Johnson rejects call from GOP chairman to drop out of race
SANTA FE — After getting into the race late, Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate Gary Johnson has no plans to make an early exit.
A campaign spokesman for the former New Mexico governor and presidential candidate said Tuesday it was a “laughable” idea that Johnson would drop out of the race, after the state Republican Party chairman called for Johnson to do so earlier in the day.
State GOP Chairman Ryan Cangiolosi said Johnson’s departure would give GOP nominee Mick Rich a better chance to defeat Democratic incumbent Martin Heinrich.
Heinrich had a substantial lead over his two challengers as of last week, a Journal Poll found. Forty-seven percent of proven, likely voters surveyed said they would vote for Heinrich, while Rich had 26 percent voter support and Johnson had 16 percent.
But Johnson campaign spokesman Joe Hunter said internal polling has shown a tighter race, while also claiming Heinrich’s re-election campaign is more threatened by Johnson than by Rich.
AD “TYPO” FIXED: Steve Pearce’s campaign has fixed a “typo” in a campaign ad that incorrectly attributed a story cited in a recent TV political advertisement.
The Pearce ad launched last week targets Democratic gubernatorial nominee Michelle Lujan Grisham’s past ties to a health care consulting firm that repeatedly landed contracts to help run a state high-risk insurance pool.
It cites several news reports to back up its allegations, including a May story from New Mexico Political Report, an online news site.
But the editor of the news site told the Journal no such story was published on that date, and it turns out the report cited in the ad was actually published in September by the New Mexico Political Journal, a separate online site whose editor is former state Sen. Rod Adair of Roswell, a Republican.
A Pearce campaign adviser told the Journal the ad was fixed and re-sent to television stations.
Both gubernatorial campaigns have
lodged complaints against TV ads in the race, with the Pearce campaign previously raising accuracy concerns about an outside ad paid for by a political committee funded by the Democratic Governors Association.
TV DEBATE: New Mexico’s two gubernatorial candidates will take part tonight in the first televised debate of the general election cycle.
Pearce and Lujan Grisham will appear in an hourlong debate sponsored by KRQETV that will air on Fox New Mexico starting at 6 p.m. The debate’s format will not include opening statements, but will allow the candidates to ask each other questions.
The two candidates have also agreed to take part in two additional televised debates next month — an Oct. 16 debate sponsored by KOB-TV and an Oct. 24 debate co-hosted by KOATTV and the Journal.