A New Mexico Republican senator said he and colleagues fully intended to begin Wednesday’s special legislative session denouncing what they deem as dangerous political rhetoric from Democrats, but changed course after the opening gavel.
Sen. Jay Block (R-Rio Rancho) told Source New Mexico there had been “talk” among Republican leaders of reading on the Senate floor from a letter they’d already sent privately to House Speaker Javier Martínez (D-Albuquerque). The letter, which Senate Republicans provided to Source, asked the speaker to delete a recent social media post in which he referred to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as “ICE Barbie” and made other sharp criticisms of President Donald Trump’s administration.
All 16 Republican senators signed the letter, which described Martínez’s Sept. 10 Facebook as containing “hateful words” that “fall beneath the office that you hold.” It also said Martínez’s rhetoric “could incite more heinous acts of violence to occur here in New Mexico,” citing the recent arson at the Republican party headquarters and Tesla dealership.
The letter notes that Martínez posted on Facebook the same day right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk was assassinated in Utah, although he posted several hours before the shooting.
“My dad did more to build this country than any of those fascist clowns, combined. He is WAY more ‘American’ than any of them,” Martínez wrote, referring to the Trump administration, before adding: “If you hate my people and/or enable that dirty sewer rat in the White House, go kick a rock. (With all due respect to sewer rats).”
Camille Ward, a spokesperson for Martínez and House Democrats, said the post was a response to a Supreme Court ruling that lifted a ban on federal immigration agents’ racial profiling practices of Spanish-speaking workers in California. It’s a decision that has “far-reaching consequences in New Mexico,” Ward said in an emailed statement to Source on Friday.
“It is sad and disappointing that Republican lawmakers seem more outraged by criticism directed at the actions of the Supreme Court, White House officials and federal ICE agents than they are about everyday New Mexicans having food taken off their tables and healthcare stripped away,” Ward wrote.
As of publication, the post remained on Facebook and Instagram.
While Martínez did not apologize or reference the post specifically, he did open the session in the chamber he presides over with an acknowledgment of “rhetoric in the past I probably shouldn’t have used.”
“And for that, I promise you, this chamber near and dear to my heart, I will strive” to tone down political rhetoric, he said, which he described later as “disagreeing without being disagreeable.”
Block told Source that he and Senate Republican colleagues expected Senate Democrats to begin the session “with guns blazing” regarding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other criticism of the Trump administration. Instead, Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe) and other Democratic leaders decried political violence in all its forms, including Kirk’s assassination and the arson at the Republican headquarters.
“We heard rumors. We heard the other side was going to start talking about ICE and all that stuff, and we didn’t want to go there,” he said, referring to a back-and-forth on immigration policy.
Instead, Wirth, whose home was recently targeted in a bomb threat by someone with the username “maga_terrorist,” called for a lowering of the political temperature.
As a result, the Republicans senators didn’t bring up the letter, Block said.
In addition to Kirk’s death and the RPNM headquarters fire, Democrats denounced numerous recent examples of political violence, including the shooting death of Minnesota House Democratic caucus leader Melissa Hortman; the bomb threats against Wirth and colleague Rep. Reena Szczepanski; and the case of Solomon Peña, a Trump supporter sentenced to 80 years in prison for orchestrating shootings at the homes of prominent elected Democrats, including Martínez’s.
Senate Minority Leader Bill Sharer (R-Farmington) and Block joined Democrats in publicly denouncing political violence. Block told Source the speaker’s words, in his opinion, were inappropriate, but “there’s no reason to bring in all the heated rhetoric outside the Roundhouse into the Roundhouse,” he said.
Some House Republicans did bring up the speaker’s social media post, however, during a long discussion before bill debates Thursday on the House Floor. Rep. Gail Armstrong (R-Magdalena) later called it an “airing of grievances” by Republicans about Democrats excluding them from deliberations.
Armstrong also criticized Martínez’s post at a post-session news conference Thursday.
“I don’t want to fight. I need a relationship with the speaker of the House so that we can negotiate and get some things done,” she said. “But when I see him looking at me, does he see ICE Barbie, or does he see Gail Armstrong?”
Martinez’s statement did not specifically address Armstrong’s question, but said Martinez “always prioritizes treating people with respect and decorum in the House Chamber and will continue to do so.”
