Conservative PACs Plan To Put New Mexico In Play This Fall

No Republican has won statewide in New Mexico for 10 years. A series of ad buys from multiple political action groups aims to change that this November.

Earlier this month, the Piñon Post, a conservative state paper, reported on a new commercial campaign attempting to spoil Democrats’ expectation to maintain the state’s five electoral votes for Kamala Harris and reelect Sen. Martin Heinrich. The ads from a group called Election Freedom, Inc., attack Heinrich and Harris over inflation and the incumbent border crisis.

Derek Dufresne, a consultant for the 501(c)(4) political advocacy group, told The Federalist the New Mexico campaign was “a significant, seven-figure investment,” but did not provide an exact total.

“We are running an aggressive, complete, issue-based campaign focusing on the significant policy failures of Kamala Harris and Martin Heinrich, which will continue through November,” Dufresne said.

The ads highlight high food, energy, and mortgage costs in a border state overwhelmed by migration.

Another ad campaign from the group Frontiers of Freedom Action (FFA) targets Heinrich as one of three western senators hit by a multi-state media blitz highlighting Democrats’ anti-Catholic bigotry. The ads aired in both English and Spanish to target southwestern Hispanics disillusioned by the Democrats’ extremism, which conflicts with religious liberty.

“When Hispanic voters — especially Hispanics who attend Catholic Mass — come to learn about their senator’s record of anti-Catholic bigotry, they are going to be stunned,” George Landrith, the group’s president, said in a press release.

“Republicans too often forget that even though many Hispanic voters are moving towards Trump, they are likely to vote for incumbent members of Congress just because they know their names,” Landrith added. “But they need to be shocked into realizing just how far left-wing they are — and particularly how anti-Catholic they are.”

Out of the three senators FFA targeted — Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico — Heinrich is the only one faring worse against his Republican opponent than Harris is against former President Donald Trump. Polling shows New Mexico Republican Nella Domenici, however, still faces a steep path to an upset victory, as she is running nearly 10 points down in the RealClearPolitics’ aggregate of polls, though the average only includes two surveys.

Scant polling in New Mexico has evidently led Trump-supporting groups to reach for a surprise win in the reliably blue state.

“New Mexicans deserve an honest conversation about the issues impacting them and their families,” Dufresne told The Federalist. “Frankly, in a state dominated by a far-left liberal agenda, they hadn’t had that.”

Even a new political action committee started by former senior staffers for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is focusing on New Mexico as one of several blue states where Kennedy’s independent coalition could make races competitive. Jeff Hutt, the spokesman for the new PAC, “Make America Healthy Again,” told The Federalist this month the organization could “make a big statement in this election cycle and maybe not win [them] but make those states competitive and change the electoral landscape.”

Larry Behrens, who was previously the communications director for former Republican New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, told The Federalist he believes the state’s senate seat is winnable with the right resources.

“Even though he’s been in Congress for more than a decade, Heinrich hasn’t accomplished anything for the state, and that’s why many New Mexicans still really don’t know what really an empty suit he is in Washington,” Behrens said. “If those facts can be brought to bear, I can see New Mexicans turning out for change in their congressional leadership.”