Sep 3, 2026 · 33 min · 11 segments
Before resigning from the state Senate nearly four years ago, Jacob Candelaria changed his party affiliation from Democrat to decline to state. Being unencumbered by partisan loyalties “was…
Jacob CandelariaGuest
Daniel ChacónHost
Senator, part of your public, or I should say political career included, from my understanding, a close relationship or even friendship with the governor who, if I'm not mistaken, officiated your wedding.
To be candid, Michelle Lujan Grisham is one of the best politicians I've ever seen in action.
And she has an insane ability, or I shouldn't say insane, she has an amazing ability to make you think that you have a close personal friendship with her, to make you think that you matter to her, to make you think there's affection and love there.
um and it's an act and um for better or worse and i think this is can be said the same about a lot of people is i grew up in a in a household that was so committed to democratic politics democratic politics was a matter of religious faith and it was personal it was emotional And I think that's where, if I could go back, is take that personal and emotional investment into the party and into party leaders and realize that no matter what you give to the party bosses, they just take.
and this idea that michelle was my friend or we had a close personal relationship i don't think was ever really true i think that i was a relationship of convenience what changed for me i got death threats one night pretty homophobic death threats and when i reached out to the governor's office for protection for my family, we were told no.
If you don't show up for me and my husband when we need help, when we feel endangered, we're done.
And from that moment forward, I realized, hey, this lie I've been telling myself that these people are my friends and care about me and my husband is a lie.
And getting rid of that artificial sense of partisan loyalty was the most liberating thing that I've done in my young life.
You know, it's like freeing your brain from these shackles, you know, where Democrat is right, Republican is wrong, and stop looking at the world in that kind of false binary.
Setting your political and personal relationship with the governor aside, how do you think that she's done as governor? Like, how do you think she'll, what will be her legacy?
to be remembered as one of the most corrupt governors in the history of the state of New Mexico.
I think this administration has look across state government state government is broken what i hear from people on the ground is that this administration is driven by a command control vindictive retaliatory administration whose only objective is making michelle luhan grisham look good whether or not it's good policy whether or not the promises are actually followed up with actual results that doesn't matter um in terms of transparency in terms of respect for the law in terms of uh how she has managed the fiscal health of new mexico i think she gets an f
Senator, part of your public, or I should say political career included, from my understanding, a close relationship or even friendship with the governor who, if I'm not mistaken, officiated your wedding.
To be candid, Michelle Lujan Grisham is one of the best politicians I've ever seen in action.
And she has an insane ability, or I shouldn't say insane, she has an amazing ability to make you think that you have a close personal friendship with her, to make you think that you matter to her, to make you think there's affection and love there.
um and it's an act and um for better or worse and i think this is can be said the same about a lot of people is i grew up in a in a household that was so committed to democratic politics democratic politics was a matter of religious faith and it was personal it was emotional And I think that's where, if I could go back, is take that personal and emotional investment into the party and into party leaders and realize that no matter what you give to the party bosses, they just take.
and this idea that michelle was my friend or we had a close personal relationship i don't think was ever really true i think that i was a relationship of convenience what changed for me i got death threats one night pretty homophobic death threats and when i reached out to the governor's office for protection for my family, we were told no.
If you don't show up for me and my husband when we need help, when we feel endangered, we're done.
And from that moment forward, I realized, hey, this lie I've been telling myself that these people are my friends and care about me and my husband is a lie.
And getting rid of that artificial sense of partisan loyalty was the most liberating thing that I've done in my young life.
You know, it's like freeing your brain from these shackles, you know, where Democrat is right, Republican is wrong, and stop looking at the world in that kind of false binary.
Setting your political and personal relationship with the governor aside, how do you think that she's done as governor? Like, how do you think she'll, what will be her legacy?
to be remembered as one of the most corrupt governors in the history of the state of New Mexico.
I think this administration has look across state government state government is broken what i hear from people on the ground is that this administration is driven by a command control vindictive retaliatory administration whose only objective is making michelle luhan grisham look good whether or not it's good policy whether or not the promises are actually followed up with actual results that doesn't matter um in terms of transparency in terms of respect for the law in terms of uh how she has managed the fiscal health of new mexico i think she gets an f
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