The June 2 primary election is just two months away, and candidates vying for office across New Mexico spent the week touting a number of high-profile endorsements.
Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia state representative who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021, on Monday endorsed former U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in the Democratic primary race to be New Mexico’s next governor.
Haaland faces Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman in the June 2 primary election. The winner will face one of three Republicans vying for the spot.
“We have to elect people who believe in people, not power and who believe in the future and not the past,” Abrams said in a statement. “We also need leaders who are not afraid to stand up for the vulnerable, for immigrants, and for those who have been left behind.”
Later in the week, state Rep. Nathan Small (D-Las Cruces), who chairs the Legislature’s powerful House Appropriations and Finance Committee, also endorsed Haaland. In a statement, he said Haaland’s “experience leading at the highest levels, combined with her vision to make life more affordable, stand up for working families, and grow our economy for the future, is exactly what this moment demands.”
On the other side of the race, an array of local leaders also recently supported Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull’s Republican bid for governor. In a news release, his campaign touted support from New Mexico mayors in several cities — including Clovis, Belen and Ruidoso — as well as three state Republican lawmakers who all represent Rio Rancho: Rep. Catherine Cullen, Rep. Joshua Hernandez and Sen. Craig Brandt.
At the federal level, U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.), who is uncontested in the June 2 primary but will face one of two Republican challengers come November, also announced a national endorsement this week.
Joe Biden’s Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg endorsed Vasquez on Monday. In a statement, Buttigieg said Vasquez has taken a straightforward approach to serving in the U.S. House of Representatives “at a time when many in Congress seem more focused on scoring political points than doing their actual job.”
“He’s rolled up his sleeves and delivered for New Mexico time and time again,” Buttigieg wrote.
Bregman campaign unwilling to claim credit for attack ad
A new political advertisement implies that Haaland previously associated with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, but it omits important details.
The ad, paid for by a group called Accountable New Mexico, accuses Haaland of “accepting a ride on one of Epstein’s private jets” and taking “tens of thousands of dollars from Epstein businesses.” However, publicly available documents show that it was not, in fact, Epstein’s jet.
When former New Mexico Attorney General Gary King ran to be governor in 2014, Haaland ran alongside him as lieutenant governor. Documents released as part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s “Epstein Library” show that King at one point asked for Epstein’s help in chartering a plane through a third-party company. Haaland’s campaign has previously said she was not clued into these discussions.
Haaland’s campaign on Friday dismissed the ad as an effort from her primary opponent, Bregman, to twist facts “because he has no path to victory in this race.”
“She never met Epstein, never took money from him, and never rode on his jet,” campaign spokesperson Hannah Menchhoff wrote in an email to Source NM. “She believes all abusers and the people who defend them must be held accountable.”
Bregman’s campaign denied involvement with the group Accountable New Mexico.
“Our campaign is not affiliated with this group in any way,” Bregman’s spokesperson Joanie Griffin wrote in an email to Source NM. “However, there does not seem to be any factually incorrect statements made in this ad.”
Minor parties eye campaigns
New Mexico’s two minor parties told Source NM this week that they are still finalizing their slates of candidates for the Nov. 3 general election and also remain hard at work collecting the signatures they’ll need to make the ballot.
Minor parties must collect signatures equal to 1% of general election turnout during the previous gubernatorial election to achieve ballot access, according to the New Mexico Secretary of State. Independent candidates, who don’t affiliate with a major or minor party, must collect 2%.
Candidates have until June 25 to collect those signatures.
New Mexico Libertarian Party Chair Chris Luchini told Source NM that three candidates have expressed interest so far in running, but he wouldn’t identify all of them. He said Stephen Curtis will seek a seat on the New Mexico Court of Appeals and Jason Vallancourt will run again to become state auditor. Luchini wouldn’t name the third candidate, whom he said will likely seek a seat on the Los Alamos County Commission.
New Mexico’s other minor party, the Green Party, has yet to hold its convention in which aspiring candidates seek the party’s endorsement for various races, but Green Party Chair Em Ward said one Green Party member has expressed interest in running for Valencia County sheriff, which would require 255 valid signatures.
The Green and Libertarian parties are the state’s only certified minor parties, but a third could soon join the pack. New Mexico Forward announced earlier this year that it collected enough signatures to become the state’s third official minor party.
Leaders of the Forward Party, founded in 2022 by former Republican New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, describe the party’s values as a return to civil politics with a focus on improving U.S. democracy.
Bob Perls, the state’s Forward Party chair, declined to tell Source NM on Thursday which candidates the party would field this general election, though he said the Forward Party is focusing on uncontested seats in the New Mexico House of Representatives. Twenty-seven state House candidates have neither a primary nor a general election opponent.
“The main reason for our new party will be to provide voter choice and competition in seats such as those,” he said.
Primary challenger to U.S. Sen. Luján ‘permanently suspended’ from state
party
Matt Dodson, a Democratic Socialist seeking to unseat incumbent U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) in the June 2 primary, hopes to gain the Democratic nomination despite being “permanently suspended” from the state party late last year.
Dodson, 62, is an Air Force veteran originally from Chadron, Nebraska, who has lived in Farmington for more than 30 years. He previously ran for Farmington mayor as an independent and as a Democrat, and has also mounted unsuccessful bids for New Mexico House and Senate seats.
He and another county party member, Darla Whitney-Welles, accused the former San Juan County Democratic Party chair of misspending $6,500 in party funds in 2020. Dodson said he made the complaint to the San Juan County sheriff based on a tip from his grandson, who was on the board at the time. Welles did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
In a call with Source NM, former county party chair Mary “MP” Schildmeyer denied the allegations and recalled spending three days in jail over the ordeal.
“Dodson has proffered no evidence whatsoever that I lied,” she said. “While, on the other hand, the evidence that I gave to the state party in an official hearing of an official body of the State Party was enough for DPNM to permanently suspend those two individuals.”
Gary Risely, chief deputy district attorney in Farmington, told Source NM the case against Schildmeyer did not merit further investigation or meet criminal charges of embezzlement.
Schildmeyer fought back and filed a complaint that accused Dodson and Welles of harassing her and violating the party’s ethics rules. The state party’s Committee on Discipline voted to “permanently suspend” the duo and noted that Dodson can only attend party events “in his capacity as a candidate.”
Dodson, for his part, said the party is “well within their rights to do what they want,” but maintains that he is telling the truth.
“I will hit the ground running, and I will do a hell of a lot more than Ben Ray Luján has done in 16 years,” he said. “My experience is life experience.”
In a statement to Source NM, Luján’s campaign manager Austin Lyle said there’s “only one Democrat in this race, and that’s Ben Ray Luján.”
Lyle said Luján has worked to “lower costs, protect access to food and health care and hold the Trump administration accountable,” during his first term.
“Sen. Luján actually gets the work done,” Lyle wrote. “He knows how to fight and win for New Mexico, and he is the only candidate in this race with an actual record and a clear vision for New Mexico’s future.”
