’s office, she returns once more as part of a legislative minority.
She spoke with the Las Cruces Bulletin about governance as a minority member and her outlook for 2025. The 60-day legislative session begins on Jan. 21.
CDB. I want to jump right into it: We know that crime is going to be a big agenda item this session, and we know that because the governor has announced that's a priority of hers. And interesting enough, one of the biggest advocate for some of these criminal justice reforms has been the the new chief of police there in Las Cruces (Jeremy Story). He has met with us individually and gone through his legislative priorities. They look very similar to what the governor had rolled out during the (July 2024) special session.
If we get a lot of this criminal justice reform done, with Las Cruces Senator Joseph Cervantes as chair of the judiciary committee and our own Las Cruces police chief, and then with the governor, and the rest of us collectively helping, we have a big opportunity for the southern New Mexico legislators to lead the fight and try to get some of this reform passed.
Q. Do you think you can get that done in this 60-day session?
CDB. I'm hopeful. It always seems that politics poisons good policies. This doesn't seem to be a “D versus R” issue anymore. With the rampant crime rate across New Mexico, it is certainly no longer a rural-versus-urban situation. We're going to have to work across party lines and across geographic separations to come together for New Mexico. I have personal priorities that I like to champion. I'm an advocate for agriculture, there's a lot that I want done in the schools, and all of that I have to set aside: Because what's harming us first, from addressing economic development, or how we get our schools back on top, if we don't live and work in a safe place, a safe community, surely we can agree that we've got to make our community safer. I would agree with the governor that we have to reform this broken criminal justice system, to try to make New Mexico safer, where we are the most dangerous place to live right now, with repeat offenders.
Q. Lawmakers did not take up any of the governor’s public safety agenda items in the brief special session. Do you see that as the result of politics within the party, or genuine differences about policy proposals and how the governor works with lawmakers?
CDB. Politics. It’s not policies. And that's what should upset voters. If the end result is making New Mexico a safer place, then we all have to get over our egos and come to the table and just get something done. I have to do it myself: I'm a conservative Republican senator who was very vocal and critical of many of the things that the governor does. But right is right, and if she wants to come forward and support many ideas that have been proposed by Republicans in the past – maybe she needs to change some things – but if she wants to come forward with proposals that I can't disagree is better than what we have, then shame on me if I wouldn't support those efforts.
Q. How do you approach governance as part of a minority, working with a Democratic majority?
CDB. I personally put a big emphasis on building respectful relationships with my colleagues, and I found that in the legislature, to get things done, the most valuable thing is to have relationships with people. We don't necessarily agree, and often do not, but (we are) respectful to one another, so that our voices are heard and and I can influence, to some degree, policy changes.
