Christopher Trancosa traveled from San Felipe Pueblo on Tuesday morning to grab a seat for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's State of the State address and other fanfare on the first day of the 2025 legislative session. He arrived at the Roundhouse around 10:30 a.
m. — long before the speech — but was slouched in a chair, arms crossed, outside the doors of the House gallery, still waiting for a spot as the governor's talk got underway. Trancosa was one of dozens of members of the public waiting in the hallways of the Capitol as Lujan Grisham began speaking around 2 p.
m. They were denied a seat in the gallery because it was at capacity — half-filled with a large number of the governor’s executive team, including Cabinet secretaries, advisers and public information officers — before seating was opened to the general public. "What can we do? As minorities, we're still getting treated the same way as we have been getting treated for centuries," said Trancosa, a member of San Felipe Pueblo's administration.
"That's the way I feel about it." As Francisco Apodaca of Las Vegas, N.M.
, held out hope for a seat to open, he said the State of the State turned out to be a “state of disarray.” “This is the people’s house, but they let all the governor’s staff and all Cabinet staff to take up seats,” he said. “The public should be here.
...
By having state employees sitting there who are not doing their jobs, sitting on their butts, on my tax dollar, that’s wrong.” Ric.