The Republican Party of New Mexico on Friday announced it had commissioned a third-party review of the state party’s rules and said it cleared Chair Amy Barela of any obligation to step down, despite party infighting that culminated with county Republican officials calling for her resignation.
The internal dispute bubbled over into public view in mid-March as Barela filed for re-election to her seat on the Otero County Commission. Online records from the New Mexico Secretary of State show she filed to run just two minutes before another Republican filed to challenge her in the June 2 primary election. The party’s uniform state rules say that if the chair “files as a candidate for public office and there is another Republican who has filed for the same office, the state officer shall immediately vacate the party office.”
Republican Party of Bernalillo County First Vice Chair Mark Murton previously told Source NM the issue was so “cut and dry” that he and his colleagues no longer recognized Barela’s legitimacy as state chair.
However, the five-page outside review, conducted by a Dallas-based firm, found that the two minutes between Barela and her challenger filing to run for office matter.
In particular, it focused on the party rule’s requirement that say the chair ought to resign if another Republican “has filed” for the same race. Someone like Barela who filed before there was a confirmed challenger, the report says, is “fully compliant” with the rule.
Despite the report, some Republican leaders continue to call for Barela to resign. In a Facebook infographic circulating in New Mexico conservative groups, Republican Party of Sandoval County Chair Beth Dowling and others posted a question: “What if the RPNM chair ran for governor in a Republican primary and refused to step down? Would that be fair to Gregg, Duke, Doug?” in a reference to the party’s three candidates for governor: Rio Rancho Mayor Greg Hull, former state cabinet secretary Duke Rodriguez and public relations professional Doug Turner.
“She has indirect campaigning, official party authority, built-in advantages,” the post says. “That’s not neutrality. That’s advantage.”
In a Friday statement accompanying the report, Barela said her party “cannot afford any more internal distractions.”
“I am ready to put this behind us and continue moving the party forward. Let’s turn our focus to where it belongs: defeating Democrats and winning elections across New Mexico,” she wrote in a statement.
Barela did not respond to Source NM’s request for comment, though in emails posted by some Republicans on social media, RPNM officials appeared to refer to calls for Barela’s resignation as an internal “coup to usurp the RPNM chair position.”
A statement signed by party leaders, including National Committee member Sen. James Townsend (R-Artesia), urged Republicans across the state to “redirect your attention to getting out the vote for every candidate in your districts and statewide” and cast the issue of infighting as a threat to the good of the party.
“Under the leadership of Chairwoman Amy Barela we have built real momentum. We are seeing growth, increased engagement, and measurable success,” the statement said. “So, we ask you directly: Will you stand with Chairwoman Amy Barela, as your duly elected chair, to flip New Mexico red or will you stand in opposition to that mission?”
