Trump will take center stage in race for governor
At a rally in Albuquerque last year, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump ripped into fellow Republican Gov. Susana Martinez with a ferocity most Democrats in this state couldn’t match. At one point, Trump even joked that maybe he should run for governor of New Mexico.
That’s not going to happen, of course. But I predict that by the end of the 2018 political season, it’s almost going to seem as if Trump was the GOP gubernatorial nominee. It’s virtually certain that Democrats will relentlessly link Republican Steve Pearce to Trump with the same intensity that national Republicans try to meld any Democrat running for Congress with Nancy Pelosi.
Some might say I’m being too presumptive in assuming that Pearce, the congressman representing Southern New Mexico, will be his party’s nominee nearly 11 months before the Republican primary. But Pearce’s announcement of his candidacy last week had the immediate effect of prompting two well-known Republicans — Lt. Gov. John Sanchez and state Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn — to announce that they won’t be seeking that nomination. Although U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham at this point has to be considered the front-runner in the Democratic primary, her chances for her party’s nomination are far less firm than Pearce’s chances to be the GOP candidate.
Some might say that making Trump the issue is a cheap shot. But it’s probably a smart shot. Trump lost New Mexico to Democrat Hillary Clinton by more than 8 percentage points last November. A lot of Republicans — including a lady I know who currently works on the fourth floor of the Capitol — refused to back him. I haven’t seen any evidence that Trump’s popularity has grown any in this Enchanted Land since he’s been in office.
Lujan Grisham’s team wasted little time in trying to fuse Pearce’s name to Trump’s. A fundraising letter sent to potential supporters early last week said, “Pearce will never stand up to Trump’s dangerous agenda — because he agrees with it. He’s voted with Trump 95 percent of the time so far, including voting for the deadly GOP health care bill that would rip insurance away from 23 million people.”
That wasn’t the first nor will it be the last time Pearce’s vote in favor of the Republican health care bill will be brought up in the governor’s race.
And if the Dems get tired of attacking him over health care, Pearce himself has provided plenty of material to make him look like a cheerleader for the beleaguered president.
In late April, Pearce’s office sent a news release celebrating Trump’s first 100 days in office.
“In the first 100 days, President Trump has remained committed to cutting government red tape to help boost the middle-class, help small businesses flourish, and bring more jobs to hardworking taxpayers in New Mexico and throughout our nation,” Pearce said in the statement. “The president continues to follow through on the promises he made throughout his campaign to rebuild our national defense, tackle the debt crisis, regain confidence in American energy production, reestablish the doctrine of American strength in global events, and ultimately, breathe new life into the American dream.”
Pearce has sent similar upbeat statements supporting Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement (“Since day one, the Paris Climate agreement has been unattainable for New Mexico and our nation. … This has never been a fair deal for Americans.”); tax reform (“New Mexicans deserve a tax system that allows them to keep more of their hard-earned money. The plan announced today by the Trump Administration is a great first step towards achieving these goals.”) and the president’s budget proposal (“It is refreshing to see a President diligently attempt to provide our nation with a balanced and sustainable budget.”).
If these aren’t attack ads waiting to happen, then I’ve never seen one.