Pearce launches TV ads, despite no primary rival
3 Democratic governor hopefuls also hit airwaves
SANTA FE — Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Pearce has a free ride in next month’s primary election, but he’s already launching a television ad blitz aimed at burnishing his image and bolstering his campaign.
Pearce’s ad shows a personal side of the veteran GOP congressman, featuring him standing in front of the rundown West Texas house he lived in for the first two years of his life.
“I’ve been in those shoes — I know the way out,” Pearce says in the 30-second spot. “As governor, I’ll prove that it’s still there.”
The ad started airing Wednesday on cable and Albuquerque-area network stations. It’s scheduled to run for three weeks, and the Pearce campaign is spending more than $110,000 to air it, a campaign spokesman said.
The national Democratic Governors Association quickly responded to Pearce’s ad, claiming the congressman’s past votes on bills dealing with health care and food assistance programs have made things harder for low-income New Mexicans.
Incumbent GOP Gov. Susana Martinez is barred from seeking a third consecutive term this year and all three Democrats competing for the gubernatorial nomination — Michelle Lujan Grisham, Jeff Apodaca and Joseph Cervantes — have also taken to the TV airwaves, with the June 5 primary election rapidly approaching.
The candidates have not gone negative with ads attacking one another’s records.
Lujan Grisham, a three-term congresswoman who is also forgoing a re-election bid to run for governor, launched her first TV ad of the primary election cycle last week. She