Distress Flag
For almost twenty years, the RPNM State Central Committee members have chosen new state leaders with proven experience, but that experience has been in losing campaigns. RPNM went through the motions every election cycle: we are going to raise more money, we are going to get better candidates, we are going to register more Republicans, but the results were the same. Lost Elections. But the news is not all bad; the RPNM still shows life in rural New Mexico, but is overwhelmed by urban New Mexico, and low Republican turnout.
The challenge facing the Republican Party of New Mexico (RPNM) is not a lack of effort—it is a lack of unity. No single faction within the party is strong enough to dominate the other, yet the State Central Committee (SCC) continues to elect leaders with campaign experience but without the leadership ability to bring those factions, rural vs urban, together.
A few months ago, I received a call from an individual representing the RPNM Chairwoman, the Senate Minority Leader, and the House Minority Leader—all of whom are from rural New Mexico. The caller expressed disappointment with my earlier article, suggesting I failed to recognize their accomplishments, particularly their efforts to register Republican voters in numbers that could turn New Mexico red.
I agree that voter registration matters, and their efforts are important. But voter registration is not leadership, and leadership does not field an incomplete roster of candidates. For the first time ever, the RPNM has no candidates for the US Senate, State Auditor, or State Treasurer.
A month ago, I came across a group of Republican businessmen at an Albuquerque restaurant who were meeting on how to recruit candidates. What surprised me was not who was there, but who wasn’t: not a single past Republican candidate was included in the discussion.
Weeks later, I read in the Albuquerque Journal that a few Republican leaders were protesting Duke Rodriguez’s candidacy for governor. Which brings to mind what I heard after the last US Senate campaign: the Republican candidate was berated by a few Republican leaders for her performance.
I agree that candidate recruitment is important. But leaders understand that future candidates observe how current and past candidates are treated. Republicans wondered why the last Republican US Senate Candidate did not step up in this cycle. I didn’t.
Today, New Mexico newspapers are publishing stories of the battle within the RPNM. How the RPNM Chairwoman is violating RPNM rules by running against another Republican. A rule that the Chair attempted to change several times in the last year, but was thwarted. This battle reinforces the division within the RPNM, rural vs urban, just when the RPNM needs to be united in the upcoming election.
What I found shocking was that the old sage of the RPNM, the Committee Man, did not counsel the RPNM Chair to bring this battle to a close for the good of the RPNM, but instead indirectly supported the continued division within the RPNM. I have seen RPNM individuals in positions of authority behave this way over the past decade, but I have never seen leaders in winning organizations do so.
I have heard RPNM ChairwomanAmy Barela mention many times that the Governor’s Race is the most important race in the upcoming election. Her singular focus on the Governor race has left New Mexican Republicans without a US Senate Candidate, as well as state Auditor and Treasurer. She is now risking the Governor’s race for an Otero County Commissioner’s race.
This is not just the failure of leadership by the RPNM Chair. The evidence shows the RPNM has individuals in positions of authority, yet it is leaderless.
This article, like almost every article I write, begins with a question, then seeks the answer. Is the Republican Party of New Mexico a Zombie Political Entity? No, the RPNM has strength in Rural New Mexico (but that alone is not enough to win statewide races). However, the strongest area of support is in Southeast New Mexico, and those counties have had record-low turnout. The pulse is getting weak, and the RPNM is beginning to eat its own, indicating that the virus is spreading.
The NRC and the NRSC are struggling to retain control of the Senate, and the RPNM does not have a Republican Candidate for the US Senate. I am curious, what does the NRC and the fellow Committeemen and Committeewomen say to our Committeeman and Committeewoman? I imagine it is between “What bad luck you represent New Mexico,” and “What the Fxxx are you guys doing?”
