When Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham talks about John Arthur Smith, the powerful chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, she notes they like to rib each another.

“I like to tease that, that guy never supported a single thing I asked for,” Lujan Grisham says of Smith. “We have a good relationship and so I capitalize on that.”

Entering her second year as New Mexico’s chief executive, it’s clear Lujan Grisham prides herself on the ability to win people over. And she’ll likely discover just how powerful her persuasive powers are later this month with the state Senate, a wary group that wasn’t known for giving her what she wanted in her first year as governor.



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