Republicans plunging to minor-party status in New Mexico

State Republican Party Chairman Steve Pearce is either trying for laughs or he needs a coach to help him with spin.

“RPNM has made extraordinary and historic accomplishments during this past election year — achievements and gains that have made the Republican Party a true force in New Mexico politics,” Pearce said.

Let’s review the Republican Party’s achievements in 2020 under Pearce’s intrepid leadership.

Pearce predicted President Donald Trump would carry New Mexico because of a surge in Hispanic supporters.

Instead, Trump lost the state to Democrat Joe Biden by almost 11 percentage points. This was worse than Trump’s showing in 2016, when Hillary Clinton defeated him in New Mexico by 8 points.

With the presidential race in the loss column, where were the extraordinary achievements Pearce bragged about? Not in the state Legislature. Republicans had a net loss of one seat in the New Mexico Senate, which Democrats now control 27-15.

Republicans gained one seat in the state House of Representatives, but that still left them at a 45-25 disadvantage. That ties the second-worst Republican showing in the last 25 years.

If Democrats wanted to be spiteful, they could kill every Republican bill in both chambers.

Even if a Republican-sponsored bill clears the Legislature, the Democratic governor could veto it. This is a sore subject for Pearce, who lost the 2018 governor’s race to Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham by 14 percentage points.

Our search for Pearce’s landmark triumphs continues.

Republicans lost three of the four elections in New Mexico for Congress. Two of the Republican defeats were in races for open seats, one in the Senate and the other in Northern New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District.

The one win by a Republican was Yvette Herrell ousting freshman Democratic Rep. Xochitl Torres Small in the 2nd Congressional District covering Southern New Mexico.

Was Herrell’s victory a momentous accomplishment? Pearce would say so, but that would show little regard for history.

Republicans held the seat in the 2nd Congressional District seat for 36 of the last 40 years. It has been their stronghold.

Torres Small won the seat in a mild upset over Herrell in 2018, then lost it this year.

Surely, though, Pearce would not have exaggerated about wondrous feats he oversaw this year as leader of the Republican Party.

Maybe he was referring to elections for two seats on the State Public Regulation Commission.

But a Democrat drubbed a Republican for one of those positions. Republicans didn’t bother fielding a candidate for the other PRC seat, which a Democrat also won.

Pearce might have to count his reelection as party chairman as a history-making accomplishment. And it was when one considers the dismal performance he presided over.

Looking for a diversionary tactic, Pearce made a show of supporting a lawsuit by the attorney general of Texas that had nothing to do with New Mexico or even with Texas.

Instead, the Texas prosecutor asked the U.S. Supreme Court to undo Biden’s victory, claiming

election fraud had occurred in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to waste time on the case. Pearce continued his attempt to camouflage his poor record in New Mexico’s elections by criticizing the court’s stand.

Trump, unlike every other defeated American president, has not conceded. Few care about his petulance. One way or another, Trump will leave office next month, regardless of what Pearce and other conspiracy peddlers say.

Trump is free to plan another campaign for president in 2024, when he would be 78 years old — the age at which he called Biden “Sleepy Joe.”

For selfish reasons, Pearce might advocate for a different Republican presidential candidate. Trump again ran poorly in most of New Mexico. His only show of strength was in the 2nd Congressional District, the region where Republicans have dominated

for decades.

But Pearce has a more pressing concern than the 2024 presidential race.

If his side doesn’t pick up seats in state races in two years, he really will make history. He will go in the books as the chairman who turned Republicans into a minor party.

Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnewmexican.com or 505-986-3080.