2 weeks Ago
These are usually the desperate hours. Eight days remain until the general election. Some claim anything goes at this stage, but we've already seen and heard just about everything.
Nicole Chavez, a Republican running for the state House of Representatives in an Albuquerque district, falsely claimed to hold a bachelor's degree in business administration. Unmoved by coverage of her inflated résumé, Chavez continues to list not one but two phony bachelor's degrees on her LinkedIn social media page. Ever the statesman, Donald Trump babbled about the late Arnold Palmer's most private part.
Trump's monologues often hit below the belt. The difference this time was he engaged in X-rated pandering instead of attacking. Jon Hill defeated Democratic state Rep.
Willie Madrid of Chaparral in the primary election. Hill, 76, died soon after. Madrid then applied to be the replacement candidate in a swing district he's won three times.
A nominating panel of eight people from the Democratic Party Central Committee unanimously rejected Madrid in favor of liberal newcomer Sarah Silva. State Sen. Siah Correa Hemphill, D-Silver City, ended her reelection campaign just before the primary.
She said she needed to return to the workforce to help support her family. New Mexico state legislators do not receive a base salary, but this year they voted themselves a 50% increase in pension benefits. That move won't help Correa Hemphill.
As a one-term lawmaker, she does not qualify for a pension. A small group of Democratic Central Committee members chose Grant County Commissioner Chris Ponce to replace Correa Hemphill as the Senate nominee. Lt.
Gov. Howie Morales led the bloc that voted for Ponce. Soon after, an old federal lawsuit critical of Ponce came to light.
A female lieutenant with the Silver City Police Department claimed she was harassed by high-ranking officers, including Ponce, who was a captain. Ponce told me he didn't remember much except Silver City settled the lawsuit. I filed a request for the records, but city executives said the settlement documents were destroyed.
Morales continues backing Ponce, who was not named as a defendant in the suit. Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk has donated at least $132 million to organizations working to elect Trump.
Musk also has a history of friendships with Democratic politicians, including the late New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. Musk in 2007 sat alongside Richardson to announce that Tesla would build its assembly plant in Albuquerque and employ hundreds.
The news looked like a highlight reel for Richardson, who was running for president. But Musk reneged on a factory for Albuquerque after California offered him a richer deal. Name recognition can get a candidate to second base or count for nothing at all.
Republican Senate candidate Nella Domenici discovered as much. Daughter of 36-year Sen. Pete Domenici, she is a multimillionaire from the world of Wall Street.
No matter. Her campaign was bankrupt of momentum. Seniority counts in a state dependent on federal labs and military bases.
Domenici never made a case as to why independents and swing voters should reject Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich, who's running for a third term. With Domenici lagging in the polls, Yvette Herrell is the Republican Party's best hope to win a federal office in New Mexico.
Herrell is running in the 2nd Congressional District for the fourth consecutive election. She lost two of her previous three campaigns. Democrat Gabe Vasquez unseated Herrell in 2022, assisted by gerrymandering.
Democratic state legislators reconfigured the 2nd District to diffuse Herrell's strength. It wasn't fair. But it was just the sort of action Herrell would have taken to help her party if she'd had that chance when she was a state lawmaker.
Herrell's victory in her 2020 congressional election had everything to do with Trump. Though Democrat Joe Biden won New Mexico by almost 100,000 votes, Trump carried the 2nd Congressional District. Herrell grabbed hold of Trump's coattails and won her race with ease.
Parts of New Mexico remain Trump country, but redistricting diminished Herrell's chances of riding a regional wave for the Republican presidential nominee. I said we'd seen and heard just about everything in this election. "Just about" are the key words.
Lurking over a weird, wild campaign is a fear factor. Trump tried to steal the 2020 election, urging Georgia officials in a recorded call to reverse his defeat in that state by committing voter fraud. He later exhorted a mob to try to block certification of Biden's election.
Fear of what could happen this time overwhelms any fatigue from the long campaign. Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnewmexican.
com or 505-986-3080..
