POLITICAL ROUNDUP

Days to the election: 69 Fellow travelers: At least one U.S. senator wants former Gov. Gary Johnson in Congress.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., endorsed the Libertarian on Tuesday. Paul said Johnson would “be an important ally and a critical independent voice” in the Senate.

“His leadership on issues of government overreach, protecting Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights against mass surveillance, and common sense foreign policy is sorely needed in the United States Senate, for New Mexico and the nation,” Paul said in a statement.

Paul’s political action committee, RANDPAC, solicited donations for Johnson on its website.

If anything, Paul’s endorsement is a nod to Johnson’s crossover appeal as he challenges incumbent Democrat U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich.

Johnson was a Republican during his eight years as governor, 1995 through 2002. He is likely to draw on name recognition and a reputation for fiscal conservatism mixed with socially liberal attitudes to pull support from GOP Senate candidate Mick Rich.

The Republican responded with a statement effectively declaring he didn’t want the endorsement anyway because he disagrees with Paul. “So Sen. Paul found a candidate who agrees that legalized marijuana is good and that shutting down the government is a good strategy,” Rich said.

The chairwoman of the state Democratic Party said Paul’s support for Johnson is hardly surprising. “Both put on a big show about their so-called independence, but at the end of the day, both are rubber stamps for the extreme agenda of today’s Republican Party,” Marg Elliston said.

Democrats for Pearce: Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Pearce has been about as eager to tout support from Democrats as he has been to boast of support from fellow members of the GOP.

Pearce’s campaign on Tuesday highlighted an endorsement from Martin Hicks, the Democratic mayor of Grants. “The main reason I’m supporting him is because of what he did in Congress,” said Hicks, a former prison employee and Marine Corps veteran.

Hicks said Pearce has been more supportive of the coal and prison industries that are key to his community’s economy than the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

“Steve Pearce wants to create jobs,” Hicks said. “The time she was in Congress, Michelle Lujan Grisham was killing the state of New Mexico.” Hicks said his party has “lost its mind.” “This isn’t the party my father got me to join when I was 18,” he said.

In Western New Mexico, where Hicks lives, being a Democrat doesn’t necessarily mean what many Santa Fe residents might think.

“We’re pro-Second Amendment, we’re pro-life and we’re pro-law enforcement,” Hicks said.

In a bizarre turn after Hicks endorsed Pearce, the state Democratic Party was quick to blast one of its own. It circulated to reporters a 2016 story by KRQE-TV about the time a principal called the police on Hicks for allegedly threatening staff at his child’s school.

Hicks denied he threatened violence against anyone; no one was charged with a crime.